THE SUN shone brightly in eastern Pennsylvania yesterday, a dazzling change from the Monday-morning hangover weather: endless clouds and drizzle, brought, perhaps, by the rainmaker passes thrown by Aaron Rodgers. By yesterday the region was well into recovery from post-Packers malaise; buoyed, perhaps, by a thrilling Steelers win in Nashville against the team that visits Philadelphia on Sunday.
Yesterday might have been bright, but it was bone-chilling; a fitting circumstance, considering the cold reality that confronts the Eagles as they come down the homestretch.
Ten games into the season, the Eagles clearly are flawed in too many fundamental ways to be a serious Super Bowl contender.
They might be able to mask one or two issues. Anything short of a playoff berth would be disastrous, but, really, that's all that can be expected.
If it was only their deficiency at free safety; or, only their erratic quarterback; or, only their development and cohesion issues at inside linebacker and along the offensive line.
It is, however, all of those things.
All at positions in the middle of the field.
All at positions where masking one would be feasible; masking two would be a challenge. But masking all of them?
Impossible.
The 53-20 loss in Green Bay made that ever more obvious . . . to some.
"If it was a situation where we literally just couldn't compete - like, we knew we couldn't fix the mistakes, we were just doomed - then we'd be worried," quarterback Mark Sanchez said yesterday. "All of that stuff is fixable."
He's partly right.
This reality does not doom the season. The Eagles still should be favored to win the NFC East and host a playoff game. They should beat the Cowboys in one of their two meetings and they should trounce Washington and the Giants. The Titans will be spent, playing on short rest and with the burden of blowing a win at home.
Two weeks ago Seattle lost nose tackle Brandon Mebane, their best defensive player this season. The Seahawks immediately allowed Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles his first 100-yard rushing game of the season and fell to 6-4. They are just 8-5 on the road the past two seasons, 2-3 in 2014 and, internally, they are fractured.
So, yes, the Eagles have a chance Dec. 7; a chance at 11 wins.
However, some of the issues do not seem "fixable."
Consider:
* Sanchez has six turnovers in 11 quarters of play . . . and seven of those quarters were in wins. Be kind, and subtract a pass off Josh Huff's hands and a botched handoff to LeSean McCoy, and Sanchez still would have four turnovers. That is not an egregiously high number, and his passer rating of 90.3 is well above his career average, but his overall play has done little to erase five seasons of progressively diminished returns as a Jet . . . and three of his turnovers Sunday were hauntingly familiar to his days in North Jersey. He called one interception "reckless" and admitted he was "fooled" on the other. There is a chance that Sanchez could settle in and effectively run the Eagles' Machine Gun Offense - he clearly grasps its concepts and functions and has no issue with its pace - but to hope Sanchez will become its primary weapon is too much to ask. He needs to be that, in the absence of DeSean Jackson and the resultant limitation of McCoy.
* Perhaps no player in Eagles history has worked harder off the field, played harder on the field and been blessed with more character and intelligence than Nate Allen . . . to less effect. An ordinary tackler and a poor pass defender, Allen simply lacks instinct; to watch him pursue downfield is to watch an exercise in failed geometry. Backup Earl Wolff was injured enough to finally warrant a trip to injured reserve yesterday, and that resulted in the signing of former backup Roc Carmichael. Chris Maragos has never started an NFL game. The Eagles tried to address this positional shortcoming through the draft, but coordinator Bill Davis indicated that fourth-round rookie defensive back Jaylen Watkins isn't ready to play at any DB position; he has only been active for three games. Fifth-round safety Ed Reynolds remains on the practice squad. So, nothing will change in this spot.
* The Eagles cut Emmanuel Acho out of training camp. Casey Matthews made the squad as a special-teams cornerstone. Fast-forward half a season, and it is they who have been asked to occupy the spot vacated by DeMeco Ryans for the final eight games. It is they who will be targeted by offensive coordinators who will design passes over the middle and down the seam. It is they who will be asked to stop the NFL's two best workhorse backs: Marshawn Lynch, of Seattle, and DeMarco Murray, of Dallas. Neither Matthews nor Acho has struggled with the cerebral aspects of the job, and neither has played particularly poorly in their two co-starts. Both could improve; so, here, there is at least some hope.
* The most improvement could come for the most important unit on the team. Really, the entire line is not at issue. Left-side Pro Bowlers Jason Peters and Evan Mathis are not the problem, even though Mathis has been back for just two games (knee). The issue is center Jason Kelce, back for three games after missing four with a sports hernia; right guard Matt Tobin, who now has played the position just twice as a pro; and second-year right tackle Lane Johnson, who missed the first four games of the season serving a PED suspension. Tobin progressed nicely as Mathis' replacement at right guard in Games 4-8. Kelce has yet to return to form, but that's understandable. Johnson essentially began the season without a training camp.
"They're doing what we expect of them," offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. "Guys are coming back, and they're battling."
The Eagles' heart has not been in question this season, or last. Their talent level at the positions in question has been. They failed to fully upgrade their safety depth, made a spurious decision at quarterback and drafted linebacker Marcus Smith in the first round, who has proven to be, at best, a long-term project. They drafted no offensive linemen.
