The only opportunity left for the Philadelphia Eagles in a disappointing season is the chance to play spoilers.
Flexed to Sunday Night Football in the final week, the Eagles are the only NFC East team eliminated from the postseason dispute before week 17. A win over Washington, however, could prevent the DC team from reaching the playoffs – making it the winner of the Cowboys game -Giants the champion of the division.
Eagles defense coordinator Jim Schwartz said that not allowing Washington to celebrate a division victory was enough motivation for a meaningless Week 17.
“We need to have a hat ban rule this week,” said Schwartz, via PennLive. “We cannot let opponents put on the victory hat in the division at Linc. There is a lot of pride in that, and our whole focus should be [on] achieving this this week. “
Schwartz’s defense was burned this season, including a 20-point loss to Dallas last week, in which the Philadelphia secondary made Andy Dalton look like Roger Staubach.
Asked to evaluate his defense in 2020, Schwartz said it is a game too early for evaluations. These come after your final chance to do something meaningful during the 2020 season, even if it’s just to rain on someone else’s parade.
“There’s a lot at stake,” said Schwartz. “It may not be at stake for us, as a team with a playoff spot and things like that, but we have a lot of individual things that players can still accomplish. We have guys who are trying to win their way into the league and we have a division opponent who will try to celebrate in our field. “