PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - The Houston Texans aren't exactly a familiar part of the Eagles routine.

In their nearly two decades in the NFL, the Texans have played the Birds only four times [losing all of them by the way], a number Philadelphia reaches in two years when it comes to NFC East rivals like Dallas, Washington, and New York. So, Doug Pederson called on an old friend to get some intel on the current AFC South leaders, his former offensive coordinator Frank Reich.

Reich is of course now the head coach in Indianapolis now and the Colts are the only team to have beaten Houston over the past three months, squeaking out a 24-21 win in South Texas on Dec. 9, the Texans' only loss in 11 games.

"Oh, yeah. I've talked to Frank," Pederson admitted. "We’ve reached out, talked to him, and vice versa. He's reached out to me on some opponents that we've played. Yeah, I have done that."

Both the Eagles and Colts are on the outside, looking in at their respective playoff pictures entering Week 16 and each need help from the other, Pederson the skinny on Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, J.J. Watt and Co. while Reich needs his old boss to find a way to top Houston and give Indy a better chance at running the Texans down in the final two weeks.

It only makes sense for both to use each other as a sounding board this week.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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