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The Philadelphia Eagles 2015 schedule is HERE! There's still a lot of time before the season actually begins in September. Heck, the 2015 NFL Draft is still over a week away.
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But who cares! The schedule release is all about making ill-informed and way-too-early predictions. And I'm not going to deny the people of the pointless predictions they crave.
The truth is that this schedule prediction is especially hard this year. The Eagles have had such a crazy offseason ... it's really hard to tell what the team will even be like with so many significant changes. A new quarterback, a new running back, and so on.
As of right now, here's a week-by-week look at how I see the Eagles 2015 schedule playing out.
Week 1 - @ Atlanta Falcons (Sept. 14, 7:10 PM, ESPN)
Win: The Eagles are 3-0 in Monday Night Football games under Chip Kelly. The Falcons defense has been bad but they're be hoping Dan Quinn can fix some of those issues. I'm thinking Kelly's offense is too much for Atlanta to handle. This is the first win of the year.
1-0
Week 2 - Dallas Cowboys (Sept. 20, 4:25 PM, FOX)
Win: The Eagles return home to Philadelphia to open at Lincoln Financial Field against the Cowboys. Dallas beat up on the Birds last December but that's going to change this time. Dez Bryant will have to face Byron Maxwell instead of Bradley Fletcher. DeMarco Murray will score at least two touchdowns against his former team in this one.
2-0
Week 3 - @ New York Jets (Sept. 27, 1:00 PM, FOX)
Win: J-E-T-S stood for Just End The Season last year. This year, perhaps it's a different story. Todd Bowles has fared well against Chip Kelly in his time with the Cardinals. Still, it's the Jets we're talking about here. The Eagles can pull it off.
3-0
Week 4 - @ Washington Redskins (Oct. 4, 1:00 PM, FOX)
Win: The Redskins were 0-6 in games where DeSean Jackson scored a touchdown last year. He'll get his points in this one, but Washington won't win.
4-0
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Week 5 - New Orleans Saints (Oct. 11, 1:00 PM, FOX)
Win: If this game was in New Orleans, the Eagles should be more concerned. Instead, having home field advantage will be a nice bonus here. The Saints aren't as good on the road, especially when you completely wipe the playoff game in 2014 from your memory. I'm thinking former Saints players Malcolm Jenkins and Darren Sproles have big games here.
5-0
Week 6 - New York Giants (Oct 19, 8:30 PM, ESPN)
Win: The only time the Eagles lost to the Giants is when Matt Barkley had to play quarterback. Barkley won't be playing quarterback here. Eagles win, obviously.
6-0
Week 7 - @ Carolina Panthers (Oct. 25, 8:30 PM, NBC)
Loss: Cam Newton and the Panthers will be eager to avenge their loss on Monday Night Football last year. This is the first Eagles loss of the season.
6-1
Week 8 - BYE (Nov. 1)
Good bye week to have because ...
Week 9 - @ Dallas Cowboys (Nov. 8, 8:30 PM, NBC)
Win: ... the Eagles will be well rested for this one. This is the game where Miles Austin catches the game-winning touchdown pass and I point out how Dallas is still paying him $5.1 million this year.
7-1
Week 10 - Miami Dolphins (Nov. 15, 1:00 PM, CBS)
Loss: The incredible Bill Lazor is just too much for Chip Kelly to handle.
7-2
Week 11 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Nov. 22, 1:00 PM)
Win: The Bucs were the worst team in the NFL last season. It wouldn't surprise me to see them towards the bottom again.
8-2
Week 12 - @ Detroit Lions (Nov. 26 ,12:30 PM, FOX)
Loss: The Eagles are 6-0 all time in Thanksgiving games. How can anyone pick against their Turkey Day dominance? Or maybe they're due for a loss.
8-3
Week 13 - @ New England Patriots (Dec. 6, 4:25 PM, FOX)
Loss: Tom Brady > whoever the Eagles QB is.
8-4
Week 14 - Buffalo Bills (Dec. 13, 1:00 PM, CBS)
Win: LeSean McCoy revenge game? I don't think so. The Eagles' run defense is legit.
9-4
Week 15 - Arizona Cardinals (Dec. 20, 1:00 PM, FOX)
Win: It'll be interesting to see if Todd Bowles leaving Arizona has any impact. The Eagles and Cardinals games have been pretty entertaining the pass two seasons. This one will be as well.
10-4
Week 16 - Washington Redskins (Dec. 26, 8:25 PM, NFL Network)
Win: These Saturday games just don't feel right. Fortunately for the Eagles, this one will at least take place in Philly. In a reversal of last year's Week 16 Washington game, the Eagles win this game and clinch the NFC East.
11-4
Week 17 - @ New York Giants (Jan. 3, 1:00 PM)
Loss: The Eagles decide to sit their starters in this meaningless game. Odell Beckham Jr. goes off for 400 yard against Philadelphia's backups.
11-5
Final Record: 11-5
Chip Kelly finally gets over the 10-6 hump and gets back into the playoffs.
The best part about this post is I never mentioned who the Eagles quarterback will be. Probably not that important!