By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

The Eagles are coming off of yet another loss as they will play host to one of the NFL’s best teams in the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens come into this matchup off of a 24-point win against the Bengals. For reference, these are the same Bengals that the Eagles had to scratch and claw their way to a tie with. That’ll give you a good indication of the direction of the Ravens and Eagles seasons.

The Eagles arguably played one of their best games last Sunday in Pittsburgh. Though they lost, they showed signs of life and resolve even after falling behind by 17 points in the second half.

That, along with another breakout performance from an Eagles practice squad player, has given Eagles fans some semblance of hope. I told you guys to put that Travis Fulgham jersey in your carts last week, so I hope to see green Eagles #13 jerseys (they better not say Agholor on the back) in the Linc on Sunday.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Lincoln Financial Field will host fans for the first time this season when they let 7,500 Eagles fans through their gates. What an absolute nightmare scenario for Nathan Gerry.

Nate Gerry on Sunday: https://t.co/LGniATFln1 pic.twitter.com/SnZJDShAnR

— Eagles Fan Problems (@EagleFanProbs) October 13, 2020

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

The Eagles are coming off of their first win of the season and now sit atop the NFC East. Yes, you read that correctly.

The 1-2-1 Eagles will travel to the other side of Pennsylvania for a rare cross-state date with the unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh had their game postponed last week after a COVID-19 outbreak within the Tennessee Titans organization. Therefore, the Steelers will be coming into this matchup healthy and rested.

As is the case every week, the Eagles cannot say the same. Alshon Jeffery will miss yet another game, this time due to a “non-COVID related illness.” Hm.

DeSean Jackson is also going to be out, as he will miss his third straight game. This means we will be seeing the practice squad all-stars (and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside) back in action at receiver. You know what that means? It’s time to officially add that Travis Fulgham jersey to your cart.

pic.twitter.com/sC1FOtCSYg

— shamus (@shamus_clancy) October 4, 2020

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

I guess I was wrong. It can get worse.

The Eagles are coming off of the most embarrassing Eagles game since...week one? Doug Pederson, notorious for his aggression, inexplicably chose to play for the tie with 19 seconds remaining in overtime last week instead of attempting a 64-yard field goal. Frustrating cannot even begin to describe the emotions of Eagles fans everywhere.

The Birds will travel to San Francisco to take on the injury-riddled 49ers on Sunday Night Football. That’s right, the 0-2-1 Eagles are on national television. Oh joy. I don’t even want to know what Twitter is going to look like with everyone watching this game.

The 49ers (2-1) are coming off of back-to-back dominant wins in MetLife stadium against both the Jets and Giants. The Niners have lost a plethora of players to injury over the past two weeks and are the only team in the league within spitting distance of the Eagles lead for “players listed on the injury report.” Quite the prestigious title.

The Eagles have so many injuries heading into this game that Doug Pederson has said that the coaching staff is going to have to get creative with offensive skill players this week. If there is anything I have learned over the first three weeks, it is that there is nothing that Eagles coaches struggle with more than being creative.

I’m truly intrigued to see what creativity means to them. If their only answer is Jalen Hurts read options I’m going to be waiting for Mr. Pederson and friends at the gates of the NovaCare complex.

Look at the injury report from Wednesday. My question is, if all of these guys weren’t practicing, who exactly was practicing? Greg Ward was the only wide receiver on the 53-man roster to practice on Thursday.

It. Is. Week. Four. How is this even possible three years in a row?

Wednesday Injury Report pic.twitter.com/DsitOm7ZsV

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 30, 2020

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

It’s rare that you see a situation in football where a game can be considered a “get right game” and also a must-win in week 3. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, that’s what the Eagles are faced with this week.

The Birds are looking to avoid the disaster that would be starting the season 0-3 as they welcome the winless Cincinnati Bengals to South Philadelphia.

Nothing about the first two games of the Eagles season has gone according to plan. Coaches, players, and management alike have got to be frustrated with how this team has looked to start the year.

At least one thing has remained constant for this team: injuries. The Eagles lost guard Isaac Seumalo and rookie receiver Jalen Reagor for at least the next three weeks as they were both placed on injured reserve after suffering injuries last Sunday.

How the Eagles manage to consistently be the most injury prone team in football year in and year out is just pure witchcraft at this point. That, or each and every medical staff the Eagles have brought in over the past few years are closet Cowboys fans.

Here’s to hoping, at the very least, that the Eagles can avoid any and all kinds of injury this weekend.

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

Where oh where do I start.

The Eagles (0-1) will play their home opener on Sunday afternoon against the Los Angeles Rams (1-0). The two teams are coming into this one off of vastly different outcomes in week one.

The Rams defeated the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football to open up their crown jewel of a stadium and looked pretty solid all the way around.

The Eagles, meanwhile, blew a 17-point lead to a team that doesn’t even have a real name and had scandal after scandal all offseason.

Like I said, vastly different outcomes. The good news is that was only one game, and the Eagles can make up for it. On a much more pessimistic viewpoint, the Eagles have already been ravaged by the ever-present injury bug.

Just how bad are the Eagles injuries relative to the rest of the NFL? Very bad.

The Eagles lead the NFL with the most players on IR and listed as out in week 1, with 13

Sea was tied with 13. SF has 11. But they are missing 0 and 2 starters respectively. The Eagles are missing 7 pic.twitter.com/NTVaL4b3tO

— Patrick (@EaglesPMC) September 14, 2020

With that being said, it appears as though many Eagles will be making their way back to the game field for Sunday’s game. Derek Barnett, Miles Sanders, and Lane Johnson are all expected to play this weekend after missing last week’s contest. Furthermore, Jason Peters and Brandon Graham are also expected to play after suffering injuries on Sunday. Thank the heavens.

