NFC race still up for grabs as Eagles enter November

The Philadelphia Eagles are 7-0, good for the top seed in the NFC playoff race.

However, even with their perfect record, the month of November could determine their fate this season, starting with Thursday night in Houston.

Why?

Teams are keeping the pressure on the Eagles.

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The Vikings are 6-1, the Cowboys and Giants are both 6-2, keeping the pressure on the Eagles not to trip up.

Head coach Nick Sirianni addressed the importance of keeping focused on whats ahead and not celebrating the fact that they are 7-0 while speaking to reporters Monday.

"We're ready to go today to get ready to go 1-0 this week," Sirianni explained. That’s something that it's just a mindset that we have as an organization. The common denominator of great teams is they focus on one day at a time and they don't think about the past, they don't think about the future. They think about where we are and how we're going to go 1-0 this day, and completely focus on that."

On the flip side, losses in any of these games against teams with losing records could threaten the Eagles not only in the NFC race, but the NFC East race as well.

The Eagles have beaten the best the NFC has to offer already, Minnesota and Dallas, with New York still on the schedule twice and Dallas one more time on Christmas Eve.

While the record of the Eagles next four opponents is just 11-18-2, Sirianni isn't worried about looking past these teams.

“We have great leaders that are making sure -- I don't know who wrote it earlier today, but I got an update on my phone," Sirianni said on Sunday. "It was like, Robert Quinn, Fletch went right up to him and said, ‘Hey, we practice hard here.’ Robert Quinn said, ‘That's all I needed to hear.’”

Philadelphia is also 2-0 in the division and 5-0 in the conference, records that could matter greatly to tiebreakers down the road, but slipping up against teams like Houston, Washington, Indianapolis or Green Bay, could allow teams to keep the pressure on.

The Vikings face the Commanders in Week 10, the Bills in Week 11 and the Cowboys in Week 12.  If the Eagles can clean up over this three week stretch, they could pull away from Minnesota.

As for Dallas, who has a bye this week, they will face a stretch of games that includes Green Bay, Minnesota and the Giants.

Meanwhile the Giants play Houston, Detroit and Dallas over their next three and could continue to keep the pressure on Philadelphia with two meetings still on the slate.