The Eagles will kick off their season against Washington for the third time in four seasons.
The Birds got off to a slow start against Washington in last year’s opener but came back and got a big win.
Here are a few important links:
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- Eagles are without two more starters.
- Our Eagles-Washington predictions
- The TV schedule
- 5 matchups to watch
And here are three important things to know before kickoff:
1. This game is going to be a little weird. There will not be fans in the stands at FedExField. Heck, even Merrill Reese won’t be there. There will be crowd noise pumped into the stadium but it’s not the same crowd noise you’ll hear watching the game at home.
The noise players will hear on the field can only reach a certain decibel level set by the league. It’s basically like a loud murmur that will play throughout the entire game.
NFL
But without fans — and Eagles fans always traveled well to Washington — it’ll be on the players to provide their own energy. Really, that means that some of the energy guys on the team will need to work their magic.
“We have to feed off our own energy,” Fletcher Cox said. “We gotta bring our own energy. We have to support each other. We have to go out and run around. And I feel like the team that comes out with the most energy will make the most plays and will win the game. But we have to create our own energy. It’s going to be one of the things we gotta get used to. We have to adjust. So far, we’ve done a really good job of doing the things we’re not used to doing.
“Usually you feed off the crowd. But I told the guys, hey man, we have to feed off of each other. I’m not going to do anything different. Gonna go out and do whatever I do pregame to warm up. Go back in and then come out and get ready to attack the game."
2. Darius Slay wouldn’t say whether or not he’s going to travel with Terry McLaurin on Sunday, but he ought to.
McLaurin is just entering his second NFL season but he’s primed for a breakout year and he earned Slay’s respect last year. McLaurin’s numbers weren’t great against Slay, but he had a chance for a couple big plays that Washington was unable to connect on.
Last year in two games against the Eagles, McLaurin had 10 catches for 255 yards and 2 long touchdowns against the Birds.
The Eagles made the trade for Slay for these situations. They want him to face the top receivers in the league. Let’s see how it goes in Week 1.
3. The Eagles are 5.5-point favorites against Washington, according to PointsBet and the over/under is 42.5.
As our own Michael Gatti wrote earlier this week, the Eagles have won six straight against Washington and have gone 5-1 against the spread.
Another interesting number for Sunday is the Eagles’ over/under of 24. The Birds have gone over 24 points in five of their last six against Washington.