I am not one of those cynics that stand in a wedding reception line and declare to their company, “I give it no more than two years.”
No, I by nature am an optimist. I believe good wins over evil and doing the right thing will result in positive results.
But, despite this sunny disposition, I’m also not a sap. I can read the writing on the wall and when it comes to National Football League teams that think they have hit the payload, I’m the first to proclaim their doom moments ahead.
Take the Washington Commanders for example.
Here is a team that came into the season with Super Bowl odds of 100 to 1 with a first-year head coach and rookie quarterback. When has that combination ever led to something good … oh yeah, last season with the Houston Texans.
But, not often.
There were only two teams in the entire league that opened the 2024 season with longer odds than the Commanders: the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. Then they played the season, and the Broncos have emerged well above expectations and the Panthers are riding a two game winning streak.
So, good things can happen from where narrow possibilities exist.
But the Commanders with Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels running away with their division race and elevated to a clear candidate to not only earn a postseason slot but even the chance to go deep into a playoff run? I have my doubts.
Just how good, and how surprising the Commanders can be, could be decided tonight when Washington travels to Philadelphia to battle the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Commanders have played one more game than the Eagles this season, and lost it, which leaves them one-half game back in the NFC East standings. A win here by Quinn’s boys and they leapfrog to the top spot in the division that has become a two-team race with the demise of the Dallas Cowboys and continued problems of the New York Giants.
Only the NFC North Division leading Detroit Lions have more wins this season, eight, than the seven collected by tonight’s two combatants.
While the Commanders success has been a major surprise, the Eagles run to the top of their division race is pretty much as expected. They opened their 2024 campaign with a win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil, and since stumbling with a pair of losses in their next three games, have reeled off five straight wins.
Last season, the Eagles ended their defense of the National Football Conference title with losses in five of their final six games to drop out of the playoff hunt before the tournament began. That disappointing end to their season put head coach Nick Sirianni’s job in jeopardy … but the Eagles recent success has turned the heat down on those prospects and put Philadelphia in a prime position to recapture the NFC title.
The Eagles do it every way imaginable. Their early season losses were absorbed while Jalen Hurts’ two main targets, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, were sidelined with injuries. The off-season acquisition of Saquon Barkley has added another dimension to Philadelphia’s potent attack. Since the return of their receiving corps, the Eagles haven’t lost a game … at least not straight-up.
During their five-game winning streak, garnered against the likes of the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles are only 3 and 2 against the point spread. It can be argued that the best team they have played in the last six weeks is the squad they meet tonight.
While it is a slim lead for the Eagles in the NFC East, it is a lead. If, in fact, the records were reversed, and the Commanders had the slight edge in the standings I would be on the Eagles tonight.
But what we have is a motivator based on the standings favoring the visitors, and a team that hasn’t yet lived down to their preseason projections … but up to a ranking no one saw coming.
The Eagles are a very good team, the Commanders may have played all they are worth already, but to give four points tonight and go against Washington appears to me to be a high-risk proposition. I’m not putting money on the Commanders, maybe ten weeks is enough for success this year, but I’m not betting against them either.