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In Terms of Rest Advantage, Eagles Have One of the NFL’s Best Schedules
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You know that guy Warren Sharp? He runs Sharp Football Analysis and shares a lot of NFL statistics and models on Twitter. One of the stories posted on the site Friday is titled “Teams Helped & Hurt By NFL Schedule: 49ers, Ravens, Eagles & More,” and this sentence jumps right off the page:
“The 2024 NFL schedule features a schedule in which there are 101 games played out of 272 (37%) where one team has a rest advantage over their opponent, which is the most in NFL history.”
The addition of new time slots in recent years has really pushed the schedule much higher up the conversation ladder. You’ve got Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, Christmas games on a Wednesday this season, and the Birds opening on a Friday in Brazil. With teams all over the place, it seems like someone is always going to be at an advantage or a disadvantage with the deviation from the classic Sunday-to-Sunday schedule.
Sharp notes the following about the Birds:
“In 2024, four teams play 5+ games with more rest than their opponent: Chiefs, Ravens, Vikings, and Titans.
Just two years ago (2022) there was only one team with 5+ games of more rest than their opponent.
In 2024, 11 teams play 4+ games with more rest than their opponent: Chiefs, Ravens, Vikings, Titans, Steelers, Patriots, Dolphins, Browns, Eagles, Texans, and Seahawks.”
Sharp lists the Birds as one of his five teams “helped by the schedule makers most in 2024.” That’s due, in part, to the fact that while they get these 4 extra rest games, they only play in one scenario where the opponent has more rest, so it’s a +3 differential in this particular category. And while there are 13 NFL teams that have to play three games in 10 days, OR four in 17, the Eagles are not one of them.
I went through the list and these are the advantages the Birds have in 2024:
- Week 2: 10 days between Brazil opener and Monday Night Football, Falcons 8 days between their opener and MNF
- Week 6: Eagles coming off the early bye, Cleveland playing the Commies in Week 5
- Week 12: Eagles go Thursday to Sunday after Washington game, Rams play the previous Sunday
- Week 13: Eagles with 7 days, Ravens 6 because they play Monday Night Football in Week 12
The only instance of “less rest” is in Week 3, playing New Orleans coming off MNF. They play Sunday/Sunday and the Birds Monday/Sunday. When you look at the Eagles’ Thursday game, they play the previous Sunday, but so does Washington, so there’s no advantage there. Notably, the Eagles don’t play a team coming off a bye this year, which is really helpful.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com