Getty There is no love lost between Eagles tackle Lane Johnson and the hated Dallas Cowboys.
The road to Tampa Bay for Super Bowl LV is paved in green, midnight green. And lined with a ton of winnable games for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 2020 NFL schedule has been analyzed, chopped, cooked, and dissected in a bevy of delicious ways since being released two weeks ago. Predictions on win-loss records have been made, including premature picks on division winners and Super Bowl champions. All this and no one knows for sure if the 2020 season will even happen. Fingers crossed, it does.
Amid all this chaos, one thing remains certain: the Eagles own one of the league’s easiest schedules and straightest paths to Super Bowl LV. According to the strength-of-schedule rankings, Philly has the eighth-easiest slate in the NFL.
The Eagles’ strength of schedule — calculated by the combined 2019 record of all 16 opponents — ranks slightly harder than the New York Giants. Their opponents’ combined winning percentage from 2019 stands at .486 (124-131-1 overall record).
If the Eagles don’t get at least 10 wins (I have them pegged for 11) then 2020 is a failed season.
They have the 8th easiest road to the Super Bowl, via strength of schedule. #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly
Sure, they have a few brutal road trips sandwiched in there (at San Francisco and Pittsburgh in Weeks 4 and 5, then at Arizona and Dallas in Weeks 15 and 16) but it’s pretty easy. The Eagles get the majority of their “harder” games in the friendly confines of Lincoln Financial Field, including contests against returning playoff teams like Baltimore, Seattle and New Orleans.
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Cowboys Benefitting from ‘Schedule Inequalities’
The Cowboys have an easier slate than the Eagles in 2020.
They rank third in terms of NFL strength of schedule (.458 opponents’ win percentage), and get the Super Bowl runner-up 49ers in Dallas instead of out west. Of course, the Cowboys have the same schedule advantage as the Eagles in regard to playing in the mediocre NFC East.
But, as Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis recently pointed out, the Cowboys have been the beneficiaries of major “scheduling inequalities” over the years.
What does that mean? Well, Sharp analyzed things like the amount of rest in between games and the implications of playing in prime-time contests. His research discovered that the Cowboys received the third-strongest overall benefit from these factors. Meanwhile, the Eagles were the third-worst team impacted negatively by these factors.
The most glaring takeaway should be with regard to the NFC East. The NFC East has two of the teams most negatively impacted by the NFL’s scheduling inequalities (Giants and Eagles) but also has one team that benefits most by the schedule, the Dallas Cowboys. That is extremely unfair and the effect will be further discussed below.
Which teams have been hurt worst by the NFL’s scheduling inequalities?
1. Colts
2. Giants
3. Bears
4. Eagles
5. Texans
Which teams received the strongest benefit of unfair scheduling?
1. Jaguars
2. Cardinals
3. Cowboys
4. Rams
5. Lions
Read: t.co/trsaglRm5H
Sharp elaborated on the schedule inequality by pointing out that the Eagles are the only team in the NFL to play four games in 17 days on three separate occasions in the last decade. Think about that. Nearly half the league (14 teams) haven’t done this once, per Sharp. He uncovered a ton more eye-opening data as it relates to “preparation and rest” variables. Bottom line, the Eagles have been getting screwed for 10 years. Give his whole analysis a read.
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