Back in August, when the Eagles were wrapping up training camp and getting ready for the first season of the Chip Kelly era, expectations were not too lofty. After the bottom had fallen out and the Eagles seemingly quit during a 4-12 season which put a disappointing end to the Andy Reid era, 7 or 8 wins would have been viewed as a success in 2013. Fast forward to December 10, 2013, and take a look at the standings and you’ll find the Philadelphia Eagles all alone in first place in the NFC East already with 8 wins and three games to play. I talked to Eagles beat writer Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News to get a feel for the new expectations for this Eagles team now that they seem to have exceeded those set back in August.
The playoffs certainly look to be a strong possibility, but Bowen said regardless of if the Eagles play into January, what’s more encouraging is that the Eagles seem to have brought in a good coach and may have found a franchise quarterback. “Whether they make the playoffs or not, what you want to know is that you hired the right coach and I think we’re on pretty solid ground there. The other thing you want to know is if Nick Foles is a franchise quarterback and we’re close to being on solid ground there,” Bowen said.
 |
| Nhat V. Meyer Nick Foles has been a catalyst behind the Eagles five-game winning streak. |
Holding a one-game lead in the NFC East, the Eagles control their own destiny to make the postseason. They travel to Minnesota this week in a game they should win with Adrian Peterson likely not to play for the Vikings. Then the Eagles host the Chicago Bears before traveling to Dallas for the season finale. “I expect them to beat the Vikings and the last two are probably going to tell the story,” Bowen said. With Chicago and Dallas still very much alive in the playoff hunt, the last two games certainly will tell everyone a lot about who the Eagles really are.
While Chip Kelly is an offensive guru, one of the more impressive things about the Eagles in this five-game winning streak has been the evolution of Billy Davis’s 3-4 defense. The Eagles were embarrassed back in September in a week four game in Denver, losing to the Broncos 52-20 and while Peyton Manning seems to light up just about any defense he faces, this performance from the defense was still very much alarming. Following this game Billy Davis urged everyone to be patient and said that he was seeing progress despite not seeing results on the field. Surely enough, his defense has shown progressive improvement since the disaster in Denver.
 |
| David Maialetti Billy Davis has his defense playing well at the right time of year. |
Since that Denver game, the Eagles are 7-2 and currently on a five-game winning streak. The Eagles defense has been very good in this nine-game stretch even in the two loses, divisional home games to Dallas and the Giants, in which the Eagles offense surprisingly let them down. “It’s really apparent now that early in the season they were struggling to figure out how to play in the 3-4, what the nuances of it were, and what guys roles in it should be,” Bowen said noting particularly the improved play of Nate Allen as an indictment on previous defensive coaches in the Eagles organization. The entire coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball has proved they were good hires in Bowen’s opinion.
In addition to the defense, the single most important player on the Eagles roster has certainly asserted himself this season. In a run-first offense (been a while since we can say that about the Eagles right?) tailor made for explosive plays from the running backs, Lesean McCoy looks to be on track to win the rushing title. While Peyton Manning looks to be in the driver’s seat for league MVP, I asked Bowen if McCoy deserves to be looked at as a viable MVP candidate.
 |
| Totalprosports.com Lesean McCoy set an Eagles franchise record Sunday against Detroit with 217 rushing yards. |
“I haven’t really thought about that but if they make the playoffs and he leads the league in rushing it’s still going to be tough. Peyton Manning probably has it locked up but if something were to happen to him we’ll see. But a candidate…yeah I think he’s one of those people,” Bowen said. Now while McCoy may not win the NFL MVP, it was worth asking Bowen about another NFL award.
Ron Rivera and Andy Reid seem to be two of the primary candidates for the coach of the year award. Carolina has had their fair share of struggles in recent years but Rivera has the Panthers in the playoff hunt after a 1-3 start. Andy Reid has turned a two-win Chiefs team into a virtual lock for the playoffs. But given Chip Kelly is in his first year as an NFL head coach coming right out of college in a situation in which a lot of people doubted his schemes would be able to work in the NFL and was thrown into a tough spot given the way the last few years went for Andy Reid, doesn’t he deserve at least consideration for NFL coach of the year?
 |
| Associated Press Chip Kelly has had plenty to smile about recently and figures to keep smiling if the Eagles can win the division. |
A lot of these speculations about what to expect from the Eagles the rest of the season and moving forward into the future hinge on if they are able to make the playoffs this season. In a year in which the playoffs were a far cry from reality, to have this kind of a season so far, 13 games in, many would have said in August would be an overwhelming success. So that left one more question for Les Bowen.
“I think they are. They’ve impressed me immensely these last couple weeks. They ought to be a playoff team at this point,” Bowen said when asked if it’s going to happen. Chip Kelly has tended not to look much past the next game. He was asked about the quarterback controversy between Michael Vick and Foles many times in the middle of the season and refused to answer until both were fully healthy. He finally named Foles the quarterback for the rest of the season two weeks ago coming out of the bye. Surely he is not looking ahead to the playoffs and is probably putting all his focus on Minnesota. But if this keeps up, he might be putting all his focus on a home playoff game after winning a division title.
Photos:
http://www.totalprosports.com/2013/12/09/stat-line-of-the-night-1282013-lesean-mccoy/
http://articles.philly.com/2013-09-07/sports/41836443_1_eagles-notes-houston-texans-3-4-defense
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/05/chip-kelly-says-his-approach-to-keeping-players-healthy-is-working/
http://thetriangle.org/2013/11/05/eagles-eye-week-9/
No comments:
Post a Comment