The place does the 2024 common season rank amongst all-time Eagles seasons?

The NFL playoffs are lastly right here.

After 18 video games and 19 weeks, the Philadelphia Eagles will start their quest to earn their second Super Bowl title after they welcome the Green Bay Packers to Lincoln Monetary Discipline subsequent Sunday at 4:30pm ET. They’ll achieve this after piling up a franchise record-tying 14 wins and one other NFC East crown, in addition to the No. 2 seed within the NFC.

By advantage of their 14-3 report this season, the franchise now has an all-time win-loss report that is only one sport below .500 (638-639). That’s insane for these of us who started following the crew throughout the Buddy Ryan period, and particularly for individuals who bear in mind the darkish occasions earlier than Dick Vermeil modified the trajectory of the Eagles within the late Seventies.

Sadly, the addition of the seventh wild card crew per convention means the Eagles should not have the primary spherical bye that had traditionally been given to each the Nos. 1 and a pair of seeds within the convention. However, the Eagles are thought of a favourite by some to win their three playoff video games (the primary two assured to be on the Linc) and get again to the Tremendous Bowl for the second time in three years.

Most of this week shall be spent discussing the Packers and whether or not their younger quarterback Jordan Love will play after banging his humorous bone throughout Inexperienced Bay’s loss to the Bears on Sunday, and whether or not Jalen Hurts will clear the concussion protocol in time to apply this week and play on Sunday. We’ll have a large number of storylines to chew on, however earlier than we try this, I wished to place the 2024 common season into perspective.

It was, fairly probably, the perfect Eagles common season we’ve ever seen, and who’d have thought we’d be saying that so shortly after the unbelievable ‘22 season? In reality, there have been seven seasons through which the Eagles have received at the least 12 video games: 1980, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2017, 2022 and ‘24.

This yr’s Eagles may very simply have gone 16-1. Two of their losses got here after a star participant dropped straightforward catches that may have iced video games late within the fourth quarter (Barkley’s drop vs. Atlanta, Devonta Smith’s gaffe in Washington). The one crew to outplay the Eagles this season was in Week 4 in opposition to the Bucs in Tampa.

You could possibly argue the Eagles most likely ought to have misplaced the Carolina sport, their victory secured because of a dropped landing move by Xavier Legette, or ought to have misplaced the New Orleans sport, solely profitable because of a blown defensive task that allowed Dallas Goedert to haul in a 61-yard catch with lower than two minutes left. That mentioned, the Eagles have been the superior crew each time they took the sphere in each sport besides one.

So it obtained me pondering. Was this the perfect Eagles common season we’ve ever seen? It’s a troublesome query to parse as a result of there are such a lot of elements to think about.

• File
• Energy of schedule
• Expectations heading into the season
• Margin of victory
• Level differential
• Particular person participant achievements

Totally different groups play in numerous eras, so it’s vital to have a look at as many metrics as potential. Fortunately, Professional Soccer Reference does an amazing job quantifying a few of these metrics. Under is a desk of the seven Eagles groups that achieved at the least 12 wins in a season and their rating in a few of these key areas.

With regard to Energy of Schedule (SoS), PFR says the upper the quantity, the tougher the power of schedule. Destructive numbers usually imply a softer schedule. SRS is a metric referred to as Simple Rating System, and takes into consideration a crew’s level differential and power of schedule to assign a score to every crew, with 0.0 thought of common. The distinction in two groups’ SRS scores may be thought of to be a degree unfold ought to they play one another, disregarding house subject benefit.

When it comes to level differential, the 2004 Eagles have been the perfect of the bunch, outscoring opponents by 174 factors. These Birds have been the No. 1 seed within the convention and achieved that regardless of dropping Donovan McNabb and Koy Detmer to accidents late within the common season, needing A.J. Feely to take them house down the stretch. That’s additionally the season McNabb and the Eagles tragically fell to the Buccaneers within the NFC Championship Sport on the Vet. The ‘24 Eagles rank 4th among the many groups above in level differential. The ‘02 Birds have been additionally the perfect by way of margin of victory, averaging 10.9 factors per win. This yr’s 9.4 common margin of victory was 4th-best.

When it comes to complete offense (yards), solely the 2022 Eagles piled up extra yardage than the ‘24 Birds. Defensively, this yr’s squad was No. 1 total within the NFL in yardage allowed, the primary time because the legendary 1991 Gang Inexperienced protection that they’ve pulled off that feat. The ‘22 Eagles, nevertheless, completed 2nd, so by way of offense and protection, the squad from two years in the past was most likely a tad extra achieved, however not by a lot.

Nevertheless, many of those numbers lack context. Every crew confronted a unique degree of issue when it got here to their opponents. The 1980 Eagles that misplaced to the Raiders within the Tremendous Bowl confronted essentially the most troublesome schedule of the seven, with the Tremendous Bowl champion 2017 group not far behind. The ‘24 Eagles had the 4th-toughest power of schedule of the seven groups we’re discussing.

That brings us to the Easy Ranking System. This quantity would seem like the perfect one to make use of if we’re searching for a single metric to check totally different seasons, because it takes a lot of the info we have been simply taking a look at and elements all of it in collectively. In line with SRS, the perfect common season was achieved by the ‘80 Birds, adopted intently by Doug Pederson’ ‘17 Tremendous Bowl champs. The ‘24 Eagles, once more, ranked 4th.

It’s clear wanting on the numbers that the ‘80 crew, given the groups they performed and all the opposite metrics, was probably the perfect of all of the 12+ win Eagles groups. The 2017 crew, in my thoughts, was second-best, and possibly would have gone 15-1 had they not locked up the highest seed within the convention with two video games left on the schedule.

The 2002 Eagles are a really underrated crew. They lacked star energy at extensive receiver, however that Andy Reid-led group was head and shoulders higher than everybody else they performed that season, apart from the Steelers in the course of the yr and Tampa on the finish of it.

I imagine this 2024 crew is healthier than the ‘22 crew that misplaced to Patrick Mahomes two years in the past, and we didn’t point out the ‘03 crew all that a lot as a result of they got here in final in nearly each one among these classes. Their report didn’t mirror the very fact they weren’t almost nearly as good as the opposite six groups on this listing.

So, the place do you rank the 2024 Eagles?