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Michael Perez/Associated Press

The Eagles dropped 51 points on the allegedly great Broncos defense Sunday. They did it without the services of All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters, who is out for the year, and tight end/leading receiver Zach Ertz, who was sidelined with a minor hamstring injury.

The Eagles have the best record in the NFL right now and should be even better after their Week 10 bye. Ertz and cornerback Ronald Darby will be back, newcomer Jay Ajayi (who galloped for a 46-yard touchdown Sunday) will have more than one week of practice under his belt, and so on.

It's already time to think about fun things like the playoffs and home-field advantage in Philly.

Can anyone stop the Wentz Wagon? To keep things simple and spare everyone the Patriots are battle-tested proven champions auto-text portion of this rundown, let's limit our discussion to the other NFC contenders.

Los Angeles Rams

Jared Goff and Co. have matched the Eagles blowout for blowout and early-season upset for early-season upset for most of the year. Like the Eagles, the Rams boast a rising-star second-year quarterback, a dynamic offense and a tough defense, plus a few secret weapons like the league's best kicker/punter tandem.

As good as Goff and the Rams have been, however, both Wentz and the Eagles appear further along on the developmental curve. A Week 14 battle in the Coliseum will tell us more—and it could determine home-field advantage for the postseason, too.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys notched an impressive win over the Chiefs on Sunday and are playing well on both sides of the ball. They are usually left out of the NFC conversation, however, because a) their 2-3 season start created a false sense that they were underachieving; and b) the lawyers in the Ezekiel Elliott case have finally tired themselves out, so Elliott is about to be re-re-re-re-suspended.

Circle Weeks 11 and Week 17 (New Year's Eve) as the days the Cowboys get a chance to flip the script in a division where you can always expect the unexpected. My counsel tells me Elliott will probably be unavailable in the first game and raring to go in the second.

Seattle Seahawks

We'll get to the latest chapter in the Seahawks' Season Without Logic a little later. Suffice it to say, the Seahawks are a half-dozen superstars masquerading as a real team, but that doesn't mean they aren't dangerous.

The Seahawks can take any opponent down to a last-second Hail Mary in Seattle, and they will get a chance to prove it to the Eagles in Week 13. If there's a playoff game in Philly, however, the Eagles will beat them by two touchdowns.

New Orleans Saints

Like the Seahawks, the Saints have an exaggerated home-road split when they reach the playoffs. Unlike the Seahawks, they are actually a solid, well-balanced team instead of a random highlight generation system. The Eagles are the better team, but they want to avoid the Superdome.

Green Bay Packers

They won't be in the playoff picture by the time Aaron Rodgers is ready to return.

Attrition

Yes, the Vikings, Panthers or some other team can still muscle its way into the conversation. But none of them pose as much of a threat to the Eagles as attrition itself. As well as they have played, the Eagles are still relative upstarts with a second-year coach and quarterback, and the second half of the season is all about overcoming injuries, fatigue and heightened expectations. Teams like the Patriots and Seahawks have proven they can do that; the Eagles have not.

But great teams have to start somewhere, and the Eagles have already overcome some tough obstacles this season. They're the team to beat for a reason. And the time to doubt them (and their MVP-candidate quarterback) has long passed.