{"id":652905,"date":"2026-01-04T09:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T09:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/652905\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T09:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T09:34:23","slug":"eagles-mailbag-potential-playoff-opponents-the-benefits-of-rest-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/652905\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagles mailbag: Potential playoff opponents, the benefits of rest and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Week 18 is here and after the The Tanner McKee Show passes on Sunday, all eyes will be on the Eagles as they attempt to repeat as Super Bowl champions. Until then, here are a few mailbag questions to hold us all over until we see some fresh football action\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SwaggyMitch\" rel=\"nofollow\">@SwaggyMitch<\/a>: Who do YOU want to see them play round 1?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Eagles have three potential Wild Card Weekend opponents: Green Bay, San Francisco and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In the outside chance that both the Eagles defeat Washington on Sunday and Chicago loses to Detroit at home, the Birds would be the No. 2 seed and face Green Bay. Beyond the benefits of being the No. 2 seed for the entire playoff run, facing this Packers team would be the best-case scenario.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Green Bay is limping into the postseason. All-World pass-rusher Micah Parsons has already been lost for the year. Jordan Love has missed a couple games with a concussion and, as of the way he\u2019s playing right now, the third-worst possible quarterback to possibly matchup against given the potential of seeing a surging Brock Purdy with the 49ers or an MVP candidate in Matthew Stafford with the Rams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">I\u2019m not scared of the Eagles facing anyone at home, but I\u2019d much rather see Green Bay out there next weekend than any of the stellar NFC West squads. If I had to rank them all, I\u2019d go Green Bay, Los Angeles and San Francisco in that order for who I\u2019d most want the Birds to face.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/toddkbailey.bsky.social\/post\/3mbhhnehafs2k\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@toddkbailey.bsk.social<\/a>: Do you think one week off will make a meaningful difference for the health of Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson? Really need them to play much better to make a run.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">As much as the Kevin Patullo experience has been an abject failure, I\u2019ve harped all year on the fact that the offensive line struggles are the No. 1 reason why this offense is so stuck in the mud. Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens\u2019 injuries, at least from afar, appear to be things that will take an entire offseason to recover from fully.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Dickerson and Jurgens were warriors during the run to the Super Bowl last year while playing through injury. Now we\u2019re all seeing the ramifications of that and, ultimately, that\u2019s the price you pay for being champions. I wouldn\u2019t change that for a better 2025 nor would those two guys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">So, I can\u2019t imagine it truly makes a world of a difference, but it\u2019s a better alternative than getting banged up even further, right?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/toddkbailey.bsky.social\/post\/3mbhhnehafs2k\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@toddkbailey.bsk.social<\/a>: What\u2019s your boring, likely to happen and bold prediction for the offseason?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Boring: The Eagles trade A.J. Brown to an AFC team for a pair of Day 2 picks after failing to repeat as Super Bowl champions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Bold: The Eagles trade up in the draft to land Miami pass-rusher Reuben Bain Jr. after he inexplicably tumbles out of the top five.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/302czar.bsky.social\/post\/3mbheudfftk2e\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@302czar.bsky.social<\/a>: What are you hoping to see out of the receivers with McKee in there on Sunday?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Darius Cooper has been on the field for 21 percent of the Eagles\u2019 offensive snaps this season, but has just six targets. Given what I imagine is a decent rapport with McKee in practice given their respective spots on the depth chart, I could see him having himself a nice day against a Washington defense that\u2019s 28th in passing yards allowed and 29th in passing touchdowns allowed. In an ode to Twin Peaks, perhaps we can get an \u201cAgent Cooper\u201d nickname going for him, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Week 18 is here and after the The Tanner McKee Show passes on Sunday, all eyes will be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[25,7,6,242,109,83988,2476],"class_list":{"0":"post-652905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-eagles","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","13":"tag-philadelphia-eagles-playoffs","14":"tag-philadelphiaeagles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115836149607246571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}