The Eagles Ultimate Holiday Wishlist: Saquon awards, AJ Brown boom and a Super Bowl

The Philadelphia Eagles got dealt a little bit of a blow with a loss to the Commanders in Week 17. Let’s not focus on a game where Kenny Pickett was the quarterback for three whole quarters. There are bigger and better things ahead.

A few weeks ago, I made a postseason wishlist for The Birds. This time we’re focusing on more immediate things.

There are 12 days left in the season for the Eagles 2024 regular season

Listen, I did my best to get this list to fall in line with “The 12 Days of Christmas,” but it’s tough to do that and also come up with a real list. These are 12 relatively realistic things that the Eagles could deliver to fans over the holidays and beyond. 

12 Pro-Bowlers

The Eagles roster is packed to the gills with talent, and many of the guys are some of the best in the league at their jobs. 12 guys who are Pro-Bowl worthy are Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jalen Hurts, Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Mekhi Becton, Lane Johnson, Jalen Carter, Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, Cooper DeJean, Quinyon Mitchell, Reed Blankenship, and Darius Slay.

That’s 16 players who could be Pro Bowlers. There are sure to be some snubs, but if there aren’t 12, then something is wrong with the system. Some of them are more worthy than others (especially with the amount of talent at their positions in the NFC). Let’s just hope that none of them go to the Pro Bowl because they’re busy.

A drug test in No. 11’s locker

If A.J. Brown gets a drug test notice in his locker after a game, that means he had an ‘A.J. Brown is a Decepticon who transformed into a human being’ type of games. If we get to see one of those, we’re going to be in great shape. 

The last time he got one was after he had nine catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns against the Commanders in Week 4 of the 2023 season. It’s been a while since the NFL thought he was juicing. It’s a good thing when the NFL thinks your guys are juicing. 

10 Holding calls on Jalen Carter

This is a greedy one. Jalen Carter almost never gets holding calls even though you can point out roughly 20 plays where he is egregiously held every game. 

You can say, ‘Well, holding happens on every play. The refs can’t call it every time,’ and you’d be right… but also, it’s ridiculous, foolish, and downright suspect that it is never called against him. 

Maybe saying 10 holding calls for the rest of the season is too many, but who cares? It’ll keep happening until someone gets penalized for it. Hell, it’ll probably happen 10 more times the rest of the season on key third downs alone. 

9 Broken Runs

Saquon Barkley has had 15 runs of at least 20 yards this season and six touchdown runs of fewer than 20 yards (essentially, he ran out of room to run). It feels fair to consider all of those to be runs that he’s broken open. That’s an average of 1.4 broken runs per game. 

A great way for the Eagles to win games is by Saquon breaking runs. If the Eagles are going to win six more games, Saquon getting at least nine big runs over the next six games would be huge. 

Fun fact, on runs that are 20+ yards, Saquon averages 43.5 yards. That’s wild.

8 Passing touchdowns

The Eagles' passing offense hasn’t been the most consistent, and it hasn’t necessarily needed to be because of the killer running game. 

In the first 15 games, the offense has had 19 passing touchdowns. That’s an average of 1.4 per game. Eight passing touchdowns in the next six games would be a little under that average, which is fine because ideally, that means there would be more rushing touchdowns. Rushing touchdowns in the postseason typically means things are going well. 

7 points on opening drives

The Eagles scored their first opening-drive touchdown against the Commanders in Week 16. It certainly helped that they started with the ball at midfield, but hey, what’re you gonna do?

They started that game fast and kept it going the next drive until Jalen Hurts was knocked out of the game. It looked awesome, and it felt like the rout was on. The team needs to chase that dragon. If they can start fast, it’ll make everything so much easier, and lower everyone’s blood pressure an astronomical amount.

On the flip side, they also lost the only game that they scored on the opening drive, so… take from that what you will.

Get No. 6 involved early

Good things happen when the ball goes to DeVonta Smith, and the Eagles have a huge opportunity in Week 17 to do just that. 

He dropped the game-sealing ball in Week 16, and getting him the ball on the first play of the game on Sunday would serve two purposes: It would show that no one has lost any confidence in him, and it would undoubtedly be a positive play.

The passing game worked at a disgustingly high level against the Steelers in Week 16, and in that game, DeVonta had a career-high 11 catches. Was that success causation? Was it a correlation? Who cares… It worked and it needs to be repeated.

5 Starter wins

This is more about having the backups in for the Week 18 game. There’s a very good chance the Eagles don’t get the top seed in the NFC, and the bye week that comes with it. Getting as much rest as they can in Week 18 will go a long way for the important January and February football.

Get No. 4 comfortable

Jake Elliott hit his first 50+ yard field goal of the season in Week 16 after missing his previous six tries. That has to be a huge confidence builder for him, and the Eagles are going to need that confidence in the next two months.

Jake’s been money in the postseason. He’s made all 16 of his career postseason field goals and he’s made 23 of his 25 career postseason extra point kicks.

There’s going to be a game that’ll come down to his leg at some point, and it’s going to be a whole lot better if we get ‘Jake the Make’ rather than whatever we’ve been seeing this season. 

3 Awards

As of Wednesday AM on December 25, 2024, FanDuel has Saquon Barkley as a -1500 favorite to win the Offensive Player of the Year. So that looks like it’s in the bag.

Quinyon Mitchell dropped to +400 to win Defensive Rookie of the Year (Jared Verse is -550) after the Week 16 game when he gave up his only touchdown of the year to Terry McLaurin. We want Jared Verse to be a no-show in the Rams’ last two games and for Q to finally get the interception that he’s been oh-so-close to getting the entire season.

The third award would be for Vic Fangio to win the Assistant Coach of the Year Award. He turned the worst defense in the NFL into the best defense in the NFL in one year. He won it in 2018 when he was the defensive coordinator for the Bears. Hopefully, the voters’ familiarity gets him the acknowledgment he deserves.

2 division wins:

Because of the Week 16 loss, the Eagles can’t sweep the NFC East. They can, however, sweep the Cowboys for the first time since 2011. That’d be pretty monumental, especially since the Cowboys have swept the Eagles three times since then. 

As far as the second divisional win? Yeesh. Even if the Eagles aren’t playing the majority of their starters against the Giants in Week 18, the Giants are going to actively try to tank in that game to get the first-overall pick in the 2025 draft. 

1 Super Bowl:

This team has played a playoff-winning style of football for the majority of the season. It’s become abundantly clear that this team can go all the way. This isn’t cockiness, arrogance, or even confidence; this is understanding the way this team wins games. An Eagles' winning effort can beat any of the other 31 teams in the NFL.

Note: All lines are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. All bets are 1 unit unless otherwise noted. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.