Sal Pal on Eagles Schedule: ‘Very Friendly to the Birds’

In the end, the Eagles came out "with a schedule that's very friendly to the birds," said ESPN National NFL reporter Sal Paolantonio joined me on The Sports Bash on Friday.

We went through the 16-game Eagles season, and he projected where he sees wins and losses for the 2020 season.

In the end, Paolantonio has the Eagles being a 11-5 team, a two game improvement from last season.

Eagles 2020 schedule: Season opens in Washington, 4 games in primetime

Based on last year’s records, the Eagles' face a .486 schedule (124-131-1), which ranks as the eighth easiest schedule in the league.

According to last years records, the Eagles will have eight games against teams that ended their 2019 season with a winning record – Dallas (two games), Green Bay, Baltimore, New Orleans, Seattle, San Francisco, and the Los Angeles Rams.  Additionally, Pittsburgh finished 8-8, without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for most of the year.

"You really don't see that many difficult road games for this football team," Paolantonio explained. "I only see two, maybe three difficult road games."

He lists road trips to San Francisco and Green Bay as two tough road games, and a stop in Pittsburgh, depending on Roethlisberger's health.

Here is how Sal sees the Eagles season playing out:

• Week 1 - at Washington (WIN)
  
• Week 2 - vs LA Rams (WIN)
  
  Sal Says: "Rams haven't beaten Eagles in LA, what makes you think they are gonna beat them at the Linc in home opener?"
  
• Week 3 - vs Bengals (WIN)Sal Says: "Jim Schwartz eats rookie QB's alive"
• Week 4 - at San Francisco (LOSS)
• Week 5 - at Pittsburgh (WIN)
  Sal Says: "A very important game that will tell me a lot about this team."
• Week 6 - vs Baltimore (LOSS)
• Week 7 - vs New York (WIN)
  
• Week 8 - vs Dallas (WIN)
  
• Week 9 - BYESal Says: "It's perfect, the schedule-makers really helped the Eagles putting that bye."
• Week 10 - at New York Giants (WIN)Sal Says: "They'll sweep the Giants, the stink on ice"
• Week 11 - at Cleveland (WIN)Sal Says: "This is the next pivotal game on the schedule," 
• Week 12 - vs Seattle (LOSS)Sal Says: "Certain teams just have another teams number, the Seahawks just know how to beat this football team."
• Week 13 - at Green Bay (LOSS)
• Week 14 - vs Saints (LOSS)
  "Sal Says: I have them losing three straight, then winning three straight, the only games possibly I see them winning is when the Saints come in."
• Week 15 - at Cardinals (WIN)
• Week 16 - at Dallas (WIN)
• Week 17 - vs Washington (WIN)Sal Says: "I have them sweeping the division and that propels them to win the division at 11-5."

Here are a couple other observations:

• The Eagles face three teams with first-year coaches who won’t have their players in an offseason program – Mike McCarthy (Dallas), Joe Judge (Giants) and Ron Rivera (Redskins). First-year coaches probably won’t get with their players until training camp.

• Three of their four primetime games are at home, which is an advantage. The only road primetime game is in San Francisco.

• After the Eagles Dec. 13 game with the Saints, they have winnable games against the Cardinals, Dallas and Washington, two of those games are at home. That would build momentum for a strong finish.