We now know another date for one of the Eagles' games against an NFC East rival and the placement of that game could mean coach Nick Sirianni’s team will be spending Christmas on the field.
FOX sports announced Monday that the Eagles will play the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. on Dec. 20 as part of a Saturday doubleheader.
The other game will match the Packers against the Bears in Chicago.
The game between the Eagles and Commanders, of course, is a rematch of the NFC Championship, which Philadelphia won by the score of 55-23 before going on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
The Eagles took two of the three games they played against the Commanders last season, but Washington did hold serve on its home field with a 36-33 come-from-behind win orchestrated by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. Jalen Hurts, however, left in the first quarter of that game with a concussion and did not return.
The loss to the Commanders ended a franchise-record 10-game winning streak, but the Eagles did not lose again as they finished with an 18-3 record and the franchise’s second Super Bowl title.
With the Eagles and Commanders playing on the Saturday before Christmas, all signs point toward them playing again on Christmas.
Last season, Houston played at Kansas City and Pittsburgh played at Baltimore on the Saturday before Christmas. Four days later, the Chiefs played at Pittsburgh and the Ravens played at Houston.
Things are set up for something like that to happen again, but according to Philly Voice’s Jimmy Kempski, the Eagles will play the Bears on Black Friday and not on Christmas. The Black Friday game the day after Thanksgiving was first introduced two seasons ago.
Playing in that game would not necessarily prevent the Eagles from also playing on Christmas.
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Bob Brookover can be reached atrbrookover@njadvancemedia.com