Schrager’s Cheat Sheet: Eagles’ favorable stretch run; Tua’s cold-weather blues

Every week, FOX Sports NFL Insider Peter Schrager opens his notebook and opines on three of the biggest storylines around the league. Here are his thoughts heading into Week 13, including what makes the Eagles such an imposing squad, a Dolphins quarterback trying to squash a cold-weather narrative, and a surprising kicking epidemic in the NFL.

The Eagles Look the Part

I had to be in the building for Sunday night’s Eagles–Rams showdown in Los Angeles. I typically would fly back home to New York after the “FOX NFL Kickoff show” on the FOX lot so I could be in the chair for “Good Morning Football” on Monday morning in New York, but I wasn’t missing this showdown in person. The Rams were coming off a much-needed win in New England and the Eagles looked like they were in the midst of a special run coming off their bye.  So I changed my flight, secured a media credential, and got to the wonder that is SoFi Stadium just as the Eagles were coming off their buses into the loading dock. 

And as I walked past that giant man-made lake and into the modern architectural masterpiece, I noticed two things: 1. An Eagles fan base that traveled en masse on the weekend before a holiday week, nearly covering the SoFi crowd in green and, 2. An Eagles team that looks as big, as intimidating and as cohesive a unit as I recall in some time. 

This was what the Eagles had a few years back. Fletcher Cox, Chris Long, Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce would walk into a building, and with Big Dom leading the way, you felt as though they weren’t going to be beaten up or outplayed physically by anyone. 

Sunday’s pregame was a marvel to watch, based on the pure physicality of it all. One by one, Eagles players went through their drills with position coaches, and the team looked differently than the one I watched stumble down the stretch last season. Jeremiah Washburn is the defensive line coach, and he wears protective forearm guards in warmups, and I’m watching Jalen Carter manhandle him — his coach — forty minutes before a game. Others can give you the scheme and the film breakdown and a Saquon Barkley for MVP treatise, but I’ll tell you this — watching that Eagles team, in front of that green and white crowd in L.A., there’s something special happening. And here’s what makes Philly all the more intimidating over the final stretch. 

Their last six games are all either at home or a short bus ride away. The Eagles will not board a plane for the rest of the 2024 regular season. And if things go the right way, and the Detroit Lions have a hiccup or two, the Eagles might not have to go on an airplane until a trip to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX. The next six weeks? At Baltimore, home against the Panthers, hosting the Steelers, in Washington for a game with the Commanders, home against the Cowboys, and home against the Giants. When I say they don’t have to get on a plane, I mean it. I reached out to an Eagles source who confirmed that the team will take bus rides to the Ravens game on Sunday and the Washington game on December 22nd. Every edge counts. And in a season that saw them play in Brazil and Los Angeles and in every other time zone, being home sweet home in their own beds until the end of the regular season matters. 

That same Eagles team that looked so intimidating in the pregame warmups on Sunday beat up the Rams and walked out of that beautiful stadium as conquering heroes. Now there’s Saquon for MVP buzz, Quinyon Mitchell for Defensive Rookie of the Year buzz, and Howie Roseman for Executive of the Year buzz. A dominant road win in a nationally televised game will do that. But I really do see the Eagles as formidable foes to the Lions. They match up well. And their fan base is activated. 

They’ve done the work all over the country. And now, the reward is a favorable final six weeks in the comfort of the East Coast. 

Frozen Fish

Here come the Miami Dolphins. Well, we think. Maybe we should check back on Friday morning before we do any TV segments on whether or not the Dolphins are the “team to watch” down the stretch. 

After a horrible start to the season, which included an injured Tua Tagovailoa, a ton of head-scratching losses at home, and an offense that looked stuck in neutral — the Dolphins have won three straight games and have emerged as one of the hotter teams in the NFL. But the word “hot” is figurative, not literal. They’re about to go somewhere that hasn’t been a friendly place for the franchise in the Tua years — a cold-weather city in the second half of the season. 

Under Mike McDaniel and with Tua under the center, the Dolphins have always been an outstanding watch and a successful team in the September, October and even November months.  Then, they go on the road and they struggle against good teams late in the year. Especially in the cold. The temperature is supposed to be in the teens on Thanksgiving night in Green Bay, and there is a chance of snow. The stat you’ll see is that the Dolphins are just 3-7 all-time as a franchise in games played under 25 degrees. But more recently, they lost last year’s AFC wild card game in Kansas City in a contest in which they didn’t look comfortable, and dropped a crucial Saturday night game in Buffalo the year before that. Personally, Tua is 0-7 in games in which the temperature is 40 degrees or lower, but is shying from the challenge. “I’m excited to kill narratives, so let’s go. Bring it on,” he said after Week 12. 

The Packers look like Super Bowl contenders. An entire nation — albeit a skeptical one when it comes to this Dolphins team in these winter elements — will be watching. If ever there was a game for Tua and McDaniel to kill a narrative, it’s this one. 

Can Anyone Kick Anymore? 

One of the curious stories of the season has been the absolute unpredictability of special teams. I would joke that there’s some sort of gunk in the liquid of whatever every kicker is drinking this year, but it might be true. I have no other explanation for the incredible whiffs we’ve seen of late. And it’s league-wide. 

Justin Tucker seems to be a mere mortal and missed two gimmes against the Steelers in Week 11; the typically reliable Austin Seibert missed not one, but two extra points on Sunday; all-world Cowboys leg Brandon Aubrey had one blocked and missed another in the same game; and the unflappable Younghoe Koo missed three field goals in a winnable game against New Orleans two weeks ago. Jake Elliot was awful versus Washington a few weeks back and Rams rookie kicker Josh Karty has missed a kick in three straight games. You add in whatever happened to Greg Zurlein this year with the Jets and the head-scratching finish to Houston’s loss to Tennessee in Week 12, where Ka’imi Fairbarn, on a day he broke all sorts of Texans records, missed a chippy that cost Houston the game. We’ve also had blocked field goals at the end of regulation. 

So, who is actually kicking well? Chris Boswell is still nails in Pittsburgh, but my All-Pro kicker is still Jake Bates, the brick salesman out of Detroit. If Bates is a first-team All-Pro, it is a potential Hollywood movie in the making. 

Stat of the Week 

CeeDee Lamb joins Jarvis Landry as the only players in NFL history to have 70 catches or more in their first five NFL seasons. 

Peter Schrager is an NFL Insider for FOX Sports and a host of “Good Morning Football” on NFL Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @PSchrags.

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