What a Difference a Day Makes

In 1959 — four years before her premature and tragic death at the age of 39 — iconic blues singer Dinah Washington scored her signature hit with What a Diff'rence a Day Makes.

In Week 15, the Eagles proved what a difference a day (actually three days) can make.

It all started on Thursday night, when the Falcons upset the Buccaneers, 29-28 — then it continued on Sunday, when the Eagles blanked the Raiders, 31-0; this result, coupled with Minnesota's 34-26 upset win at Dallas on Sunday night, left Philadelphia 2.5 games ahead of the Cowboys with three games to play — this after many if not most Eagles fans were expecting a redux of 2023, 2014, and 1994, when Philadelphia melted down and missed the playoffs.

While all of this was going on, Carolina lost 20-17 at New Orleans — virtually guaranteeing that the Eagles will earn the 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, providing they win the NFC East.

In their win over Las Vegas, the Eagles held the Raiders to 75 total yards — the latter's lowest offensive output since they gained 58 yards against the Chargers on October 22, 1961 (!); and the kickoff-time temperature was 30 degrees, with a wind chill of 17 (FOX reported a kickoff-time temperature of 28, with a wind chill of 12), and the Raiders had not (and still have not) won in Philadelphia since 1976.

The Raiders' "deepest penetration," if one can call it that, was to the Philadelphia 33 — and the game took 2 hours and 37 minutes to complete, which must have pleased old-schoolers no end (the game went final at 3:37 PM, Eastern Standard Time; remember when most NFL games played in the early time slot were over by 4:00? The league could bring back those days by having the clock continue to run on incomplete passes and between touchdowns and conversion attempts, except in the last two minutes of the first half and the last five minutes of the game).

On Saturday, the Eagles will travel a short distance to take on the Washington Commanders in Landover, Maryland — and if they win that game, they will clinch the NFC East title by doing so, and become the first back-to-back NFC East champions since they themselves did it four years in a row, from 2001 through 2004, all inclusive (they can also clinch if the Cowboys lose at home to the Chargers on Sunday).

All trends have to end sometime — and the trend of no NFC East champion repeating in 20 years is now on life support.