NEW ORLEANS - As the Eagles woke up in Philadelphia Monday morning, they could choose to look at the NFC East standings and realistically see a chance to still win their division.
Because even after their 48-7 loss at the Superdome Sunday afternoon, they're just two games behind Washington, which lost its starting quarterback for the year before the Eagles-Saints game even kicked off.
But they can't do that.
The Eagles can't think about the division or the big picture or their chances to still sneak into the playoffs with a run down the stretch. They gotta focus on winning one damn football game first. And that's no given with this team regardless of who they play.
Chris Long is a veteran. He's played on bad teams before. He gets it.
"If we start worrying about how many games we are back in the division and whatnot, which is the reality, but you're not focusing on the one thing in front of your face and that's the division game coming up," he said.
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"Just one. Just win a game. We can't worry about the past, last year, how this year started. We gotta win right now."
The Eagles will host the Giants at 1 p.m. at the Linc on Sunday afternoon. The first Giants game (a 34-13 win in October) was really the only complete game the Eagles have put together all season. But it would be foolish for the Eagles to think they'll simply roll over the Giants, who have won two straight since their bye week.
Are the Eagles better than the Giants? No doubt. But they've lost to inferior teams before this season.
"We'll be raring to go on Monday, Tuesday, trying to win a division game. And that's no BS," Long said. "I mean, listen, I want to mope, I want to throw s-, but that's not going to do us any good. Execution is going to do us good. We need to go out there and execute."
The Eagles are 4-6. They've earned that record. Simply put, they're just not a very good football team right now. They've lost five of their last seven games, including both since coming off their Week 9 bye. And thanks to the blowout loss Sunday, they've now lost in just about every conceivable way this season.
The Super Bowl feels like it was decades ago.
The NFC East is still very much up for grabs and the Eagles are still very much in the mix. But it starts with next Sunday against the Giants. The Eagles just need to find a way to get a win. Maybe then - and only then - they can start thinking about the division.
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