Section 215
Fansided

Eagles Armchair: The Magic is Gone

By Tucker Bagley

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The most comprehensive weekly look at the Philadelphia Eagles on the internet.

WALK THROUGH

So many things about the game felt familiar. Mark Sanchez trying to lead Chip Kelly’s squad into a hostile environment on Thanksgiving trying to propel the Eagles into position for a playoff run as we enter the stretch run of the season. Only one more thing was all too familiar: the end result.

For the second straight game, the Eagles were run off the field, falling by a score of 45-14 to the Detroit Lions, just four days after surrendering 45 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After the game, Kelly stood at his podium and stared at the familiar faces of the Philadelphia media. But instead of the confident coach who smirked and joked his way through countless press conferences, a different Kelly stood at the podium. This one was confused, the guy who always had the answers all of a sudden seemed at a loss for words.

“I didn’t see this happening,” Kelly said. “Coming in, I wasn’t going: ‘Oh, my God, this thing is going to get away from us.’ I thought we were going to have a chance to come in here and really compete with a good football team.”

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The players, on the other hand, were more audible in their frustrations. They didn’t turn on their coach, but instead putting each other on notice to either get in line and fight, or get out.

“We’re going to find out who’s all-in and who’s not,” Jason Kelce said. “It’s very upsetting the way the season has gone so far, but it’s not over yet. We’ve still got five games left to get it corrected.”

Or as Lane Johnson bluntly put it: “We’re going to see who the quitters are.”

Yes, there are five games left on the schedule, but even that isn’t enough to put the Eagles back together. At this point it would be best for them to take a page out of Sam Hinkie’s playbook and position themselves for the future.

But all of the issues stem from the mad scientist who has lost his confidence, his swagger. Until Kelly remembers what made him so successful and regains that machismo that turned him from the hottest coaching prospect into the guy who was going to revolutionize the way football was played, the Eagles will suffer.

The magic is gone. And only one man has the ability to find it.

INJURY REPORT

Did Not Play – Sam Bradford (shoulder), Zach Ertz (concussion), Ryan Mathews (concussion)

Jason Peters – Peters has been limited for the past few weeks with back spasms, but he left just five minutes into yesterday’s contest after getting his leg rolled-up on. The Eagles have 10 days until their next game, and no one will benefit from that break more than Peters. His age has really caught up with him this year and it looks like we’re witnessing the end of his illustrious career.

Nolan Carroll – Carroll broke his ankle in the second quarter and will miss the rest of the season. This is terrible news for the cornerback who is entering free agency and was hoping to pick up a decent, long-term contract in the off-season. Now either some team is going to sign him for pennies on the dollar or he will re-sign with the Eagles on a one-year, prove-it deal. On the other side, Eric Rowe should slide into Carroll’s spot on the outside and show everybody what he has learned from the bench so far this season. For better or worse, it will be nice to know what the Eagles have in their second-round pick, especially if there is a rebuild on the horizon.

MEASURABLES

10 – The Eagles defense has allowed 10 touchdown passes in the past eight days. That’s the same number they allowed from week four to week nine. But if you want to hear about some true defensive dominance, the 2001 Philadelphia Eagles allowed just 13 passing TDs all year. It is hard to say the Eagles defense is improved after getting torched these last two games, but they have such a log way to go if they ever want to be compared to the great defenses of the Jim Johnson era.

1 – The Phillies have won one more game than the Eagles since September 27. I’m not sure if this is a sign of how bad the Eagles have been or how hot the Phillies were at the end of the year. Also, after yesterday’s loss, the Phillies, who are picking number one in their respective draft, lead the city in winning percentage in 2015 (per Ryan Lawrence). That’s absolutely dreadful.

15 – It has been 15 games since an Eagles wide receiver not named Jordan Matthews recorded 100 receiving yards in a game. On Thanksgiving last year, Jeremy Maclin caught eight passes for 108 yards. He’s now playing for Reid in Kansas City and the Eagles are struggling to find any sort of receiving threat. Obviously the Eagles didn’t think Maclin was worth $13 million dollars, but it is worth wondering how much better off their roster would be if they decided to pony up and pay the man. They would have a better receiving corps, they could’ve spent their first-round draft pick on Byron Jones or an offensive linemen and there wouldn’t have been enough money to sign DeMarco Murray. Win, win, win.

SECTION 140

No one knows what the future holds for Kelly and the position as head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, but I am sure interested in learning about the man whose name paints the picture of Farmer Fran from the classic motion picture, The Waterboy.

