After the Eagles' latest loss to the Packers on Monday, the playoffs are a long shot at best. Technically, they're not eliminated from contention, but a lot would need to happen ahead of them in the standings, and that's assuming they take care of their business over the final five games of the season.
With that in mind, it might be easy for some players to let the mindset creep in that the Eagles are just playing out the string, even pack it in and give less than 100 percent effort.
Fortunately, the team still has leaders like Jason Peters.
"It's very frustrating, but one thing you're going to get out of me, I'm going to come to work and every Sunday I'm going to fight until the end of the game," Peters said following the Eagles' 27-13 loss to the Packers (see Instant Replay). "There's not going to be any quit in me."
Now in his 13th NFL season, Peters has been in the position plenty of times throughout his career. At 34 years of age, the eight-time Pro Bowler would have as much reason as anybody to turn down the intensity and start looking ahead to 2017.
Peters also still has his eyes on winning a Super Bowl before his time in the league comes to an end. That might be unlikely to happen this season. He knows it never will if this developing Eagles squad doesn't learn the value of fighting to the finish.
"We just have to keep all the young guys in the right direction, staying positive, coming to work, not going off the reservation," Peters said. "Just staying positive, showing up Wednesday, Thursday ready to work and letting it go on Sunday."
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Of course, it's easy for Peters to say that. Can he really expect the same from all 52 of his teammates inside the Eagles' locker room?
"I'm going to demand it of them," Peters said. "They know if they come to work, I'm going to make them come to work just like I come to work. I'm going to make them put up just like I put up on Sunday. I'm going to demand their best every Sunday for the next five weeks."
Peters wasn't the only locker-room leader to stress the importance of the next, possibly final five games for the Eagles. On the opposite side of the ball, safety Malcolm Jenkins not only feels that these will be important tests, but it's still too early to discount the possibility of making the playoffs.
"Stay the course," Jenkins said. "It's far from over, but we understand that for the next five weeks, we're going to need every ounce of what everybody has. And we'll see what guys are made of."
With a 5-6 record, the Eagles are behind 6-4-1 Washington for the sixth and final playoff berth in the NFC. At 6-5, Tampa Bay and Minnesota currently have better records as well, and two more teams are tied at 5-6, including the Packers. [[393267511, C]]
Monday's defeat was a potential backbreaker, but there's nothing the Eagles can do except try to win out and see what happens.
"It felt like we needed this one, including the next five," Peters said. "We just have to put our head down and try to finish strong and get the next five. There's no other way around it."
Jenkins said that was essentially what Eagles head coach Doug Pederson shared with the team post-game following the loss to the Packers.
Although even if the playoffs aren't in the cards for the Eagles this January, if nothing else, these final five games will be an important evaluation tool for the offseason ahead.
"I think Doug did a good job of relaying that message that we'll see for the next five weeks who really wants to be here, who is really investing everything they have into this team," Jenkins said. "That's coaches and players."
