Everyone remembers the confetti. They remember Nick Foles catching a touchdown pass on 4th down and Brandon Graham's strip-sack on Tom Brady. But if you look back at the eagles season 2017 schedule, it wasn't some cakewalk to glory. Honestly, it was a gauntlet. People talk about that year like it was destiny, but in September 2017, nobody was betting their house on Carson Wentz leading a parade down Broad Street.
The Birds started on the road. Landover, Maryland. A division game against Washington. That’s a tough way to kick things off. They won that one, but then they had to go to Arrowhead. If you’ve ever been to Kansas City, you know that stadium is basically a jet engine made of red bricks. They lost. 1-1. At that point, the "same old Eagles" narrative was starting to creep in. But then came the home opener against the Giants, and everything changed because of a 61-yard kick by a guy named Jake Elliott who had just been signed off a practice squad.
Breaking Down the Grueling Mid-Season Stretch
The middle of the eagles season 2017 schedule is where the identity of that team was actually forged. It wasn't just about winning; it was about how they won. They went on a tear. Between Week 3 and Week 13, they didn't lose a single game. Not one.
Think about the variety of opponents they faced. They dismantled Arizona. They went into Carolina on a short week for Thursday Night Football—a game where the officiating was, frankly, questionable at best—and Pete Morelli's crew seemed determined to keep the Panthers in it. The Eagles still won. That was the night people started saying, "Wait, is Carson Wentz actually the MVP?" He was playing like a video game character, escaping sacks and throwing darts while falling down.
Then came the blowout of the Broncos. Denver had the "No Fly Zone" defense back then, and the Eagles hung 51 points on them. 51. It was offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo putting on an absolute clinic. They were using RPOs (Run-Push Options) before the rest of the league really knew how to stop them. LeGarrette Blount was bruising people, Jay Ajayi showed up mid-season after a trade from Miami and immediately ripped off a huge touchdown against Denver, and the chemistry was just... weirdly perfect.
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The West Coast Trip That Changed Everything
If you want to talk about the most pivotal moment of the eagles season 2017 schedule, you have to look at the December road trip. The team stayed out west. They played Seattle, lost, and then headed to Los Angeles to face the Rams.
The Rams game was a shootout. It was beautiful and terrifying. And then, the air left the balloon. Wentz dove for the end zone, got sandwiched, and tore his ACL. He stayed in for a few more plays—threw a touchdown to Alshon Jeffery on a broken knee, which is still insane to think about—but that was it. Season over? Most of us thought so. The national media definitely thought so. The "Underdog" thing didn't start in the playoffs; it started the second the MRI results came back from LA.
Why the Final Month of the Schedule Was a Stress Test
Nick Foles stepped in. His first start back as an Eagle was against the Giants in North Jersey. It wasn't pretty. The defense actually had to bail them out, blocking several kicks just to survive with a 34-29 win.
Then came the Christmas night game against Oakland. It was freezing. The field at Lincoln Financial Field looked like a sandpit. Foles looked terrible. He was hesitant. The timing was off. The Eagles won 19-10, clinching the #1 seed, but nobody was celebrating. The city of Philadelphia was in a collective panic. How were they going to beat the Saints or the Vikings with that version of the offense?
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The regular-season finale against Dallas was a zero-point effort. A 6-0 loss. Sure, the starters didn't play much, but the vibes were atrocious. That’s the nuance people forget. The eagles season 2017 schedule ended on such a low note that they were the first #1 seed in NFL history to be home underdogs in the Divisional Round against a #6 seed (the Falcons).
Examining the Opponent Strength
When you look back at the SOS (Strength of Schedule), the Eagles actually benefited from a weak NFC East that year. The Giants were a disaster, finishing 3-13. Dallas was 9-7 but lacked consistency. Washington was middle-of-the-pack. But the Eagles' non-division wins were high-quality.
- Beating the Panthers (11-5) on the road.
- Beating the Rams (11-5) on the road.
- Crushing the Vikings (13-3) in the NFC Championship (though that's postseason).
The 2017 schedule forced them to travel a lot early. They had three road games in their first four weeks. That builds a certain kind of toughness in a locker room. By the time they got to the "Hungry Dogs Run Faster" phase of the playoffs, they had already spent months being told their success was a fluke or that they were "frauds" because of Wentz's injury.
The Cultural Impact of the 2017 Calendar
It wasn't just about football. That 2017 season coincided with a specific energy in Philly. The "Philly Special" wasn't just a play; it was a culmination of a season where Doug Pederson coached like he had nothing to lose.
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If you look at the Week 12 game against Chicago, the Eagles did an electric slide in the end zone after an interception. They were having fun. That’s something you don't see on every NFL schedule. The 2017 Eagles were a team that genuinely liked each other. From the "Group Celebration" era being born to the Kelce speech at the end, the timing of these games created a momentum that even a backup QB couldn't derail.
Lessons from the 2017 Campaign
What can we actually learn by analyzing the eagles season 2017 schedule today? First, depth is more important than your QB1. Howie Roseman built a roster where the backup QB, the backup LT (Halapoulivaati Vaitai), and a rotating cast of linebackers were good enough to win a Ring.
Second, the "trap game" is real. The Eagles almost blew it against the Giants late in the year. If they hadn't secured that #1 seed, they would have had to go to Minnesota for the NFC Championship. They wouldn't have won that game in a dome on the road. The schedule layout—specifically getting those early wins to cushion the late-season injury—was the only reason they got a parade.
If you're looking to dive deeper into the stats of that year, check out the Pro Football Reference pages for the 2017 Eagles. It's wild to see how balanced the scoring was. Nelson Agholor’s resurgence in the slot, Zach Ertz becoming a touchdown machine, and a defensive line that went eight-deep.
To really understand the 2017 season, you should:
- Watch the "All or Nothing" season on Amazon Prime that covers this era. It shows the behind-the-scenes stress of the Wentz injury.
- Analyze the 3rd down conversion rates from Week 1 to Week 14. The Eagles were historically good, which kept their defense fresh.
- Study Doug Pederson's aggressiveness. He went for it on 4th down more than almost anyone else that year, changing the way the NFL views math and probability.
The schedule says they went 13-3. But the story of those 16 games is about a team that survived a nightmare December to pull off the greatest "underdog" run in the history of the sport. It wasn't a fluke; it was a slow build-up of resilience that started all the way back in Landover in Week 1.