The Eagles have one of the NFL’s easiest remaining schedules. We ranked the rest of the games.

What if Saquon Barkley had caught that third-down pass in Week 2 and the Eagles had beaten Atlanta? Maybe the blowout loss in Tampa would be chalked up to an injured Eagles team playing without three key offensive starters in the steamy weather and just trying to get to the off week after a rough early travel schedule.

There would be plenty of concerns about the defense, to be sure, but 3-1 would look a lot better than 2-2. But it was more than just Barkley’s drop that led to that loss to Atlanta, and there were more factors at play than just injuries and the heat. The margins are slim in the NFL, and what’s worrisome for Eagles fans is that the team’s bumps seem mostly self-inflicted to this point.

The Eagles had a lot to fix during their week off. More importantly, they had time for their injured players — namely A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson — to recover. But, through all the gloom and doom, there may be a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s all in the schedule.

The Eagles have played the second-hardest schedule in the NFL through four weeks, according to FTN Fantasy, and their remaining 13 games rate as the third-most favorable. Tankathon paints an even rosier picture — by a wide margin, the Eagles have the easiest remaining schedule in the league.

» READ MORE: The Eagles offense has sputtered to start every game. Kellen Moore aims to tune it up.

According to ESPN’s power rankings, the Birds have just four remaining games against teams that are “better” than they are. Of course, paper metrics mean little, and four-game sample sizes aren’t much to go by. But it’s certainly worth pondering. The Eagles do play five of their next eight games on the road, but they finish with four home games in their final five.

Here’s a ranking of the 13 remaining games, ordered from easiest to most difficult.

Andy Dalton has pumped some new life — a funny phrase to type in 2024 — into a Panthers offense that barely had a pulse with Bryce Young, but this is a bad football team that does little well. Carolina has some key injuries and can’t get after the quarterback. The Eagles will be coming off a tough road game at Baltimore a week earlier, and there’s no better gift than a home game against the Panthers.

» READ MORE: Eagles game-by-game predictions for 2024 season

LeSean McCoy will be honored before the game with his induction into the Eagles Hall of Fame, and then the best running back the team has had since he left in 2014 should be able to run all over one of the NFL’s worst teams. It’s fair to wonder, too, if old friend Doug Pederson will still be coaching by Week 9. His Jaguars are winless through four weeks and have been outscored 109-60. Eagles fans worried about Jalen Hurts’ contract? Cover your eyes when looking at Trevor Lawrence’s.

The Eagles come out of their bye week with arguably a can’t-lose game against a Browns team that has beaten only the Jaguars through four weeks. You think the Eagles have tackling problems? Cleveland is allowing an NFL-worst 2.24 yards after contact per rush, according to ESPN. And while we’re on the topic of quarterback contracts, that Deshaun Watson deal is not working out well for the Browns.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley’s touches, Nick Sirianni’s job security, and more answers to Reddit’s biggest Eagles questions

This game has the possibility of being very important for the Eagles and very meaningless for the Giants. It’s tough to project this far out, but the Eagles couldn’t ask for a better Week 18 opponent than the Giants. Though, that was probably the feeling last season, too, and that didn’t go well. The Giants are giving up 4.7 yards per carry. Barkley should have sealed whatever playoff seed the Eagles are going for by then, assuming the wheels don’t fall off at some point — hardly a safe assumption.

The Eagles should be 3-2 after their Week 6 home game against Cleveland. They’ll travel up the Jersey Turnpike for Barkley’s revenge game. Expect the Fox cameras to find Joe Schoen a few times.

There’s an argument for this game to be farther down on the list. The Steelers, behind a surprise resurgence from Justin Fields, are 3-1 and are surrendering just 12.5 points per game. We’ll know a lot more about these teams by Dec. 15, and it may even be Russell Wilson at the helm instead of Fields.

» READ MORE: Bad playing, bad coaching, and what comes next: Eagles DC Vic Fangio assesses damage from Sunday’s loss

The Rams aren’t playing well, but like the Eagles they’re suffering through some early games without their two best receivers, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. They should both be healthy by this Nov. 24 contest, but the Rams have plenty of flaws defensively in a post-Aaron Donald world. The Rams rank 31st in defensive value over average in rushing.

Dallas has not looked good to start the 2024 season. The Cowboys, like the Eagles, are 2-2. They were embarrassed at home by a New Orleans team the Eagles beat on the road. Dak Prescott has solid numbers, but Dallas’ defense ranks near the bottom of the league. The Cowboys have one of the NFL’s hardest schedules the rest of the way, and there’s a non-zero chance that Mike McCarthy is gone by this one and that the Cowboys are playing for nothing. Same, too, could be said for Nick Sirianni and the Eagles.

Who had Cincinnati starting 1-3? The Bengals’ flaws were on full display in a Week 3 Monday Night Football loss at home to Washington. Joe Burrow is playing well, and Ja’Marr Chase has three touchdowns over his last two games, but that Bengals defense, especially the line, is a major problem right now. Will the Bengals look more like a Super Bowl contender in a few weeks? We’ll see.

Washington was a trendy turnaround pick behind the backward cap of new head coach Dan Quinn, but who saw this coming? Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is playing like one of the best in the league and Washington’s offense is rolling. The Commanders have struggled so far on defense, another team on the Eagles’ schedule giving up way too many yards on the ground.

The Cowboys are dealing with injuries to two of their top defensive players, Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. If they avoid disaster through this next stretch, this game has the potential to be a turning point for the Eagles and Cowboys.

The rare divisional home game being more difficult than the road game. Why? Short week. This game is on a Thursday following the game in Dallas.

No-brainer here. Baltimore just dismantled Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills on national television. That 0-2 start looks to be a blip, and Derrick Henry leads the NFL in rushing yards after piling up 350 over his last two games. The Ravens are among the Super Bowl favorites for a reason. This Thanksgiving weekend matchup will surely get the Jim Nantz-Tony Romo treatment from CBS.