The NFL schedule for this season is officially here! After the leaks and teasers all week, Eagles fans now know exactly when their team will be playing from September through January. There will be Eagles football on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and more, but some Birds fans out there are already gunning to see them play on the road this year, giving new meaning to “Eagles Everywhere.”
If you’re looking for an Eagles road trip this year, which one is the best? Here’s my ranking of the Birds’ eight
away games as I lay out which ones are the best to attend, taking into consideration, the weather, the time of the year, the opponent and whatever else comes to mind…
8. Dallas Cowboys, Week 12, Thursday, Nov. 26, 4:30 p.m.
The Eagles will be heading down to Texas for a Thanksgiving afternoon matchup with the Cowboys. I made my first Eagles-Cowboys road trip last season, which saw the Birds blow a 21-point lead right in front of my eyes. Not great! Surprisingly, and perhaps even anticlimactically, Cowboys fans were welcoming and fairly nice to my friends and me.
I don’t see the appeal in the slightest, however, in spending the holiday down in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area. Sit on your couch with your family and take a quick nap at halftime after the second helping of sweet potato yams! I’ve attended an Eagles Thanksgiving home game before, which was against Arizona in 2008. That’s a little different. It was the late game for the day and it was an easy trip for someone living in the city itself. Flying that time of the year is stressful and expensive, too.
I’m out on it!
7. Washington Commanders, Week 8, Sunday, No. 1, 8:20 p.m.
What an absolute dump. Know what’s worse than a dilapidated stadium in the early afternoon? A dilapidated stadium at night. The Commanders play in the middle of nowhere and it’s hard to get both into and out of the stadium grounds. A quick day trip for a game like this makes sense if you’re on one of those large fan-centric buses, but with a trip of roughly two-and-a-half hours before even taking traffic into consideration, those are much more palatable for 1 p.m. games rather than prime-time ones.
Oh, yeah, Northwest Stadium has the worst sight lines of any NFL home, too.
Hard pass!
6. San Francisco 49ers, Week 17, Jan. 3, 8:20 p.m.
Levi’s Stadium, home of the 49ers, is actually in Santa Clara, about a 50-minute drive from San Francisco proper, so this isn’t necessarily the easiest game to get to if you were planning on staying in the Bay Area for a weekend. It’s in stark contrast to the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark, Oracle Park, which is perhaps the best in-city stadium in all of American sports, right alongside the San Francisco Bay.
These teams that play nowhere close to their city centers take the simplicity and fun out of road trips. Going to an Eagles game in general is almost always a stressful endeavor, win or lose. Adding logistical nightmares once you’re just waiting for kickoff only hurts the overall experience.
While I imagine the weather will be terrible for this, there is a chance that a Week 17 Eagles-49ers game has major playoff implications. I’m still throwing up a travel advisory though!
5. New York Giants, Week 18, date and time TBD
Week 18 could be an entirely meaningless affair for the Birds. Perhaps if you’re hitting MetLife Stadium for this one, you’ll see Cole Payton’s first real NFL action. Going along with that train of thought, seeing a game with rather low stakes makes for a decent first road trip experience, particularly for one this close just up I-95 to the swamps of New Jersey. It’s like dipping your feet into the shallow end of the pool before cannonballing into AT&T Stadium for an Eagles-Cowboys game.
Anyway, there isn’t a lot of pizzazz about seeing an Eagles-Giants game on the road, but it’s enjoyable enough with a short commute and there’s bound to be a good amount of Birds fans in attendance too. I’ve made trips to MetLife as both a media member and a fan. There are worse ways to spend your time!
4. Arizona Cardinals, Week 13, Dec. 6, 4:05 p.m.
I went to the Super Bowl Week festivities as a media member for Eagles-Chiefs I. Downtown Phoenix was actually pretty sweet and there’s a famed Eagles bar in nearby Scottsdale I hit up called Rockbar. Good people there! The vibes are good, but I will say that the Cardinals’ stadium itself is in Glendale, which is a little under a half hour away from Phoenix itself. That’s not the worst ride ever, especially compared to some other locales on this list, but still merits mention.
Arizona in December would be a nice way to escape a Philadelphia winter for a little as well!
3. Jacksonville Jaguars, Week 5, Oct. 11, 9:30 a.m.
I’ll be honest when I say this slate of potential road trips this season is pretty weak.
The Jaguars game in London, just like the one the Eagles made the trip across the pond for in 2018, is the first one that intrigues me in the slightest, but I still don’t love it.
Aside from feelings on the NFL’s over-expansion into the international market, I feel like if you’re going to go to London or Europe in general, you should do a legitimate trip where you take in the culture, see the sights and live a way you never have before rather than merely partying with Birds fans for a handful of days and seeing the Eagles play in person. We’ve already spent our lives doing that!
If you have the cash and can make the trip, I imagine you’ll still have fun regardless, but I adhere to my stance on seeing the Eagles overseas.
2. Chicago Bears, Week 3, Sept. 28, 8:15 p.m.
There is a clear-cut top two for my list. I love Chicago. It’s a great city. I’ve been a few times over the years, most recently during a 4th of July trip in 2024 to see the Phillies play at Wrigley Field and take it all in. The Windy City can obviously get a little cold, so my fear was that this Eagles-Bears matchup would come late in the season with the weather causing this trip to lose some of its inherent charm.
Late September in primetime at Soldier Field? That’s electric. Make the trip before the Bears have a new suburban Chicago or Indiana, too!
Make sure to do the architecture boat tour if you go as well. Is it clichéd? A bit. Is it worthwhile nonetheless? Very much so.
1. Tennessee Titans, Week 2, Sept. 20, 1:00 p.m.
I know Eagles fans are going to pack this one. It’s a guarantee.
I will speak from experience now…
I saw the Eagles play in Nashville back in Sept. 2018. The Birds were coming off their first Super Bowl win and fans overtook the town. I’m not into the whole honky tonk scene down there, but the food was excellent and the energy was great. It was quite hot though given that it was Tennessee in September. For that Eagles-Titans game, an overtime loss unfortunately, kickoff temperature is listed as 80 degrees on pro-football-reference, but being in the top level of Nissan Stadium with the sun beating down, it easily felt 15 degrees hotter than that. A sweaty walk to my now-wife and I’s Airbnb after that loss was brutal, but fun was had regardless that weekend!
I give an early season Nashville adventure my official stamp of approval!
