Sorting out the schedule
Date: 07-04-2006 14:32
 PHILADELPHIA -- Five things I think I think about the 2006 NFL schedule:
1. I think the Eagles have the toughest late-season stretch of any team in the NFL.
Here in Cheesesteakville, the conspiracy theorists are already wondering: Why is Mr. Schedule Maker such a vengeful person? The Philly schedule comes in like a lamb (at Houston, Giants at home, at San Francisco, Green Bay at home) but goes out like a lion. And I don't mean Detroit.
The Eagles had better start fast. Very fast. And they'd better have some help from unforeseen misfortune befalling their fellow NFC East foes. Because in a 30-day span beginning Thanksgiving weekend, Philadelphia has a five-game endurance test (see chart, right).
Then, on a short week, the Eagles come home from the Monday-night Christmas fling in Dallas ... to play Atlanta in the regular-season finale. The Falcons were 8-8 last year, and you know and I know they could be 5-10 entering that last game this season. But they could also be 11-4. They obviously ride on Mike Vick's coattails, and if he's healthy and good this year, the sky's the limit.
But let's take a closer look at that five-week stretch for the Eagles. The one thing you never know is how a team that looks very good right now is going to look in December. Some of the best teams now could stink to high heaven by then. But we can't know that now. All we know today is you'd think an Eagles game at Houston would look a heck of a lot more winnable than an Eagles game at FedEx or the Meadowlands.
The average 2005 record of the teams Philadelphia faces in that five-game stretch: 11-5. The number of those five teams who made the playoffs in 2005: four. The lone exception is Dallas, and you'd have to think the week leading up to the Cowboys game and Philadelphia's second encounter with Terrell Owens is going to be wrenching for the Eagles. (Dallas visits Philly on Oct. 8.)
The look on Eagles employees' faces when they saw this slate: grief-stricken.
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