Road Sweet Road? Eagles rarely lose when they leave the Linc

How good have the Eagles been on the road under Nick Sirianni?

They have a better record on the road since 2021 than everybody other than the Chiefs, Bills and Cowboys has at home.

The Eagles are 22-9 away from the Linc under Sirianni, a .710 winning percentage. And that doesn’t include the season opener in São Paulo, which technically counts as a home game.

Only the Chiefs have been better on the road over the past 3 ½ seasons. They’re 22-8 away from Arrowhead for .733.

The Eagles were 6-3 on the road in 2021, 7-1 in 2022, 5-4 last year and they’re 4-1. The Chiefs under Andy Reid are the only other team with a winning road record all four seasons. That shouldn’t be surprising considering the Eagles had the 3^rd-best road record in the NFL from 1999 through 2012, Reid’s 14 years in Philly.

Overall, Reid’s teams are 130-74-1 on the road in 26 seasons, a .637 winning percentage. 

Back to the Eagles. Three of Sirianni’s nine regular-season road losses have come in Dallas, two to the Giants and one each to the Seahawks, Jets, Raiders and Bucs.

The Eagles have three road games remaining – the Rams Sunday night, the Ravens the following week and at Washington in late December – so one more road win clinches a fourth straight winning record. This would be only the second time in franchise history the Eagles have had four consecutive winning seasons away from home. They had five straight from 2000 through 2004 (6-2, 7-1, 5-3, 7-1, 6-2) – under Reid, of course.

And this is wild, but the Eagles only had seven winning records on the road in their first 46 seasons. And only 14 during the 67-year span from 1933 through 1999. They’ve had 16 in 25 years since – 10 under Reid, one each under Chip Kelly and Doug Pederson and four under Sirianni. 

So they’ve had as many winning seasons on the road under Reid and Sirianni as every other head coach in franchise history combined.

In their last 24 road games, they’re 18-5, tying the most road wins they’ve ever had in a 23-game span. 

It’s not just the road where the Eagles have been locked in. Their 42-19 overall record under Sirianni is 3^rd-best in the NFL behind the Chiefs and Bills. That means they’re 20-10 at home since 2021, “only” the 8^th-best record.

So they’ve actually been better on the road than at home.

What goes into winning on the road?

“On offense, being able to handle the noise is going to be really critical,” Sirianni said Monday. “It gets annoying to hear the crowd noise (at practice), but obviously that's a big deal.

“I think the biggest thing out of all that is just having that mental toughness that everyone is going to be against you on the road. Now, we travel pretty well, and I've been really appreciative of the Eagles fans that show up no matter where we are.

“But you still feel like the stadium is against you. It’s just an opportunity for you to unite as a team, lock arms as a team. And have that mental toughness, that dog mentality as far as understanding (to) just play the next play, control what you can control, and unite as a team.

“That's a cool stat, and we take pride in that. That's just another opportunity to lock arms, and go at it together, and try to battle all game and win.”

For the sake of comparison, here are the road records of every Eagles head coach since the mid-1970s. Interesting to note that since 1986, the Eagles have the 2^nd-best road record in the NFL at 162-146-2, behind only the Patriots’ 167-143.

.480 … Dick Vermeil, 1976-82 [24-26]

.354 … Marion Campbell, 1983-1985 [8-15-1]

.513 … Buddy Ryan, 1986-1990 [20-19]

.500 … Rich Kotite, 1991-1994 [16-16]

.307 … Ray Rhodes, 1995-1998 [9-21-1]

.585 … Andy Reid, 1999-2012 [64-46-1]

.565 … Chip Kelly, 2013-2015 [13-10]

.400 … Doug Pederson, 2016-2020 [16-24]

.710 … Nick Sirianni, 2021-2024 [22-9]

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