The Eagles Resting Their Starters Is The Correct Decision
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) and head coach Nick Sirianni celebrate after a victory against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
With one week left in the NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles are gearing up for another deep postseason. Last season, the Eagles ran the table in the playoffs, making it back to the Super Bowl and winning it all in dominant fashion over the Kansas City Chiefs.
In 2025, they had the goal of going back-to-back, a feat that has only been accomplished eight times in NFL history, and it has proved to be quite a difficult task for this Eagles team to accomplish so far. Philadelphia sits at 11-5 on the season, NFC East champions for the second consecutive year, but in a loaded NFC, they are currently the No. 3 seed in the conference.
As the three seed, the Eagles will still host their first playoff game during Wildcard Weekend, against either the San Francisco 49ers or the Los Angeles Rams. However, if the Eagles win the game, the only way that they host a second game is if the two seed, in this case the Chicago Bears, loses in the first round to the already locked-in seven seed, the Green Bay Packers.
Hosting a second playoff game and maybe even a third is a huge advantage for teams, and for this Eagles group, it could mean the difference between a win and a loss. Nick Sirianni coached teams are 5-0 at home in the playoffs, while on the road, it’s 0-2. This current Eagles core of players has never won a road playoff game; the only time they won a postseason game not at Lincoln Financial Field was the Super Bowl last season.
So how can the Eagles get the two seed and the second home playoff game? It’s actually not hard to figure out, as all the Eagles have to do is win their season finale at home against the Washington Commanders, and the Chicago Bears, the current two seed, have to lose their final regular-season game to the Detroit Lions.
Despite having the same record as the Bears, the Eagles would lose the tiebreaker to Chicago due to the Bears defeating the Eagles back on Black Friday in the embarrassing 24-15 loss at home. Since the Eagles don’t control their own destiny for seeding, the question was asked after last weekend’s win over the Buffalo Bills: Do the Eagles play their starters in this weekend’s game?
For the past few weeks, I was in the group that the Eagles need to go for the best seed they can get, and if they were still mathematically alive for a high enough seed, they should continue to play the starters for it. This team thrives playing at home behind the best sports fans in the world, and not having to worry about traveling during the playoffs is a huge plus.
However, where the Eagles are at now in the season, 16 games in, 17 weeks total, battling through injuries and needing rest, it seems like resting starters seems like the best option for this team. The core players need to make it another month and a half of playing football, as if they want to go back-to-back, they need to have the healthiest possible team for the playoff run they want to make.
If they have to travel on the road, so be it. Obviously, sleeping in your own beds before an important game is nice, but the Eagles have thrived on the road under Sirianni, going 6-3 this season and 30-13 since he took over as head coach. The 30-13 road record is the best in the NFL over these last five seasons.
So, on the decision of resting starters, it seems like it’s heading towards that direction as Sirianni announced that Jalen Hurts and most starters would miss Sunday’s contest, with the game likely being a preseason-type contest for the Eagles.
Last year, the Eagles did this same strategy, sitting the majority of the offensive and defensive starters, and they managed to pull out the 20-13 victory over the New York Giants in Tanner McKee‘s first start. The Eagles will do the same, with McKee making his second career start, likely without any other starting offensive players on the field with him. On defense, the same will occur as any player who doesn’t get serious play time will play.
It’s still very likely that McKee and company can beat the Commanders, who themselves have not had the season they were hoping they would after last year’s Conference Championship appearance. If the Eagles can pull out the victtory they will hope to repeat their victory from last year and give the Eagles a chance to jump to the two seed and have the opportunity to host not one but multiple playoff games.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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