It should be impossible to keep doing this.
It would be impossible to live on the brink as the Eagles do, winning game after game decided in the final minutes and seconds. They have a double-digit lead. Take a big lead before clawing back just before it’s too late. Keep your opponent in the game with mistakes, turnovers, and penalties. You play with the bad half and the good half. Or a good quarter. Or one good drive he had.
It would be impossible for them to stay in first place by playing with fire like the Eagles.
But here we are.
The Eagles have yet to pitch a complete game. On the same day they still haven’t played well in all three phases. They haven’t crushed the team yet.
However, they found their way to 9-1 and now own or share the NFL’s best record for an incredible 29 consecutive weeks, with this streak guaranteed to increase to at least 30 weeks. There is.
Nothing was easy for the Eagles in 2023.
After a gut-wrenching 21-17 victory over the Chiefs on Monday night at Arrowhead, they have won games this year by 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14 and 14 points. There is. The nine-point win against the Rams was a six-point game until the final minutes. It was their second win by 14 points, against the Dolphins, and it was a close game with a seven-point lead until the final minutes. The win against the Bucks wasn’t the only one-possession game late in the fourth quarter.
And yes, 9-1 is great and all, but it would be nice to throw in a 45-6 or 38-10 here and there so Eagles fans can actually relax in the fourth quarter once in a while.
How unusual is it to go 9 wins and 1 loss without winning a single game by 14 points or more?
The Eagles are the first in 47 years to do so since the 1976 Raiders, who defeated the Vikings in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl.
On the other hand, one might wonder if regression to the mean will eventually catch up with the Eagles and turn some of those last-minute wins into last-minute losses. The Eagles are 6-1 in one-possession games this year and 14-2 in their last 16 games since the second half of 2021.
This is the seventh time in franchise history that the team has won three consecutive games by seven points or less, and the first time since 2003.
The six wins by a touchdown or less are already tied for the most in an entire season in franchise history. 7 games left.
3rd place with 67 points differencerd-The smallest streak in NFL history by a team with at least nine wins through 10 games. The 2006 Colts were plus-60 and the 1976 Raiders were plus-53. Both happened to win the Super Bowl.
Is this sustainable?
Can the Eagles keep winning? Is this team living dangerously and taking breaks in the final minutes every week? Will playing all these close games allow them to eventually catch up?
Or is this a team that has the rare ability to find a way to win even if they don’t play well for three and a half quarters? This is a team that has a knack for playing through adversity, mistakes, turnovers and penalties in the second half of the fourth quarter when they have to make plays. The team will find a way to win no matter what.
We don’t know for sure yet, but my intuition is that the ball bounces in a certain direction for a reason. There’s a reason elite players make elite plays in the final minutes. There’s a reason why teams play better at the end of a game than at the beginning.
It may be dangerous for Eagles fans’ heart health, it may cause sleepless nights, it may drive some people completely insane, but it’s no coincidence that the team keeps making big plays until the end. I don’t think so.
And this is what it all comes down to. If you’re 9-1 with the best record in the NFL and you haven’t pitched a complete game yet, what happens when you pitch a complete game? What happens when the Eagles are at their best from start to finish? Offense, defense, When you figure out how to consistently get your special teams together for 60 minutes? When the plays they’re making at the end of the game happen throughout the entire game?
Can you just imagine?
They’re not going to lose.