PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Super Bowl champion Eagles are set to play for the No. 2 seed in the NFC — without several key starters.
Which ones, coach Nick Sirianni declined to say.
Yet it seems like a safe bet Sirianni — who last season benched Saquon Barkley in the finale with his shot at the NFL rushing record at stake — will again rest Barkley, Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts and other pivotal players in Sunday's home game against Washington.
The Eagles (11-5)
would earn the No. 2 seed if they beat the Commanders (4-12) on Sunday and Chicago loses to Detroit.
If not, the Eagles are the No. 3 seed.
What difference does one seed make?
Plenty.
The No. 2 seed could earn the Eagles two home playoff games and maybe even three if the top seed (San Francisco or Seattle) lose in the playoffs. The scenario could happen — just as it did last season when No. 1 seed Detroit lost and the Eagles won three home games on the way to their Super Bowl championship.
Sirianni has stressed this week the value of a game off —- essentially a bye week — and used examples such as last season when Week 18 was a bye week for the Eagles starters and they rolled to the franchise's second Super Bowl championship with a rout over Kansas City.
Hurts, who twice this season has failed to complete a pass in the second half of wins against Tampa Bay and Buffalo, understood he could yield the starting job to Tanner McKee.
“Just giving my trust to the coaches and trust in their plans and everything they do,” Hurts said Wednesday.
The Eagles will sit some starters, some will be limited, and others will be dressed but not play as the team needs to meet the league minimum of available players.
“If I look back at how beneficial some of the byes that we’ve had have been, that’s part of the reason why you think through it. It’s a marathon of a season,” Sirianni said. “You give your guys some rest, you get some time to think through some different things, even though you’re preparing for an opponent as you go. Both times that I’ve been here that we’ve been to the Super Bowl, we’ve had that opportunity for a bye, and that’s ’22 and obviously ‘24.”
The Eagles are currently the No. 3 seed and could host the Rams or the 49ers in the wild-card round. If they earn the No. 2 seed, the Eagles will host the Packers.
The Eagles are poised to turn to McKee, a sixth-round pick out of Stanford in 2023 who has thrown for 356 career yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions in limited action the last two seasons.
“I think that when you see Tanner, he’s really good about knowing where to go with the football, seeing the defense, and being able to deliver things accurately,” Sirianni said. “It’s a great room where those guys feed off each other and learn from each other. He’s got Jalen, being able to learn from Jalen, which is a huge deal.”
Sirianni's decision dropped the Eagles from eight-point favorites on Monday to beat the Commanders to four-point favorites on Wednesday, per BetMGM Sportsbook. The Eagles clinched the NFC East two weeks ago with a 29-18 win over the Commanders — who are expected to start third-string quarterback Josh Johnson on Sunday.
McKee threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a game full of backups to help the Eagles tune up for the postseason with a 20-13 victory over the Giants in last season's finale.
Barkley lost his shot at breaking Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season rushing record. Barkley finished the season with 2,005 yards rushing, 101 yards shy of breaking Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards set with the Los Angeles Rams in 1984.
Hurts was sidelined with a concussion but wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and offensive linemen Landon Dickerson and Lane Johnson were among the regulars who sat out against the Giants last season.
The Eagles are rolling the dice they can beat the Commanders and possibly earn the No. 2 seed without their best players.
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