Still, the line has some depth and should progress.
The Acho/Casey combination might get a little better, too.
The rest of the problems present a chilling, irreparable reality.
Yesterday might have been bright, but it was bone-chilling; a fitting circumstance, considering the cold reality that confronts the Eagles as they come down the homestretch.
Ten games into the season, the Eagles clearly are flawed in too many fundamental ways to be a serious Super Bowl contender.
They might be able to mask one or two issues. Anything short of a playoff berth would be disastrous, but, really, that's all that can be expected.
If it was only their deficiency at free safety; or, only their erratic quarterback; or, only their development and cohesion issues at inside linebacker and along the offensive line.
It is, however, all of those things.
All at positions in the middle of the field.
All at positions where masking one would be feasible; masking two would be a challenge. But masking all of them?
Impossible.
The 53-20 loss in Green Bay made that ever more obvious . . . to some.
"If it was a situation where we literally just couldn't compete - like, we knew we couldn't fix the mistakes, we were just doomed - then we'd be worried," quarterback Mark Sanchez said yesterday. "All of that stuff is fixable."
He's partly right.
This reality does not doom the season. The Eagles still should be favored to win the NFC East and host a playoff game. They should beat the Cowboys in one of their two meetings and they should trounce Washington and the Giants. The Titans will be spent, playing on short rest and with the burden of blowing a win at home.
Two weeks ago Seattle lost nose tackle Brandon Mebane, their best defensive player this season. The Seahawks immediately allowed Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles his first 100-yard rushing game of the season and fell to 6-4. They are just 8-5 on the road the past two seasons, 2-3 in 2014 and, internally, they are fractured.
So, yes, the Eagles have a chance Dec. 7; a chance at 11 wins.
However, some of the issues do not seem "fixable."
Consider:
* Sanchez has six turnovers in 11 quarters of play . . . and seven of those quarters were in wins. Be kind, and subtract a pass off Josh Huff's hands and a botched handoff to LeSean McCoy, and Sanchez still would have four turnovers. That is not an egregiously high number, and his passer rating of 90.3 is well above his career average, but his overall play has done little to erase five seasons of progressively diminished returns as a Jet . . . and three of his turnovers Sunday were hauntingly familiar to his days in North Jersey. He called one interception "reckless" and admitted he was "fooled" on the other. There is a chance that Sanchez could settle in and effectively run the Eagles' Machine Gun Offense - he clearly grasps its concepts and functions and has no issue with its pace - but to hope Sanchez will become its primary weapon is too much to ask. He needs to be that, in the absence of DeSean Jackson and the resultant limitation of McCoy.
* Perhaps no player in Eagles history has worked harder off the field, played harder on the field and been blessed with more character and intelligence than Nate Allen . . . to less effect. An ordinary tackler and a poor pass defender, Allen simply lacks instinct; to watch him pursue downfield is to watch an exercise in failed geometry. Backup Earl Wolff was injured enough to finally warrant a trip to injured reserve yesterday, and that resulted in the signing of former backup Roc Carmichael. Chris Maragos has never started an NFL game. The Eagles tried to address this positional shortcoming through the draft, but coordinator Bill Davis indicated that fourth-round rookie defensive back Jaylen Watkins isn't ready to play at any DB position; he has only been active for three games. Fifth-round safety Ed Reynolds remains on the practice squad. So, nothing will change in this spot.
* The Eagles cut Emmanuel Acho out of training camp. Casey Matthews made the squad as a special-teams cornerstone. Fast-forward half a season, and it is they who have been asked to occupy the spot vacated by DeMeco Ryans for the final eight games. It is they who will be targeted by offensive coordinators who will design passes over the middle and down the seam. It is they who will be asked to stop the NFL's two best workhorse backs: Marshawn Lynch, of Seattle, and DeMarco Murray, of Dallas. Neither Matthews nor Acho has struggled with the cerebral aspects of the job, and neither has played particularly poorly in their two co-starts. Both could improve; so, here, there is at least some hope.
* The most improvement could come for the most important unit on the team. Really, the entire line is not at issue. Left-side Pro Bowlers Jason Peters and Evan Mathis are not the problem, even though Mathis has been back for just two games (knee). The issue is center Jason Kelce, back for three games after missing four with a sports hernia; right guard Matt Tobin, who now has played the position just twice as a pro; and second-year right tackle Lane Johnson, who missed the first four games of the season serving a PED suspension. Tobin progressed nicely as Mathis' replacement at right guard in Games 4-8. Kelce has yet to return to form, but that's understandable. Johnson essentially began the season without a training camp.
"They're doing what we expect of them," offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. "Guys are coming back, and they're battling."
The Eagles' heart has not been in question this season, or last. Their talent level at the positions in question has been. They failed to fully upgrade their safety depth, made a spurious decision at quarterback and drafted linebacker Marcus Smith in the first round, who has proven to be, at best, a long-term project. They drafted no offensive linemen.
Still, the line has some depth and should progress.
The Acho/Casey combination might get a little better, too.
The rest of the problems present a chilling, irreparable reality.
