Playoffs are Very Much Still in Play for Eagles

At 3-5 heading into their Week 9 clash with the Las Angles Chargers, the Eagles are in the thick of the NFC Wild Card race, currently a game behind Carolina for the No. 7 seed.

However, its not something the Eagles head coach nick Sirianni is focused on right now.

"It just gets exhausting when you're like, ‘We want this team to lose or this team to win,’ Sirianni said on Monday. "My experience is if you take care of your business and you win your round and you keep doing it over and over again, you're going to put yourself in position to be able to make it into the tournament at the end of the year."

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There are a bunch of games that have Wild Card implications around the NFC today, with Atlanta (+7) at New Orleans, Minnesota (+6) at Baltimore, Carolina (+3) hosting New England, and Arizona at San Francisco (-3.5).  In those four games every team Philadelphia needs to lose is an underdog expect the 49ers, who are favored over the Cardinal.

So while Sirianni says its exhausting, i'll help him out.  If the Eagles win, and the games play out the way the point spreads say they will, the Eagles would be tied with San Francisco for the No. 7 seed in the NFC.

Of the group of teams that are in the mix for the No. 7 seed in the NFC playoffs currently, the Eagles have the easiest remaining schedule, not only of the group, but in the entire NFL.

Carolina has the most difficult slate of games in the NFL, the 49ers are 30th (second most difficult), Atlanta is 26th, Seattle (who has a bye) is 17th and Minnesota is ninth.

Key to win vs Chargers

Much of the theme this week has been the Chargers inability to stop the run, coupled with how well the Eagles ran the ball last week in their win over Detroit.  While that is certainly a story-line, Adam Caplan from The Inside the Birds Podcast joined me on Friday and gave us some insight on what he thinks might be the key to victory.

Getting pressure on Justin Herbert.

"That is absolutely one-thousand percent the key to this game, if they do not get pressure, they are going to lose," Caplan stated during Friday's Football at Four segment.

The right side of the Chargers offensive line is the weak spot, with Josh Sweat and Javon Hargrave in position to have big days. Both will be matched up with reserve offensive lineman on Sunday.