Reasons For Optimism

Posted: November 5th, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Reasons For Optimism

The Eagles are a disappointing 4-4 at midseason. They have a lot of injured players.

But I feel pretty good about things. Some of you will shake your head and I get that. Let me explain my thinking.

Eagles are hot

The team has won two of the last three games. They didn’t play the ’85 Bears in that stretch, but let’s look at the wins. The Eagles faced the awful Giants on a short week and dominated them, 34-13. That’s what you’re supposed to do when facing a bad team. The other win came against the Jaguars. That was no blowout, but the Eagles played with the lead most of the game.

As for the loss, the Eagles dominated the Panthers for three quarters and led 17-0. Carolina dominated in the fourth and stole the win. Carolina then dominated the Ravens a week ago and dominated much of their win over Tampa today. The Panthers are red hot.

Winning Time

The first half of an NFL season is often weird. Buffalo was 5-2 at one point last year. They managed to finish 9-7 and go to the playoffs, but that was not a good team. Denver started off 3-1, then lost 8 games in a row. Yikes. The Patriots started 2-2 and won 8 games in a row. The Chiefs started off 5-0 and looked great. Then they had a 1-6 stretch which completely changed their season.

September and October are weird. You find out who the really good teams are in November and December. If the Eagles are in fact a good team, they should be getting ready to play their best football.

Division

Washington was the only team in action on Sunday and you can even argue that. They lost to Atlanta, 38-14. The Skins are missing their LT. On Sunday they had both OGs and the RT get hurt. The RT came back, but the OGs are a different story.

The Skins are now 5-3 and one game up on the Eagles. The teams play twice in the second half of the season.

Washington traded for Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, thinking they were contenders and he could help them out. After a performance like today’s, you have to wonder just how good the Skins really are.

The Giants are already thinking about 2019.

Dallas is a trickier subject. The Cowboys are 3-4. Their offense is a mess, but their defense has been outstanding this year. I don’t believe in that team based on what I’ve seen, but I don’t expect them to completely fold.

Getting Help

Golden Tate is here to help the Eagles offense. The return of Darren Sproles, assuming he still exists, could also help. Mack Hollins could be back in the coming weeks. Richard Rodgers and Mike Wallace are also candidates to possibly return.

Corey Clement has been active in recent weeks, but clearly hasn’t been 100 percent. A healthy Clement would give the offense a boost.

We don’t have a timetable for Sidney Jones, but his return would be huge for the defense. Tim Jernigan could return at some point.

Obviously the status of Lane Johnson and Jalen Mills will be important. We’ll have to wait and see what the team says this week.

The Kids are Alright

Rookie Avante Maddox has taken over as the FS and is starting to play well in his new role. He takes good angles to the ball. He can hit and tackle. He has good ball skills. He should only get better as the season moves along.

TE Dallas Goedert has played really well, as a blocker and receiver. He already has more catches, yards and TDs than Brent Celek did all of last year.

RB Josh Adams is coming off his best game. It will be interesting to see if his workload increases.

DE Josh Sweat didn’t play much last week. I thought he looked okay on a couple of plays. I hope the coaches give him a chance to show what he can do.

*****

I wrote a column for PE.com on the questions facing the Eagles heading into the second half of the season.

No real mysteries to the situation. We just have to see if the Eagles can provide the right answers.

*****

So much for my wondering if the Eagles truly wanted a speedster. Apparently they did.

Sounds like the Eagles did have some good info on Tate.

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