What a difference a couple of weeks make.
The Eagles defeated the Cowboys back on Nov. 27 in Dallas to take a full game lead at the top of the NFC East with the return game in Philadelphia still to come. Fast forward a couple weeks later and the Eagles have dropped two straight home games to the Seahawks and Cowboys and now find themselves on the outside of the NFC playoff picture with two weeks remaining.
All is not lost for the Eagles though.
They finish their regular season with two very winnable road games against the Redskins and Giants, two bad teams with very little to play for. The Week 16 NFL betting lines list Philly as massive 8.5-point favorites against Washington.
The Eagles still need some help, but winning those two games give them a very good shot at squeezing in, either through the division as champions or as a wild-card. The help they need involves the Cowboys, Seahawks or Packers slipping up in the final two weeks, which is still entirely possible.
Dallas, which could have DeMarco Murray out after undergoing hand surgery, has to host Andrew Luck and the Colts. The Seahawks still have tough games against the Cardinals and Rams, and the Packers end their season against the Lions.
But in order for the Eagles to hold up their end of the bargain and win out, their running game needs to find some better consistency.
After burning the Cowboys for a season-high 256 yards in Dallas, they could only muster 75 in their home loss. It goes without saying that the less influence quarterback Mark Sanchez (who threw another two picks against the Cowboys) has on a game, the better for the Eagles.
The Eagles made things much tougher than they needed to be, but there’s still time to atone for their mistakes and make one final playoff push.
