All the Eagles need to do is beat the Cowboys this weekend, rest up during the bye week, then dispatch the Giants for a second time and they’re sitting right there at 4-4-1 with the NFC East lead.

The division stinks, and as such, the Birds have the third-easiest remaining strength of schedule, according to this projection from ESPN’s Mike Clay:

We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but if the Eagles can win their remaining division games, that’s six total wins right there. All they really have to do is steal one of Cleveland/Seattle/Green Bay/New Orleans/Arizona and that gets you to seven wins, which should be enough to clinch a home playoff berth at 7-8-1. It’s not amazing, but after a 1-4-1 start, we’ll take it. Washington has to play Pittsburgh, San Fran, and Seattle in consecutive weeks before going on the road to Lincoln Financial Field, so it’s just hard to see on paper how they or any team is going to finish above .500 and win the NFC East.

Glass half full?