Philadelphia Eagles: Football shouldn’t be played on Tuesdays

Football is all about competitive advantages.

Teams brainstorm all week to identify and scheme up the best possible matchups in any given game, and, to their credit, their opponents do the same.

Sometimes, competitive advantages come about due to roster composition. Maybe a team has really slow cornerbacks or, like the Philadelphia Eagles, lacks an elite coverage linebacker who can match up on tight ends.

For others, it’s due to injury, illness, or a combination of the two. No one cried for the Eagles when they had to rotate out a new offensive line pairing darn near every week in 2020 or when the team had to start Michael Jacquet versus the Dallas Cowboys with the season on the line.

And yet, in Week 15 of the 2021 NFL season, competitive advantages become less impactful when it can be subverted by a surprise change of schedule less than 48 hours before kickoff, a move that effectively hands the Eagles a short week ahead of arguably the most important game left on their schedule.

Fair? No, but the Eagles will be welcoming in Washington’s unnamed football team on Tuesday night instead of Sunday morning, which, obviously, is incredibly inconvenient for football fans, season ticket holders, stadium workers, and just about everyone with any interest in either organization.

While it’s certainly better than having the season go on ice a la spring of 2020, watching a Philadelphia Eagles game on a Tuesday night just feels wrong.

Tuesdays are for tacos, not the Philadelphia Eagles.

According to Statmuse, the Philadelphia Eagles have played on a Tuesday night five times in their 88-year franchise history, with the most recent occurrence happening on December 28th, 2010.

The team has a 2-3 record over that tenure, including a loss 11 years ago to the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 14-24, and has only played one contest on a Tuesday – or, for that matter, a Wednesday – over the last 80 years.

Needless to say, a Tuesday night game is pretty rare in the NFL, but so is a worldwide pandemic that takes place over three calendar years, so hey, I digress.

But why don’t teams play on Tuesday nights? Why are Mondays and Thursdays cool, but Tuesdays or Wednesdays are held for these weird, last resort contests? Simple: The human body isn’t meant to play football.

Unlike, say, basketball, where playing three or even four games over a seven-day period is relatively commonplace, football is incredibly taxing on a player’s body, which Penn State standout-turned-Jacksonville Jaguar Jared Odrick once broke down on Desus and Mero’s old Vice show. Playing on five days notice puts players at an increased risk of injury – or re-injury – due to a lack of recovery time and thus could severely impact a team’s playoff chances if a starter goes down.

Would the Eagles get a two day reprieve if they have a player or two come down with Covid on Sunday or next Thursday? Or could the team opt to return to the locker room if Jason Kelce suffers another ankle injury and refuses to take the field until he’s healthy? Neither of those options make much sense, so why does this, especially if it doesn’t guarantee that Washington will magically earn a clean bill of health on the first day of Week 16?

It doesn’t.

Tuesdays aren’t supposed to be about Philadelphia Eagles football; they’re supposed to be about the Philadelphia 76ers, or the Philadelphia Flyers, or even the Philadelphia Phillies, depending on the month. Outside of sports, Tuesdays are about tacos, a wonderful food that can be eaten for any meal, at any time, with basically any topping, even if they will never be a sandwich even if you fill a hardshell with imported ham, gabagool, and prosciutto. *sigh* I guess fans of the Philadelphia Eagles can at least hope to even up the 2021 record and overall Tuesday night record at .500 with a win over Washington. Maybe they can even pre-purchase some tacos from South Philly Barbacoa to celebrate?