Six of the 14 head coaches in the playoffs have serious Eagles chops.
Nick Sirianni, Andy Reid (Chiefs), Doug Pederson (Jaguars), John Harbaugh (Ravens), Todd Bowles (Buccaneers) and Sean McDermott (Bills) all coached with the Eagles.
- Reid: Head coach, 1999-2012
- Pederson: Head coach, 2016-20; Offensive quality control, 2009-10; Quarterbacks, 2011-12
- Harbaugh: Special teams coordinator, 1998-07
- Bowles: Defensive coordinator, 2012
- McDermott: Defensive coordinator, 2009-10
Not including Sirianni, each worked under Reid, except for Harbaugh’s first season, which was under Ray Rhodes.
Three of the Philly connection have won Super Bowls as head coaches — Reid with the Chiefs, Harbaugh with the Ravens and Pederson with the Eagles.
Sirianni and Reid have the top seeds going into the playoffs. McDermott’s Bills are among the favorites to win the AFC.
Besides his coaching success at Buffalo, McDermott is earning high praise for how professionally and compassionately he has handled the Damar Hamlin situation.
2023 OPPONENTS
As a division winner, the Eagles will play an expected tough schedule next season that include five division winners.
Eleven of their 17 opponents made this year’s playoffs.
The Eagles will have nine road games next year, after playing nine at home this year. They will play the entire AFC East and NFC West.
The schedule, with dates and times, traditionally is released in April or May.
HOME GAMES:
- Cowboys (wild card team)
- Giants (wild card team)
- Commanders
- Cardinals
- 49ers (division winner)
- Bills (division winner)
- Dolphins (wild card team)
- Vikings (division winner)
AWAY GAMES:
- Cowboys (wild card team)
- Giants (wild card team)
- Commanders
- Rams
- Seahawks (wild card team)
- Patriots
- Jets
- Buccaneers (division winner)
- Chiefs (division winner)
2023 DRAFT PICKS
For now, the Eagles have six draft picks, the most notable the No. 10 overall pick they acquired from the Saints.
THE PICKS:
- 1st round (Saints pick)
- 1st round (their own pick)
- 2nd round
- 3rd round
- 7th round
- 7th round (From the Vikings through the Texans in the Jalen Reagor trade)
It would be poetic justice if the Reagor pick turns into a productive starter.
WINNING STAT NOT SACKS
Football fans love sacks — it usually means the end of an opponent’s drive and a quarterback is introduced to the turf.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, says Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, but he believes there are more important plays that contribute to winning games.
- “There are two kinds of winning stats out there that this organization hangs their hat on,” Gannon said.
- “I’ve talked about it because I’m in agreement with [Sirianni]. How the game is played today, it’s takeaways and explosive plays.
- “But knowing what you have to do as a defense to affect the game in a positive way, affecting the quarterback is up there. So in and of itself it’s not a winning stat, but we want to hit and affect the quarterback, and sacks go into that …
- “Sacks, if you just look at that stat, it’s really all 11, and I’ve talked about that. It’s coordinated rushes. It’s guys winning with one-on-ones. It’s the back end doing the right thing, if you’ve got seven, six, five in coverage.
- “Everyone has got to be coordinated. They’ve got to stay connected and really do their jobs and then you see the production come.”
The bye-week Eagles led the NFL in sacks with 70, a year after finishing 31st in the league with 29.
NFL DOMINATES NBA
The NFL and NBA played games this Christmas Day, which is kind of the unofficial start of the NBA season. The NBA hooks up the top-notch match-ups and fans watch in relatively big numbers.
This year, with Christmas falling on a Sunday, the NBA had serious competition.
And got a serious butt-kicking.
NFL games dominated NBA telecasts — and the NFL match-ups were pretty blah. The Aaron Rodgers-led Packers and Dolphins were the first game played and it drew the highest audience — 25.92 million viewers.
The second NFL game was the dreadful Broncos against the also-dreadful Rams that drew 22.57 million viewers.
The NFL night game was Tom Brady and the Bucs at the Cardinals — both bad teams — that attracted 17.15 million viewers.
Here are the NBA numbers, puny by comparison:
- 76ers-Knicks: 4.04 million
- Lakers-Mavericks: 4.33 million
- Bucks-Celtics: 6.03 million
- Grizzlies-Warriors: 4.70 million
- Suns-Nuggets: 2.49 million
The next time Christmas falls on a Sunday is 2033. The NBA is grateful.
NFL DOMINATES EVERYTHING
In 2022, NFL games were 82 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in America, according to Nielsen’s ratings. The previous record of one league dominating the ratings was 75 NFL games in 2021.
The most-watched TV show was the Super Bowl between the Rams and Bengals, drawing 99 million viewers, nearly double the second-ranked broadcast. The NFC title game was ranked second and AFC title game was third.
Fourth was the AFC divisional game between the Chiefs and Bills follows by the Cowboys-Giants game on Thanksgiving.
Nineteen of the top 20 most-watched broadcasts were NFL games. The exception was President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech at No. 7.
Here are two surprises: The 2022 college football national championship was 34th and World Cup final was 38th.
