Man, the 2023 Eagles season was a weird one. If you’re a Birds fan, you probably spent the first three months of that year feeling like another Super Bowl run was basically a given. They were 10-1. They were beating the best teams in the league. Jalen Hurts was a frontrunner for MVP. And then, well, the wheels didn't just come off—they sort of disintegrated in the middle of the highway.
Looking back at the Philadelphia Eagles 2023 schedule, it’s still wild to see the contrast between the first twelve weeks and the final stretch. It was a gauntlet. Honestly, everyone knew the "Murderer's Row" section of the schedule in November and December would be tough, but nobody expected it to break the team’s spirit quite the way it did.
That Brutal November Stretch
The middle of the Philadelphia Eagles 2023 schedule looked like a nightmare on paper long before the season even started. We're talking about a stretch where they had to play the Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, 49ers, and Cowboys again. Five games. All against Super Bowl contenders.
Kinda shockingly, they actually won the first three.
- Week 9: A 28-23 nail-biter against Dallas at the Linc.
- Week 11: Coming off the bye, they went into Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs 21-17.
- Week 12: An overtime thriller against Buffalo where Jalen Hurts walked it off with a touchdown run in the rain.
At that point, the Eagles were 10-1. They were the "best team in football." But those wins were exhausting. They were coming from behind constantly. The defense was on the field way too long. If you looked closely, the cracks were already starting to show.
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The December Collapse No One Saw Coming
After the Buffalo win, things turned south fast. It started with the San Francisco 49ers coming to Philly in Week 13. That game was supposed to be a heavyweight bout, but it ended up being a 42-19 blowout. It felt like the 49ers provided the rest of the league with a blueprint on how to dismantle the Eagles' defense.
The Philadelphia Eagles 2023 schedule didn't get any easier from there. They went to Dallas and got thumped 33-13. Then came the Seattle game on a Monday night—the "Drew Lock game." Losing that one 20-17 was the moment most fans realized this team was in real trouble.
Even the wins felt like losses toward the end. They barely beat a bad Giants team on Christmas Day. Then came the absolute rock bottom: a Week 17 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona was one of the worst teams in the league at the time, and they walked into South Philly and put up 35 points.
Why the Schedule Fatigue Mattered
Honestly, by the time the Eagles got to the end of their regular season schedule, they looked spent. Jalen Hurts was dealing with a finger injury. A.J. Brown was frustrated. The coaching staff even swapped defensive play-callers in the middle of December—moving from Sean Desai to Matt Patricia—which, let's be real, basically never works.
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By the time Week 18 rolled around, the Eagles had lost control of the NFC East. They got embarrassed by the Giants in the season finale, 27-10, finishing the year 11-6. They went from the #1 seed to a Wild Card spot in about five weeks.
The Full 2023 Regular Season Results
It's helpful to see the whole path laid out to understand the momentum shift.
The season kicked off in New England with a 25-20 win, followed by a short-week victory over the Vikings (34-28). They took care of the Bucs on Monday Night Football (25-11) and survived a scare from the Commanders in overtime (34-31). After a 23-14 win over the Rams, they suffered their first real shock: a 20-14 loss to a Jets team playing without Aaron Rodgers.
They bounced back against Miami (31-17) and Washington again (38-31) before entering that massive Dallas-Kansas City-Buffalo stretch we talked about. Following the 10-1 start, the final six games went: L (49ers), L (Cowboys), L (Seahawks), W (Giants), L (Cardinals), L (Giants).
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The Wild Card Finish
The Philadelphia Eagles 2023 schedule technically ended in Tampa Bay on January 15, 2024. It was a miserable night for Philly fans. The Bucs, who didn't even have a winning record for most of the season, dismantled the Eagles 32-9.
The defense couldn't tackle. The offense looked lost without A.J. Brown, who was out with an injury. It was a merciful end to a season that had become a slow-motion car crash.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Historians
If you're looking back at this season to understand what to watch for in future Eagles campaigns, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Pay attention to "Strength of Schedule" splits. The 2023 Eagles had one of the hardest second-half schedules in NFL history. That level of physical toll is real.
- The 10-1 record was a bit of a mirage. Most of those wins were by one score. In the NFL, "winning ugly" is great until the luck runs out.
- Coaching stability is everything. The mid-season change in defensive leadership was a signal of panic. When the schedule gets tough, that's usually the worst time to change the scheme.
The 2023 season remains a cautionary tale. It proved that in the NFL, it doesn't matter how you start; it's all about who has enough gas left in the tank when December hits.
To get a better sense of how the team has adjusted since then, you can look into the 2024 roster changes, specifically the arrival of Saquon Barkley and the defensive overhaul under Vic Fangio. Checking out the current injury reports and snap counts can also show how the team is managing player fatigue differently now.