It was a disappointing end to what looked like a promising
2014 season for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Just over a month ago, the Eagles were fresh off of a 33-10 beat down of
the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving and were sitting atop the NFC East
at 9-3 and a first round bye in the playoffs looked like a real possibility. However, the Eagles followed by losing three
in a row and while 10-6 was good enough to win the division in Chip Kelly’s
first year on the sideline, this year the same record left the Eagles out of
the playoffs.
Having seen two years of Chip Kelly as an NFL head coach
it’s obvious he can coach in the NFL, which many doubted upon his arrival to
Philadelphia in January 2013. However, there is clear room for
improvement. With the exception of a
loss in 2013 to Minnesota and a loss this season to Washington, Chip Kelly’s
Eagles beat the teams they’re better than.
However, against contending teams, the Eagles have been exposed which
leaves them as a good team but not elite two years into the Chip Kelly era.
The secondary has been the biggest problem these last two
seasons. Go back to September 2013 when
the Broncos destroyed the Eagles 52-20 in Denver. Peyton Manning shredded the Eagles defense
for 327 yards and four touchdowns.
Aaron Rodgers didn’t play against the Eagles last season but this year
at Lambeau Field Rodgers threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns in a 53-20
Packers win. For whatever the reason
may be, the Eagles left Bradley Fletcher on Dez Bryant with no safety help in a
huge week 15 home game against Dallas and Bryant went off for 114 yards and
three touchdowns. The following week in
Washington, Fletcher was left on DeSean Jackson who had 126 receiving yards
against his former team. In a
meaningless week 17 game against the Giants, Odell Beckham Jr. totaled 185 yards and a touchdown
while Ruben Randle added six catches for 158 yards. While it’s easy to point the finger at
Fletcher, Nate Allen and Cary Williams haven’t exactly lit the world on fire
either. Adding Malcolm Jenkins in free
agency was a good move but there’s a lot more work to do to fix this secondary
and it couldn’t be more apparent.
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| Matt Rourke/AP Chip Kelly and Howie Roseman have some work to do this offseason to get the Eagles into the conversation as one of the NFL's elite teams. |
The Eagles were exposed in a different way in their 24-14
loss to the defending champion Seattle Seahawks. Against the NFL’s best defense, the Eagles
high-powered offense stalled and the Eagles allowed Seattle to posses the ball
for close to 42 minutes and gave up 440 yards of offense while only mustering
up 139 yards of their own. The Eagles
defense did about all you could ask for in this game considering the time of
possession. While Seattle isn’t an elite
passing team, the Eagles held Marshawn Lynch to 86 yards on 23 carries and kept
him out of the end zone. This game was
about an elite defense belittling a good offense.
The Eagles struggled on offense against another good defense
in San Francisco earlier this season as they failed to score an offensive
touchdown in the 26-21 loss. Chip Kelly
is hailed as an offensive genius but will have to find ways to score points
against some of the NFL’s better defenses in order for the Eagles to get to the
next level. While the Eagles won’t admit
it, the offense isn’t the same without DeSean Jackson who was the wide receiver
that could stretch the field and be a big play threat. Jeremy Maclin had a very good 2014 and rookie
Jordan Matthews showed signs of a bright future. However, Riley Cooper was very disappointing
this year after the best year of his career in 2013. Third round pick Josh Huff was mostly a
nonfactor in his rookie season. The
Eagles don’t have much depth at wide receiver and desperately need a big play, stretch the field type of playmaker.
Perhaps ending 2014 like this will be a blessing in disguise
for the Eagles. A necessary wakeup call
for Chip Kelly and General Manager Howie Roseman. While Malcolm Jenkins and Darren Sproles were
good additions, the Eagles had a draft that yielded one productive player this
season and let DeSean Jackson go for nothing.
Moves like that cannot be explained. Had the Eagles won the division and won a home playoff game this coming weekend maybe that would have masked some of the issues that need to be addressed. In the big picture, it’s hard to complain with Chip Kelly through two
years. He’s won 20 games. He’s proved he can coach in the NFL. But now it’s time to take the next step. No more inexplicable offseason
decisions. The Eagles were exposed on
offense against Seattle and San Francisco and the holes in the secondary
are quite glaring. Time to fill them.
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