Eagles facing NFL scheduling disadvantage in Week…

It’s been a rough week for the Philadelphia Eagles, and things could get even worse on Sunday when they face the Carolina Panthers. 

For their Week 6 game, the Eagles will be facing a scheduling disadvantage that no team has ever been able to overcome: They’re coming off an international game and they have to face a team coming off a bye. 

So, how bad of a disadvantage is this? It’s only happened four times — so it’s a small sample size — but the team coming off the international game is 0-4 against the team coming off a bye and 0-3-1 against the spread, which suggests this does put teams at a competitive disadvantage. 

Over the past decade, the NFL has generally tried to avoid situations like this, but the league essentially gave up on that this year, with a total of five teams stuck in this exact situation. 

Here’s a brief look at the four games in which a team coming off an international game faced a team off a bye. 

• 2011: Jets 27-11 over Bills. From 2008 through 2013, the Bills played an annual game in Toronto. During the 2011 season, they played a Week 8 game in Canada that turned out to be one of their most impressive wins of the year: a 23-0 victory over Washington. One week later, they return to the U.S. to face a Jets team coming off a bye. The 5-2 Bills were destroyed 27-11 in a game where Buffalo was favored by 2.5.
• 2016: Chargers 21-13 over Texans. The NFL put the Texans in an awkward spot: Not only did they have to play in Mexico City in Week 11 of the 2016 season, but the game was on a Monday night. So, they had to turn around and play on SHORT REST in Week 12 against a Chargers team that was coming off a bye. You can probably guess what happened. In a game where the Texans were a 2.5-point underdog, the Chargers led by 11 in the fourth quarter, but Houston ended up kicking a field goal with under 30 seconds left to account for the final margin
• 2021: Falcons 30-28 over Dolphins. During the 2021 season, the Dolphins were sent to London to play the Jaguars in Week 6. In Week 7, they were forced to play the Falcons, who were coming off a Week 6 bye. In the game, the Dolphins trailed 20-7 midway through the third quarter before finally coming to life. Miami stormed back, but in the end, the Dolphins lost on a field goal as time expired.
• 2025: Steelers 23-9 over Browns. Last season, the Browns got shipped off to London in Week 5 and then had to turn around and play Pittsburgh in Week 6. The Steelers, who were coming off a Week 5 bye, held the Browns to under 250 yards of offense in a 23-9 win. 

Here’s where things get even uglier: The team coming off the international trip has averaged just 15.25 points per game. And to make things worse, the four international teams were outscored 70-30 over the first three quarters. Again, it’s a small sample size, but those are eye-opening numbers. 

One reason the sample size is so small is that this situation wasn’t really possible for most of NFL history. The first London game was played in 2007, and for the first nine years of the series, any team playing Europe received a bye after its game. However, in 2016, the Colts decided they didn’t WANT a bye after their London game because they didn’t want their off week so early in the season. Since that point, the NFL has allowed teams to request a bye after playing abroad, but even if a team requests one, there’s no guarantee they’ll get it. 

The 2021 Dolphins and 2025 Browns are the only two teams that played an international game in Europe before their matchup with a team coming off a bye. That’s an important distinction, because they had to re-adjust to a massive time change heading into their next game. 

After the NFL schedule came out in May, the league’s vice president of broadcast planning, Mike North, explained why teams are no longer guaranteed a bye after an international game.

“I know it’s not quite routine, but it’s getting to the point where it’s pretty routine,” North said of international travel. “You play an afternoon (game) over there, it’s morning over here, you’re back in the facility by what? Midnight Sunday night? That’s better than if it’s played out in Seattle or Los Angeles … That’s the new normal for us.”

What North didn’t mention is the impact of asking a team coming off an international trip to face a team coming off a bye in their next game. Yes, you might get back to your facility late Sunday night, but if your body is still on European time, there will be an adjustment period, and jet lag could last a day or two, which could impact practice for your next game. 

The Eagles are coming off a brutal loss to the Jaguars. They’re banged up, and now, they have to deal with this. 

If the Eagles lose on Sunday, that will drop NFL teams to 0-5 all-time in this specific situation, and if that happens, the NFL is going to have to give some serious thought about whether it’s fair to schedule a team coming off an international game to face a team coming off a bye.