NFL schedule makers deal Eagles a bad hand ahead of 2025 regular-season campaign
Every once in a while, if you're like most, you think of Jason Kelce's iconic speech at the first-ever Philadelphia Eagles victory parade. That was a great day. He threw on full Mummers regalia and sang off-key about how everyone hated the City of Brotherly Love and its citizens didn't care.
Though it didn't seem like much then, weird things have made us wonder if the G.O.A.T.'s words were more prophetic than we had initially given him credit for. Remember that slippery field at Super Bowl 57? Remember that strange holding call on James Bradberry when physical play was allowed for the entire game?
It was almost as if the referees changed the strike zone in the bottom of the ninth inning in game seven with two outs. Sure, the Birds won another Super Bowl since then. Still, we feel like the refs owe us a few. The Eagles should have three Lombardi Trophies on the shelf.
Say what you will about blaming the refs being bush league and everything. Maybe it is, but every once in a while, something else pops up. Each time it happens, it becomes easy to ask the question. Is it too far off base to say the NFL does have something against the Eagles?
The NFL dealt the Eagles a bad hand with the structure of Philly's 2025 regular-season schedule.
If you're like most, you made sure you were around a television or on your devices when the full Eagles schedule was revealed. You probably asked yourself a question. What's going on with the structure of this schedule?
Consider this a good-news, bad-news scenario. Philadelphia won't rack up many frequent flier miles during the coming campaign. In total, they'll log 15,924. That ranks lowest among the NFC East's four teams.
That's obviously the good news. The bad news is that they're the first defending Super Bowl champion in history to tackle an entire regular season without consecutive home games on their schedule. Couple that with the fact that they're scheduled for five primetime games, and we're obviously discussing an emotionally taxing, physically challenging, and mentally exhausting campaign.
A.J. is already on record. He isn't a fan of the large number of primetime affairs. Traveling every other week seems like a worse proposition, though. This is undoubtedly a raw deal.
Sure, we know the Birds will handle this with class, and no one will complain. Maybe they'll use this as a rallying call, but it's easy to side with Jason Kelce's stance. Perhaps the powers that be do have it out for the NFL's franchise in Philadelphia.
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