Six weeks later, after Sunday’s 48-7 loss to the Saints in New Orleans, everything remains fractured in Philadelphia. The Eagles have gone from bad to one of the NFC’s worst teams.
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Remember the Eagles’ Week 1 win over the Falcons? Now 4-6 Philly has the same disappointing record as injury-riddled Atlanta and (gulp) Detroit. The Eagles are 2-5 in conference play. Two of their wins came against the Giants and Jaguars, both 3-7. Their Week 3 survival against the Colts, now 5-5, is by far their most impressive outcome.
Now the Eagles’ slim hopes to return to the playoffs are tied to the outrageous fortune of playing in the weak NFC East. Two games behind the division-leading Redskins, they have two games left against Washington, which just lost starting quarterback Alex Smith to a gruesome leg injury.
So Philadelphia, even after already dropping double the amount of games it lost last year, is mathematically alive.
But there’s a difference between being alive and being well.
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With everything that’s wrong with Philadelphia on display Sunday in New Orleans, the Saints sensed the champs were on the ropes. And they kept swinging.
New Orleans was up 38-7 and facing the last play of the third quarter when Drew Brees threw a bomb to wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith. One of the Eagles’ last healthy cornerbacks, Rasul Douglas, hurt his knee falling over the diving Smith. Later in the drive, the Saints went for it on fourth-and-6, and Brees rifled a 37-yard TD pass to running back Alvin Kamara.
That sums up how the season has gone for the Eagles.
The Saints exposed every weakness — depleted secondary coverage, struggling run-blocking, shoddy pass protection, shaky pass-rush and lack of offensive diversity. They also erased the Eagles’ few remaining strengths — quarterback Carson Wentz’s efficiency, powered by a connection with tight end Zach Ertz and a sometimes-good run defense. The latter was absent as Kamara and Mark Ingram combined to rush for 173 yards. And that came on the heels of Ezekiel Elliott’s 151-yard effort in Philly last week.
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Injuries have hit the Eagles again this season; their offensive and defensive backfields have been the most ravaged. They also endured a significant drain of their offensive coaching staff (Frank Reich, John DeFillippo) and defensive personnel (Patrick Robinson, Beau Allen, several others). And they haven’t handled it well.
Last season, the Eagles aced the “next man up” test, down to Wentz tearing his ACL and Nick Foles going on his Super Bowl MVP run. They were confident and relentless on both sides of the ball. They jumped out to big leads by getting much more than Ertz involved in the passing game, and they put away teams with the running game. They had wire-to-wire swagger.
Now that kind of mojo in the NFC belongs to the Saints and Rams.
All the way through the “Philly Special” that burned the Patriots, last year’s Eagles were unpredictable, and they could beat anyone in multiple ways. These Eagles are not intimidating or sneaking up on anyone.
Wentz has been under siege, and the flashy elusiveness he played with last season has been replaced by forced mistakes. Receivers Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor have been disappointing, and Golden Tate (granted, in only two games) hasn’t fared much better. Stopping the Eagles’ offense, now limited and one-dimensional, is much easier than it was last season. Likewise, teams with strong offensive lines such as the Cowboys and Saints can both power run and downfield pass against the Eagles’ defense at will.
You can bet Saints coach Sean Payton takes pride in accepting the torch after paying attention to the aggressive mentality Doug Pederson installed in the Eagles last season, but he’s not alone. Philadelphia’s style and success last season inspired teams like Chicago, Kansas City and Indianapolis to operate the same way.
Now other contenders have caught up to the Eagles, who have regressed to the point where they’re totally missing the ingredients that went into their delicate championship formula.
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Philadelphia’s remaining schedule is not easy, save for the rematch with the Giants in Week 12. The Cowboys, Rams and Texans are equipped to exploit everything that’s wrong with the Eagles just like the Saints did.
Pederson did not suddenly become a bad coach, but after the debacle in New Orleans, it’s hard to imagine his team being good, let alone great, again this season.
No matter what the standings say, the Eagles’ repeat chances are gone.
