Not Time for the Panic Button… Yet

We are four weeks into the 2024 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles are 2-2, and they’re already approaching their bye week. It’s probably safe to say that this is not where most Eagles fans thought the team would be right now, and it’s definitely safe to say this isn’t where we hoped to be. Through four games this team is incredibly hard to get a read on, but if you looked on social media or just asked someone wearing Eagles gear on the street they’d probably tell you that this is the worst team in the league. But is it really that bad?

If you want the short answer, it’s no, but for a longer answer, we need to break down what we’ve seen from the 2024 Eagles so far, because they’re are a lot of factors to consider when looking at how this season has started.

First of all, the schedule needs to be taken into consideration here. Even though the Eagles have technically had two home games and two away games it has been four straight weeks of travel. They opened the season by traveling all the way to São Paulo, Brazil for the NFL’s first-ever game in South America, followed by the technical home opener back in Philly for Monday Night Football. After that, it was a short week before heading into New Orleans for a day game against the Saints, and then having to travel down south again a few days later to face off with the Bucs in Tampa. This much travel weighs on a player. Some people may say a Week 5 bye is too early, and that may be true, but for the Eagles, this could be coming at the perfect time.

Next, we need to consider the opponents, and while you probably won’t see anybody picking these teams to win the Super Bowl, they aren’t scruffs either. The Packers, Falcons, Saints, and Buccaneers currently have a combined record of 9-7. None of these teams are below .500 and all have a legitimate chance of winning their division (even if three of them are in the same one). These are good teams, maybe not great teams, and certainly teams the Eagles should be capable of handling, but that becomes harder when we look at the next factor.

Next up are the injuries, because there have been quite a few. Going into the season, other than Jalen Hurts it would not be surprising to hear people call A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson as the Eagles’ three most important offensive weapons. Thankfully Saquon Barkley has been an absolute godsend because the Eagles were missing all three of those players. A.J. hasn’t played since Week 1, and Devonta and Lane were both hurt in New Orleans, and the offense has felt their absences. Hurts is the type of quarterback who needs to build a lot of trust with his receivers before he feels comfortable throwing to them on a regular basis, so losing his two favorite targets is a tough break, to say the least.

Ok, so we’ve looked at the past, but what about the Eagles’ future should make us feel optimistic? Simple, take all the factors just listed about their first four games and it’s the opposite.

Looking at the Eagles’ schedule for the next four weeks after the bye, they once again have two at home and two away. However, this time both those home games will be at the Linc, and not in a different continent. Additionally, one of the away games is against the Giants, meaning the travel should just be a simple bus ride to the Meadowlands.

Next, we have opponents. Unlike the first four teams’ previously stated combined record of 9-7, the Browns, Bengals, Giants, and Jaguars are a combined 3-13. All of them are 1-3, except for the Jaguars, who remain the league’s only remaining winless team at 0-4. Each of these teams is also tied for or alone at the bottom of their divisions.

Finally, we have health. Like I said this bye week could prove incredibly helpful for the Eagles, as there is a very strong chance we see the returns of Brown, Smith, and Johnson in the Week 6 matchup against the Browns. Other injuries such as Britain Covey are projected to take longer to recover, but losses like these can be offset by the potential return of one of the team’s most exciting rookies last year in Sydney Brown, who is gearing up to make his return.

At this point, the Philadelphia Eagles have no consistency. But four weeks into the season, that’s not the worst thing in the world. Yes, they haven’t shown that they can be a consistently good team, but they haven’t been consistently bad either. These next four games will go a long way in deciding how this season will go. If they’re the team we thought they would be at the beginning of the season, they should have no problem going 3-1 or even 4-0. However, anything less than that then I would consider pressing the panic button because then they will have had nine weeks to show us who they are, and if they still can’t figure it out after all that time it will be too late. But for now, we just need to take a breath, enjoy a Sunday of football where we don’t have to stress about what the Eagles will look like this week, and give this team the opportunity to show us who they really are.

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Bo Lynett

Bo has been a fan of Philly sports his whole life and has spent the entirety of his four years at Colgate University working to start a career in sports media. Double majoring in Economics and Film & Media Studies gave him the opportunity to study both the financial/ analytical and broadcasting/ production sides of the sports world. Outside of the classroom, he’s worked as a director and producer for Colgate’s athletic events streamed on ESPN+ and a writer for the Colgate Athletic Website. Through all of this, however, it was his love of Philly sports that drove him to this career.