2 winners and 4 losers from the Eagles bye week

The Eagles were on their bye, but that doesn’t mean good and bad things can’t happen for them. The weekend could have gone better, but none of it was in the Eagles control.

WINNERS

The Eagles

The Cowboys lost to the Falcons 27-7, putting them 3 games behind the Eagles for the NFC East lead. The Eagles still have to face Dallas twice, so nothing has been clinched, but the road to the division title is almost at its end. Next Sunday night is now a must win game for the Cowboys, who looked terrible against the Falcons. An Eagles win all but clinches the division, a Cowboys win would be the first in a series of outcomes that would need to go Dallas’ way.

The Giants

Yes, that’s right, even though they lost to the previously winless 49ers, the Giants won. Their loss to San Francisco gets them another step closer to having a top pick in the draft to take a QB. Unfortunately for the front office and coaching staff, it also puts the Giants one step closer to cleaning house. But for the Giants franchise, losing out isn’t the worst scenario. For the rest of the division, it’s terrible, having rudderless Ben McAdoo in charge and Jerry Reese, who is apparently fatally allergic to trading up in the draft, finish just out of reach of getting a (potential) franchise quarterback is the idea finish.

LOSERS

The Eagles race for the top seed

The Eagles weren’t able to gain any ground on securing the #1 seed in the NFC. All three 6-2 teams won and are now a game behind Philadelphia, and the Eagles only face one of them this season. The Saints continued their hot form by demolishing the Bills; while the Vikings, who have the head-to-head tiebreaker over New Orleans after beating them in Week 1, beat the Redskins. Then the Rams blew out the Texans, their next two games are at the Vikings and then hosting the Saints, and then two weeks later face the Eagles. The Rams will have a lot of say in the playoff picture either clearing up soon. Or it could get murkier if the Rams beat the Vikings but lose to the Saints, creating a Möbius strip of head-to-head tiebreakers. Whatever the outcomes, those three teams winning yesterday didn’t help the Eagles any.

Ben McAdoo

Here’s a list of coaches who made the playoffs in their first year and were fired after their second year:

• Norm Barry won the NFL Championship in 1925 with the Chicago Cardinals by virtue of having the league’s best record at 11-2-1 after the 10-2 Pottsville Maroons were suspended. The Cardinals slumped to 5-6-1 in 1926, and Barry was replaced, though financial difficulties may have been a motivating factor, they had to sell star Paddy Driscoll in 1926.
• Pop Ivy lost the 1962 AFL Championship in double overtime, his first year with the Houston Oilers, who had won the first two AFL titles prior to his arrival. In 1963 the Oilers went 6-8 and Ivy was fired in June, replaced by Sammy Baugh, who Ivy had hired as an assistant in May.
• Bud Carson took the Browns to the conference championship in 1989, where the Bengals lost to the Broncos for the third time in four seasons. In 1990 he was fired after a 2-7 start.
• In 1993, Wade Phillips and the Broncos were a wild card at 9-7, but after going 7-9 in 1994 Phillips was fired.
• Lindy Infante went 9-7 to reach the playoffs as a wildcard with the Colts in 1996, losing in the first round, then went 3-13 in 1997 and was fired.
• In 1998 Chan Gailey made the playoffs with the Cowboys and did so again in 1999, but with no playoff wins to show for it he was fired.
• Bill Callahan went to the Super Bowl with the Raiders in 2002 and got blown out by his old boss, then in 2003 the Raiders went 4-12 and he was fired.

McAdoo is currently 1-8.

The Cowboys offense

How would Dak Prescott do without Ezekiel Elliott (and Tyron Smith)? Woof. Their only scoring drive started on the Falcons 21 yard line after an interception. Prescott was sacked eight times by a Falcons defense that entered the game with 18 sacks. Adrian Clayborn’s 6 sacks on Sunday were more than any Falcon had all season. Prescott threw for just 176 yards on 20 for 30 passing. Cowboys running backs weren’t bad, gaining 65 yards on 15 attempts, but were only able to run the ball 5 times in the second half. Dez Bryant caught 4 passes for 39 yards. Nearly nothing went right for the Cowboys offense against a defense that hasn’t stopped anyone all season.

Cole Beasley

Shook by Howard Eskin. That’s some thin skin.