And that’s really it. The mood at the NovaCare Complex on this Monday – er, Tuesday in the football schedule – is work. Grinding. It’s a short week. Exciting? Of course. The Eagles are 13-1 and the Magic Number for clinching home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs is one. But if you think that everyone is walking around giving high fives and ruminating on Sunday’s game and talking in dreamy tones about Saturday’s battle in Dallas, then you are mistaken.
Dawg mentality. For everyone.
“What have we accomplished, really? I mean, nothing. Well, not nothing. We’re 13-1 and I’m extremely proud of that. But we have much bigger goals and until we reach those goals, there is no sense of truly accomplishing anything,” linebacker Haason Reddick said after the win in Chicago. “We know we have Dallas coming up and that’s a great team over there. What we did against them in the first game (Week 6, a 26-17 Eagles win at Lincoln Financial Field) doesn’t really apply this time because they are a different team. We understand that.
“We know what is at stake for this game and I think everybody is ready for the competition because we know it’s going to be a great one.”
Sure will be a great one, with a huge national audience and a chance to win the NFC East and clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs. There isn’t a whole lot more to say. The Eagles won’t get drawn into the bulletin-board material that is already part of the media and fan conversation. Instead, it’s just business as usual, albeit in a much tighter window. Everything is just as intense and focused as it is every week.
The Eagles need to play a great game to win. That’s all that matters. That’s the message.
“We have familiarity with them and they have familiarity with us. We know it’s a really good football team. I have respect for how well coached they are, at all fronts: offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, head coach, and I have a lot of respect for those players that they have over there,” Head Coach Nick Sirianni said in Chicago after the win over the Bears. “So we are going to have to have our best week of preparation to make sure we are ready to go 1-0 this week.”
So, with that, it’s Dallas Week. Outside the bubble in which the players and coaches live, there is a building anticipation and a bit of frenzy among the media and fans. Inside, it’s all about maximizing every minute of each day. Saturday arrives quickly. There is a lot of work to be done and a great game to be played.
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