Needing a Fix

Can the Eagles be fixed?

Long term, absolutely. This year? I have no idea.

In the first nine games, the Eagles either won the game or lost a close contest. Doug Pederson pointed that out over and over.

“We’re close.”

And he was right.

On Sunday, the Eagles faced their toughest opponent of the year, a true Super Bowl contender. And it wasn’t close. It was a complete disaster. If there was any doubt about the Eagles being a mediocre team, that was gone by halftime of the loss to the Saints.

Could a humiliating loss like that be the real wake-up call this team apparently needed? Possible. You would have thought other losses would have done that, but it is possible that Pederson’s message about being close kept the Eagles in the wrong mindset.

Not anymore.

The players and coaches were part of the worst beating of the year. The Super Bowl contender beat the living crap out of the reigning Super Bowl champs. Who was your player of the game? Corey Clement for one good kickoff return? Josh Adams for scoring the team’s lone TD? There aren’t many options.

The Saints blocked better. Tackled better. Executed better. Coached better. And they rubbed the Eagles noses in it.

Good.

You want a beatdown like this to hurt, to be embarrassing. Eagles players didn’t want to talk to the media after the game. What could they say?

The hope is that a game like this hits home. You want the players to soak in all of the misery and use that as fuel to motivate them for the rest of the season.

Of course, all of the attitude and emotion in the world isn’t going to cover receivers. We need to hear about the Eagles injury situation. It is possible that the Eagles could have Chandon Sullivan and DeVante Bausby on the outside, with Cre’Von LeBlanc in the slot. And Corey Graham as the starting FS. Yikes. Odell Beckham might die of a heart attack just thinking about that matchup.

Jim Schwartz needs to hope Sidney Jones isn’t hurt that bad and that Jalen Mills is going to heal by Sunday. He needs some help.

Tim Jernigan says he will play this week and that would offer a boost to the DL. He won’t be a magic elixir, but he can make a difference, especially against the run.

As for the offense, that was an anomaly. I know they’ve been mediocre this year, but that was flat out bad. They had 3 INTs and just one TD. Carson Wentz had arguably the worst game of his career. The offense won’t play like that this Sunday.

Will they actually play well, the way we’ve expected all year? That’s a different question and I honestly don’t know. The coaches must figure out the reason for the slow starts. That has to change.

Getting Jason Kelce back will help. Stefen Wisniewski struggled when he took over at center. He missed a block on the most important play of the game. The Eagles were down 17-7, but had some momentum. It was third down at midfield. Wiz didn’t block his DT and that guy sacked Wentz. He pushed the Eagles back far enough they didn’t go for it on fourth down. Ugh.

Kelce will help, but he’s played most of the year and the offense has struggled with him on the field.

There isn’t a simple answer to the offense. People keep talking about Frank Reich. Yes, the Eagles miss him. But if you think adding him to this team puts them back as a Top 5 offense and means the Eagles are 7-3 right now, you’re dreaming. This performance goes a long way past coaching.

The players won’t be the only ones affected by that loss on Sunday. That got the coaches attention as well. Maybe it will cause Pederson to re-think some things.

Pederson had the magic touch in 2017, always knowing what button to push. He’s been at a loss this season. Time is running out for Pederson to figure out how to fix a broken situation.

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