Not that I keep up with them myself, but it seems like those women are trend-setters and career-enders.

But remember kids, don’t shoot yourself.

WEEKLY AWARDS The Showstopper Award – Handlebar Mustache Guy

That’s right, the dude who stole the show doesn’t have a name, but instead, a perfectly groomed arrangement of hair on his upper lip hat made him the envy of every man watching yesterday’s game. Based on his actions during the game, it seems like he is a part of the Eagles medical staff. Despite my quick attempts at researching for him, I couldn’t find him on the Eagles website, perhaps because his only discernible feature is a mustache that may or may not be a temporary addition to his face.

So, here is my new mission for the rest of the season: Find this guy. It looks like the Eagles are fading into irrelevancy, so in order to take our focus off of such slop, I promise to deliver the story behind the mustached mystery man.

The Not That Bad Award – Mark Sanchez

Believe it or not, Sanchez didn’t play all that bad yesterday, completing 19 of his 27 passes for 199 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It has been proven time and time again during Sanchez’s career that he is unable to put a team on his back and lead them to a victory. When he tries to do too much, he forces the ball and that’s when the mistakes start to happen.

And there lies the issues with Sanchez. He can be an effective game manager, but if things go wrong elsewhere, he cannot be asked to shoulder the load and elevate a team’s performance.

NO HUDDLE

  • I don’t want to keep harping on him, but Murray has been absolutely terrible this year. I don’t know if his inability to perform stems from his workload from last season, an imperfect fit in Kelly’s scheme or any regrets about signing in Philadelphia, but watching him run has been depressing. He looks hesitant when he hits the hole, he refuses to fight for extra yards and he has lacked any sort of fire since the week two match up against Dallas. He looked disinterested during training camp and I wondered if it was just his frustration with some nagging injuries he was dealing with at the time, but after watching him under-perform, one has to wonder if he would re-sign with the Cowboys if he could do it all over again.
  • It is getting harder and harder to defend the job Bill Davis is doing with this defense. Two years ago, Davis was lauded for his ability to cobble together decent enough gameplans to hide the gaping holes in the Eagles defense from week to week. Last year, he was spared any sort of criticism due to the personnel in the secondary. But after Kelly’s off-season spending spree, we are running out of excuses to give this guy. Two weeks in a row his unit got steam-rolled by an average-at-best offense and his leash is getting short. With all the guaranteed money being thrown around on the defensive side of the ball, someone’s head is going to roll if there isn’t an improvement in performance. And you’d better believe it isn’t going to be the $60-million corner.
  • The Eagles’ offensive line struggled all day to keep Sanchez upright and, sadly, it may be the fault of Peters. The guy just can’t be counted on anymore. He has been the Eagles best player since he arrived here from Buffalo in 2009, making five Pro Bowl teams and earning two first-team All Pro selections, but his body is failing him and the rest of the team as a result. After proclaiming he was healthy all week, he left with another injury and forced Kelly to shuffle his offensive line on the fly, moving Lane Johnson to left tackle, a position he isn’t naturally comfortable at, without getting any reps there at practice this week. Peters deserves so much admiration for what he has accomplished as an Eagle and should be enshrined in Canton one day, but as of right now, it would be shocking if the Eagles didn’t cut him loose at the end of the season.
  • Hypothetically speaking, if something were to happen and Kelly was gone at the end of the year, how long would it be until the Eagles could contend again? With the state of their roster, it is hard to tell. Do they have under-performing veterans, who, in the perfect system could perform better? Or did Kelly the GM over-value these players and stick the Eagles with these big, unmovable contracts? The former would be a much more preferable option, and maybe a new coach can inspire these players, but if it’s the latter, it may be a long road back to relevancy.

WHO’S NEXT

Ten days separate the Eagles from a date with the unbeaten Patriots. Tom Brady and company have been dealing with injuries on offense, as they will be without the services on Julian Edelman and Dion Lewis for the remainder of the season. If the Eagles defense played well the past two weeks, I would say they have a fighting shot to at least contain the Patriots offense. But they haven’t, so I won’t.

Next: Five Big Picture Takeaways From Eagles' Loss to Lions

Offensively, the Eagles will welcome back Bradford, which is a positive, or less of a negative, depending on your opinion of the Heisman-winner. With extra time between games, I will have a pair of all-22s next week, detailing what the Eagles can do to be successful against the Patriots defense. Or, at the very least, not embarrass themselves for the third straight week.

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