Tracking the Eagles after bye weeks

Andy Reid's record in the game after a regular-season bye is well documented and extremely impressive, but Doug Pederson's isn't so bad, either. Even with last year's loss.

Big Red is 16-2 in his head-coaching career after a bye, with those 16 wins accounting for nearly 10 percent of his 179 regular-season victories. Reid and the Chiefs have their bye this week.

Pederson, one of the brightest leaves to sprout from Reid's coaching tree, is in just his second year as a head coach. But factor in his time as an assistant and as a reserve player sitting behind some of the recent greats of the game (Marino/Favre), and Pederson's teams have been almost as dominant after a bye as Reid's.

Asked what he learned from his mentor, Pederson several times used the word "consistency" to describe Reid's approach to picking up the season after a bye week.

"Same work ethic. Practice doesn't change. It doesn't get longer. It doesn't get harder," Pederson said. "He just goes about his business."

As a head coach, Pederson is 0-1 after a bye, but he easily could be 1-0 if not for Ryan Mathews' ill-timed fumble in the closing minutes against Detroit last season.

Otherwise, Pederson's teams are 16-3 in games after a bye. This isn't just a byproduct of his association with his Reid, either. With Reid, Pederson's teams were 6-2. When someone else was the head coach — i.e. Don Shula, Mike Holmgren and Mike Sherman — Pederson's clubs went 10-2. But now Pederson is the head coach. A win this week would even his record after a bye, and more importantly give the Eagles a four-game lead in the NFC East with six games to play.

Here are some other facts, fun and insanity to consider as the Eagles take on Dallas on Sunday night in their first game after last week's bye:

*Pederson was 11-1 as a player and 5-2 as an assistant (all under Reid) and is 0-1 as a head coach after a bye. He started eight games in 2000 for a Browns team that went 3-13. Cleveland's bye was in Week 17 that year, so they did not have a game afterward. Only the Browns.

*This will be just the second season that Pederson's bye fell in Week 10. In 2013, while with the Chiefs, KC lost at Denver in a Sunday night game for its first defeat of the season. Not a good omen.

*Pederson's bye-week record as a player by head coach chronologically: Don Shula 4-0, Mike Holmgren 2-1, Andy Reid 1-0, Mike Sherman 4-0.

*Jim Schwartz is 5-5 as a defensive coordinator after a bye. His defenses give up an average of 17.7 points in those games. As the head coach for the Lions, Schwartz was 3-2 after a bye, including a 2012 win in which the Lions rallied from a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to beat the Eagles in overtime. His overall career record was 29-51.

*The Eagles had a bye following that Detroit meltdown in 2012 and lost again the following week for Reid's only loss after a bye as the Eagles head coach. He was 13-1.

*Offensive coordinator Frank Reich was 6-4 after a bye when he was a player (1985-98). Byes first began in 1990. He's 1-2 as an OC.

*Teams around the league are 14-10 in their games after a bye this season, including 8-4 on the road. Oh, and as it relates to those who like to put their money where their mouth is, teams that have played on the road immediately after a bye have covered nine of those 12 games. The Eagles are favored by about a field goal this week.

*Since byes started in 1990, five teams that had off in Week 8 went on to win the Super Bowl, most of any week: 1991 Washington, 1993 Dallas, 1995 Dallas, 1996 Green Bay, 2012 Baltimore. Teams had two bye weeks in 1993. Dallas's were in Weeks 4 and 8.

*The last seven Super Bowl winners had their byes in Week 7 or later.

*The three Super Bowl winners to have byes in Week 10, as the Eagles had this season: 2003 New England, 2010 Green Bay, 2014 New England. Seattle, which should have just given the ball to Marshawn Lynch in that Super Bowl that followed the 2014 season, had their bye in Week 4 that year.

*When the Eagles went to the Super Bowl after the 2004 season, their bye was in Week 5. New England's was in Week 3.

*Eagles bye weeks in the seasons they lost in the NFC title game: 2001 (Week 5), 2002 (Week 6), 2003 (Week 3), 2008 (Week 7).

*All-time, the Eagles are 21-7 after a bye. Records chronologically by coach: Buddy Ryan (1-0), Rich Kotite (3-2), Ray Rhodes (2-2), Andy Reid (13-1), Chip Kelly (2-1), Doug Pederson (0-1).

*All-time records after the bye for the Eagles' NFC East rivals: Dallas (20-9), Washington (14-15), N.Y. Giants (11-18).

*The Eagles quarterback completed what is still a career-high 75.8 percent of his passes in that loss after the bye last season at Detroit (25 for 33). But the contest basically ended when Wentz threw an interception on an unnecessary heave 50 yards downfield. The pick, the first of his career after 134 attempts, came on a first down with the Eagles trailing by one with 1:28 remaining. Kicker Caleb Sturgis already had kicked three field goals, including a 50-yarder. The Eagles needed only a field goal and had time to march down the field. Oh well, learning lesson.

*Last season, the Eagles' bye was in Week 4. Wentz, like most players, would prefer to have it later in the season, such as this season's idle Week 10.

"I like the bye where it was (this year) because it's in the middle of the season," he said. "You can just kind of breathe and come back and finish strong. Right in the middle of the season, I think that works out nice for us."