The Eagles may have a better record than many of us thought they’d have at this point, but they aren’t being done any favors. On Sunday, the Eagles will take on an Atlanta Falcons team coming off of extra rest because they played on Thursday last week. The birds’ last three opponents were all coming off of bye weeks. This is rare.

In fact, according to NFL Director of Broadcasting Michael North, as told to Tim McManus, it’s “very rare.” North explained:

No schedule is ideal, but what we try to do is manage the imperfections so that the same ones don’t land on the same teams year after year For instance, in the three previous seasons the Eagles only played two games total against teams coming off their bye, and have only played 12 total over the past 10 years…

Same thing with the early bye. The Eagles’ bye week in recent seasons has been [Weeks] 8, 7, 12, 7, 7, and 8. So while it is unfortunate that both of those challenges landed on the Eagles schedule this season, they are unlikely to occur again in the immediate future.

While North notes at the end that it kind of evens out over time, that’s no solace to the Eagles, who have been being outplayed and out-coached by teams with more time to prepare.