Still Learning

We are five games into the 2024 season and we still don’t know a lot about this Eagles team. The defense was very good in two games and bad in the others. The offense struggles in the first quarter and then plays well the rest of the game. Jalen Carter has been dominant at times, neutralized at others. Saquon Barkley has been a revelation, but also has critical mistakes that cost the Eagles the Falcons game and almost cost them the Browns game.

We still don’t have a good feel for this team or how things will turn out.

How many people remember the 1994 Eagles? They started 7-2, including a 40-8 demolition of the Niners. The offense had Randall Cunningham, Fred Barnett and rookie RB Charlie Garner. That’s a lot of firepower. The defense held 4 of the first 9 opponents to 8 points or less. William Fuller, Andy Harmon, William Thomas, Byron Evans and Eric Allen were Pro Bowl type players. That’s a lot of firepower.

That great start turned into a 7-9 season. Rich Kotite wasn’t a good coach. Cunningham lost his confidence. Evans got hurt and the team didn’t win a game without him. What a collapse.

What about the 2006 Eagles? They started 5-6. Donovan McNabb tore his ACL and that hurt in a couple of losses. The team also had some painful defeats that turned on a play or two. Jeff Garcia replaced McNabb and the team finally figured some things out down the stretch. They finished 10-6, winning the NFC East. They beat the Giants in the playoffs and lost to the Saints in a torturous game. It took a while for that team to get going, but they turned out to be good.

The current team is a mystery to me. We’ve seen some really good stretches, but also some key mistakes. Can they build on the good stuff and eliminate the issues? It certainly is possible. There is enough talent that this team can get hot and go on a good run like that 2006 team.

At the same time, there are some weird vibes with this team and things could go south. Nick Sirianni needs to push the right buttons. Key players need to make big plays. The defense needs to come up with more takeaways. The coordinators need to have better answers when things aren’t going well.

The Eagles take on the Giants on Sunday. They need to win that game. They also need to play well. That doesn’t necessarily mean winning by 10 points or something like that, but they need to make more plays than mistakes. I still think this team has a lot of potential, but we need to see more production.

At some point potential becomes a bad word. A college coach famously told one of his players “Son, your potential is going to get me fired.”

Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman need to figure out what this team is. Does it make sense to trade for a player? Is this team just dysfunctional and they’ll be up and down all year long? If you think that, trading for help doesn’t make a lot of sense.

It is key to remember that we’re just five games into the season. The Eagles didn’t have AJ Brown for three weeks. They had some other key injuries that hurt. I think that is part of the reason I’m being patient with this team. There are still a lot of unknowns.

Kellen Moore has only had two games with all his key weapons. I don’t think we know exactly what he wants to do. The offense looked great for a lot of the opener. The offense had some really good moments against the Browns. Let’s see what Moore can do with a full set of players. Give him time to work with this group.

Vic Fangio is installing a new scheme to a young group of players. The defense shows promise. They are 4th in the league in red zone defense. They are 12th in third down defense. But they also miss tackles, blow coverages and fail to show good gap integrity vs the run. Basic stuff. If the defense can improve in those areas, this group can take a big step forward. But there is no guarantee these players will get better. We are still trying to figure them out.

There are reasons to be optimistic. AJ Brown reminded us how special he is last week. Saquon Barkley remains one of the top RBs in the league. Jalen Carter has dominant potential. Quinyon Mitchell is playing well and you just know he’s going to come up with some picks sooner rather than later. Cooper DeJean was very good last week and could offer a key spark to the defense.

A lot of this comes down to Sirianni and Jalen Hurts. Sirianni has shown he can get the most out of a team (2022). He’s also shown he can fail to solve problems and preside over an epic collapse (2023). This team needs the good Sirianni. We’ll see if he shows up.

Hurts led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2022 and then played the game of his life. He was wildly erratic last year, offsetting his big plays with critical turnovers. This season hasn’t been great. Hurts didn’t turn the ball against the Browns, but he had at least one turnover in each of the other games. If Hurts can protect the ball and start to get into a good rhythm with his receivers, the offense could be one of the best in the league.

It will be interesting to see if this team can come together and get on a roll. Or will it continue to be erratic and incredibly frustrating? Sunday won’t give us a definitive answer either way, but it will give us more insight on what to expect from the 2024 Eagles.

Hope for the best, but make sure you have plenty of PBR available in case you need it

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