Putting the Rewind together, but I wanted to post a note about the draft order.  The Eagles are currently tied with the Raiders and Lions with a record of 4-11.  The draft order is decided by the final standings (with the worst team getting the best pick).  If teams have the same record, my understanding is that strength-of-schedule is the tiebreaker.   Keep in mind that having a tougher schedule ranks you higher in the final standings and therefore give you a worse draft pick.

Currently, the opponents records for the Raiders, Eagles, and Lions are as follows:

Raiders – 112-128

Eagles – 122 – 118

Lions – 136 – 102 – 2

As you can see, the gaps are wide enough that this Sunday’s games are unlikely to change the order.  Therefore, if all three teams lose, the Raiders would secure the #3 pick, the Eagles #4, and the Lions #5.

If the Raiders win (unlikely, but San Diego isn’t exactly invincible), an Eagles loss would give them the #3 pick.

So while I hate to say it, the goal for this Sunday is simple….DO NOT WIN.  The #3-#4 pick pretty much guarantees the Eagles one of the top OTs (there are two, depends on who they like better) or possibly the DT that nobody besides me is talking about (for the Eagles anyway.)

A win, however, makes things more complicated.  I haven’t calculated the SOS for every team, but there are four 5 win teams.  So winning Sunday could potentially move the Eagles draft slot from #4 to anywhere between #4-#9.  I doubt the Eagles would have a stronger SOS than all of those teams, but the overall message is pretty clear:  Losing on Sunday is FAR better for the team’s future than winning is.

As painful as it may be, anyone really hoping for a brighter future for the team should want to lose to the Giants…(on a brighter note, a Giant’s win probably doesn’t get them into the playoffs, so you don’t have to feel too bad about it.)