Eagles 2009 schedule released

We already knew which teams they were going to face, but today we learned the exact order:

Week 1: 9/13 Eagles @ Panthers, 1 pm
Week 2: 9/20 Saints @ Eagles, 1 pm
Week 3: 9/27 Chiefs @ Eagles, 1 pm
Week 4: BYE
Week 5: 10/11 Bucs @ Eagles, 1 pm
Week 6: 10/18 Eagles @ Raiders, 4:05 pm
Week 7: 10/26 Eagles @ Redskins, 8:30 pm (Monday Night)
Week 8: 11/1 Giants @ Eagles, 4:15 pm
Week 9: 11/8 Cowboys @ Eagles, 8:20 pm (Sunday Night)
Week 10: 11/15 Eagles @ Chargers, 4:15 pm
Week 11: 11/22 Eagles @ Bears, 8:20 pm (Sunday Night)
Week 12: 11/29 Redskins @ Eagles, 1 pm
Week 13: 12/6 Eagles @ Falcons, 1 pm
Week 14: 12/13 Eagles @ Giants, 8:20 pm (Sunday Night)
Week 15: 12/20 Niners @ Eagles, 1 pm
Week 16: 12/27 Broncos @ Eagles, 1 pm
Week 17: 1/3 Eagles @ Cowboys, 1 pm

Note the Sunday Night games in Weeks 9, 11 and 14 and the Monday Night game in Week 7.

At first glance, the schedule looks pretty easy in the beginning, with three home games and a bye in the first 5 weeks, and at the end, where they finish with the Niners and Broncos at home before the traditional Cowboys game to end the season. The middle weeks (7-14) are much more difficult, where they face all of their divisional rivals and have games in San Diego, Chicago and Atlanta, all tough teams.

We knew the schedule would be more difficult this year, since the Eagles have to face the NFC South, a division that has four solid, playoff contending teams. The Birds do counter that with the easier AFC West, a division that had no team over .500 last year, but the Chargers will still be a tough matchup.

The road to the playoff seems more difficult at first glance this year, although you can never tell how good any of these teams will be in April. What we do know is that there will always be 6 tough games against the NFC East every year and how well the Birds fare in those games is always an indication of whether they will make the playoffs or not.