- The Eagles were destroyed yesterday in New Orleans, 48-7. Not unexpected, as Philly is in chaos and the Saints are the hottest team in football. Historically, it was the worse loss ever by a defending Super Bowl champ.
- Hard to believe this team won a Super Bowl last season but that's the point: this is not the same team as last year. Injuries, lack of depth, and lack of motivation are killing this club.
The friggin' Dallas Cowboys are most likely to take the NFC East and make the playoffs. There's a reason why no team has won the NFC East in consecutive season since 2003. The Cowboys have a relatively easy schedule ( whereas the Eagles have the toughest schedule in the league). Since they acquired wide receiver Amari Cooper, their offense has clicked. Zeke Elliot now has room to run, since opposing secondaries cannot stack eight players in the box. Plus Washington lost its QB, Alex Smith, to a gruesome broken leg.
With the Birds slipping, Dallas has a shot. Hate to see owner Jerry Jones gloating as their season was saved last week at the Linc when they upset the Eagles.
Dallas hosts the Redskins on Thanksgiving in a huge division game. Who to root for? It's always good to have Dallas lose, but Washington is on top of the division.
- With Smith out for the season, Colt McCoy is the only experienced QB on the Redskin offense. would the Eagles entertain trading Nick Foles to Washington? That would mean conceding the division,but the Birds would get a pretty high draft pick in exchange. Isn't that why we kept Foles? Not only as insurance for Carson Wentz, but also to flip him to another team last in the season?
Doesn't GM Howie Rossman at least have to make an investigation call? They probably regret not dealing Foles this off-season ( reportedly the Eagles had deal to send Foles elsewhere for a No.1 draft pick last spring.I'm sure Washington will be searching and making calls too. They are in 1st place- why give up on the year just because your No. 1 quarterback is out?
- I knew the whipping was coming in New Orleans , but still shocking to see. It's one thing to lose big; it's another thing to give up and be humiliated. In fact, the Saints never really took their foot off the gas. They wanted to score 50 points again. They wanted to badly beat the defending world champions, especially since they mouthed-off that New Orleans couldv'e beaten the Birds kast year too. We will never know, as the Saints lost to the Vikings on a fluke play late.
They poured it on the Eagles, going for a fourth down play late, QB Drew Brees picking on the depleted secondary, plus kicking a meaningless field goal late. What goes around comes around, and hopefully the Eagles remember.
As I have said all along, one of the keys to the season is motivation. The Eagles don;t seem to have the hunger it takes to win, the same hunger they had last season. No wonder it's tough to win consecutive Super Bowls.
- If there is a bright spot, missing the playoffs wouldn't be a bad thing. Missing the post-season may humble the entire organization, after 11 months of celebrating, writing books and appearing on talk shoe. No longer will there by a bull's-eye on their backs. They would get an easier schedule, playing other weak conference teams. Missing the playoffs would also mean overall higher draft picks next spring ( the Eagles have a ton of picks).
It's pretty obvious the team needs an overhaul and an injection of youth. Old guys like Wallace, Ngata and Sproles either went down to injury or didn't play well. Peters may be done. Unlike last season, with Chris Long, these veteran pick-ups just didn't work out.
It will be up to Rossman and assistant Joe Douglas to selct and sign the best players coming out of college and free agency to keep the Eagles a float in the coming years. They have their franchise quarterback. Now they need to rebuild both lines, get Wentz more weapons on offense and devise new strategories going into 2019.
- Why was Wentz still in the game late during a 41 point deficet? Was Coach Pederson sending a message?
Speaking of Pederson, he bristles at questions about losing fellow coaches Reuch and DiPhillipo to other squads. That's part of success in football. You win and assistants suddenly get recognized and get head jobs elsewhere. It's Rossman and Pederson's job to try and replace those departed. Obviously these newcomers, such as Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz, isn't good enough. Defensively,. the club isn't forcing turnovers. They are not stopping third or fourth down tries. They give up too many soft yards, too many first downs, they don't get off the field timely to give the sleeping offense a fair shot, and they seem disinterested. Plus you have guys who shouldn't even be on an NFL team playing the secondary.
- WR Golden Tate has not made much of a difference in the offense. They gave up a 3rd round pick for Tate. Hopefully we see more of Tate before the season ends. Otherwise it may be a very short tenure in Philly.
- The Eagles have to be second-guessing themselves for not dealing Nick Foles last off-season after his amazing playoff run last season. I suppose they didn't have enough trust in Nate Sudfeld in case Wentz did get hurt.
The Saints have to be the heavy favorite to be the NFC represenattive in Super Bowl LIII. They already beat the Rams, and with home field advantage thru-out the playoffs, the road to the Super bowl will go thru New Orleans this year. Who is going to bea tthem?
- So, what now? The Eagles come home, where they have lost three straight games, to play the suddenly-surging New York Giants ( who are only a game behind Philadelphia in NFC East. When was the last time a Giants team was favored in Philly.A Giants team with a record worse than the Eagles. Yet they are still favored. That line tells you a lot about where the current Eagles are.
Three consecutive division games await- Giants this Sunday, Redskins on Monday Night Football in two weeks, and then a trip to Dallas. Even at 4-6 , it's sick to say but the Birds still have a shot, if they can win the rest of their division games. Lose to the lowly New Yorkers and you can stick a fork in 'em. 8-8 may win the sad NFC East. The Eagles need to go 4-2 over the last six games to just break even on the season.
If the team showed some fight, some life I would buy into it, but this team is different, with numerous holes to fill. Some players may have already packed it in for 2018. Sunday's game vs the G-men will say a lot about what this team is made of.
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