Birds' slate appears dangerous early, soft late

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The second half of the Eagles schedule looks manageable.
Assuming the Eagles survive the first half.
You never know whats going to happen. You never know what formidable teams from 2011 will struggle in 2012 or what teams we expect little from are going to win double-digit games. Certainly, when Eagles fans looked over the 2011 schedule a year ago, nobody saw the 49ers game and expected a 13-3 division winner.
Still ... the Ravens, the Giants, the Steelers, the Lions, the Falcons and the Saints? All in a seven-game span?
That looks brutal.
The Eagles 2012 schedule, announced on Wednesday, sure seems like a minefield early and a cakewalk late (see schedule).
They face five teams this coming season that won 10 or more games last year, and all five games are in the first half of the season. Five of their first eight opponents were 2011 playoff teams. Only one of their last eight opponents reached the postseason.
Eagles first eight opponents last year: 78-50, a .609 winning percentage.
Eagles last eight opponents last year: 54-74, a .422 winning percentage.
The Eagles were given five prime-time gamesMonday night games against the Saints in New Orleans on Nov. 5 and at home vs. Cam Newton and the Panthers on Nov. 26, Sunday nights at home against the Giants on Sept. 30 and at Dallas on Dec. 2, and Thursday night, Dec. 13, at home against the Bengals.
The Eagles first two games will be against former Andy Reid assistant coachesPat Shurmur of the Browns and John Harbaugh of the Ravens.
The Eagles will open on the road for the sixth time in eight years, and like last year, when they beat the lowly Rams 31-13 in the opener in St. Louis, theyll start with an expected cellar-dwellerthe Browns, who are 18-46 the last four years. This is the first time the Eagles will face the Browns in a season opener since 1969, when they lost 27-20 at Franklin Field. Its the first time theyll open with an AFC opponent since they beat the Texans in Houston in 2006.
Curiously, the Eagles are scheduled to face the Browns in a preseason game on Aug. 24 in Cleveland, so theyll play at Cleveland Stadium twice in the span of 17 days. Generally, the third preseason game is when the starters play the most, but the quick return to the banks of Lake Erie could change Reids playing-time pattern in the preseason.
After Cleveland, the Eagles face six 2011 playoff teams in the next seven weeksthe Ravens in the home opener on Sept. 16, the defending Super Bowl-champion Giants on a Sunday night at the Linc, the perennial playoff-bound Steelers at Heinz Field on Oct. 7, the Lions at the Linc on Oct. 14, andafter the bye weekthe top two teams in the NFC South, the Falcons on Oct. 28 at the Linc and the Saints on a Monday night at the Superdome on Nov. 5.
The only non-playoff team the Eagles face between Week 2 and Week 9 is the Cards on Sept. 23 in Glendale, Ariz., where the Eagles lost in the 2008 NFC Championship Game.
But the only playoff team they face the rest of the way is the Bengals on Dec. 13, a Thursday night at the Linc.
Five of the Eagles six division games come in the second half of the season, and they finish with the Redskins home and the Giants at the Meadowlands.
The Eagles have four games against teams coming off a byethe Steelers, Lions, Falcons and the second Redskins game. They also face the Giants in September with the Giants coming off a long week following a Thursday night game, and then in December, they face the Cowboys coming off a long week following their Thanksgiving game, while the Eagles are coming off a short week after a Monday night game against the Panthers.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.

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