With those guys now in the lineup, does that make me more confident for Sunday? Yes, but that really isn’t saying much, considering where my confidence levels were at around 4 p.m. last Sunday.

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

We’ve made it. Eagles football is finally back, and while it may look a little different with fans in the stands an unlikely scenario for this season, all that means is more people will join me in screaming at their televisions.

Oh how I’ve missed Zach Ertz’s inability to break tackles, Nathan Gerry getting juked out of his cleats, and the Eagles secondary getting burnt to a crisp.

And don’t you fret Eagles fans! We get to see the majesty that is Jason Peters’ half-second too early false starts for at least one more season. I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

1st and 15 all 2020. pic.twitter.com/zEByTUAphn

— Victor Williams (@ThePhillyPod) August 27, 2020

For the third time in four seasons, the Eagles opening day game will be against the Washington Re-- ...I mean Football Team. As we all know by now, after many years of outside pressure, the Washington franchise was finally forced to change their nickname by the league.

They clearly had the creative juices flowing when they came up with this name.

It begins here... pic.twitter.com/CHCCZ64W81

— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) July 23, 2020

My oh my, the things I would sacrifice to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting.

All joking aside, the Eagles and Washington have played in some really close contests over the past few years. Despite the narrow margins, the Eagles have come out on top in each of the last six meetings. Many of those games have provided some great memories for Philly fans.

Doug Pederson will be coaching against Ron Rivera, who will be making his head coaching debut for Washington (prayers to him, as he was recently diagnosed with cancer). The Eagles enter Sunday afternoon’s game in Landover as 5.5 point favorites.

(Carson Wentz threw a touchdown on this play. More on that later.)

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

With the era of Washington “Redskins” football officially over, and the Eagles being the first opponent of the new, but not improved, “Washington Football Team,” it seems like as good a time as ever to take a stroll down memory lane and remember the best moments from the Eagles-Redskins rivalry.

The two teams first matchup occurred in October of 1934 and they have had plenty of memorable moments since then.

Washington leads the all-time series with a record of 86-79-5 against the Birds. The Redskins also won the only postseason game between the two rivals in the 1990 Wild Card round by a score of 20-6.

Yet, that is not the most remembered Eagles-Redskins game from that season.

Since the turn of the century, the Eagles have won 25 of the 40 matchups, including each of the last six games. Three of those six games will be mentioned in this top ten, which proves how wild this rivalry has been as of late.

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

The Phillies travel to the nation’s capital Tuesday night to take on the defending World Series champions for the first time this season.

Both teams have severely underwhelmed thus far, as they both sit at the bottom of the NL East standings with records under .500.

The Phillies come into this series with the same issue they’ve had all season: the bullpen. Before Sunday night’s victory by the narrowest of margins, the Phils had lost five consecutive games. In three of those five games, the Phils held a late lead that would be ultimately blown by numerous characters in the bullpen.

Even the new guy the Phillies acquired, closer Brandon Workman, promptly blew a save against Atlanta in his debut as a Phil. Had it not been for a phenomenal relay by the unlikely trio of Roman Quinn, Didi Gregorius, and Andrew Knapp on Sunday night, Workman would have blown the lead in that game too. Not great!

Meanwhile, the Nationals come into this series off of a rare five game series against Miami, where they lost three of five. The Nationals have underperformed, largely due to their pitching as well. While they have one of the better offenses in the league, the pitching ranks toward the bottom. As a team, they have even had some of the same issues the Phillies have had on the mound and at the plate.

Essentially, this series is going to come down to which team’s pitching staff implodes first.

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

The first installment of Philadelphia vs. Boston today will be the baseball variety at 1:35. Here’s to hoping that both legs of these matchups go similarly to last night’s Phillies-Red Sox game, a 13-6 drubbing by the Phils.

It’s beginning to appear like the Phillies have turned a corner after struggling to open the season. The Fightin’ Phils have won four in a row and can see their record go over .500 for the first time this season with a win today.

During this four game winning streak, the Phillies have begun to do everything that people complained they didn’t do. The offense is hotter than a fox in a forest fire right now. It seems like everyone is hitting the ball well (except Kingery), as they’ve scored 31 runs over the last four contests.

The pitching staff has looked a lot better, but I still wouldn’t call it good. Eflin did not have his best stuff last night, as he gave up four runs in just four innings of work. However, the bullpen continued their streak of not absolutely imploding, as they gave up just two runs over the final five innings. That’s what we call improvement, folks.

By Matt Szczypiorski, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer

The Phillies travel up north to the legendary Fenway Park to play the first of two games against the struggling Boston Red Sox tonight (7:30). Philadelphia sports fans are hoping that this rendition of Philly vs. Boston goes better than last night’s basketball version.

I’d rather watch the Phillies bullpen than another Brett Brown coached Sixers game.

— Victor Williams (@ThePhillyPod) August 18, 2020

The Phillies are coming off of a timely, yet unprecedented, sweep of the New York Mets. The suddenly hot Phils may have just saved their season this past weekend, as they now find themselves in the thick of the expanded playoff race.

The key to their success over the weekend: starting pitching. The one-two punch of Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler gave up just two runs over 13 innings pitched combined. The bullpen even pitched better than they had all season, allowing just three runs over the three games set.

If the bullpen keeps pitching like that, look out. Us Philly fans might mess around and have some confidence.