The Eagles are Basically What They've Been

The Eagles 27-16 loss at Carolina last night was only really surprising if you thought this team would win the Super Bowl, something I never thought they could do. When the team was 1-3 a couple weeks ago, I wasn't sure they'd be as good as I thought they'd be, but now at 3-4, I'm confident they will be a relevant team down the stretch. The Eagles are basically who I thought they were, a team that should win 9-11 games before the season, but will be frustrating to watch at times as the season goes on. They are good enough to get your hopes up, but not good enough to compete with the elite teams in the NFC.

The Birds have a nice defense. Even last night, they gave up 24 points until the offense turned the ball over deep in their own end at the end of the game. When the Eagles win, they hold the team in the low 20s and have to hope the offense can keep up. The offense is not a 30 plus point a game offense this year though. The quarterback isn't good enough. The running game isn't good enough. The offensive line isn't good enough. The receivers aren't good enough. The scheme and play calling, guess what, isn't good enough. The Eagles ran into a defense every bit as good as their own, if not better, and an offense that does what it does very well, and last night resulted in a loss. Carolina is emerging as one of the best teams in the NFC, up there with Green Bay, just ahead of the Arizonas, Atlantas, and surprisingly Minnesotas in the conference. The Eagles are not there right now.

The Eagles are going to have to win the division to reach the playoffs, most likely. While they have a similar record to Seattle, the odds of the Birds out-kicking Seattle down the stretch for a Wild Card isn't likely, and even so, they'd have to beat out a Minnesota or Atlanta, neither of which looks great right now to happen. The Eagles will play a relatively easy schedule in November and December, with only New England, Arizona, and New York having winning records. The Eagles can still win nine or ten games fairly realistically. Obviously the inconsistency is going to make that hard, but it's possible. Thinking beyond that though has always been foolish. The Eagles are not a championship contender.

The Eagles were a ten win team the last two years. This off-season their moves made the defense a bit better, but the offense got a bit worse. It's left them right back where they started. If things go well, they will be a ten win team again, and there could be a playoff game in South Philly this January. If not, this team could flop as far as 6-10. They basically are who we thought they were the last couple of years. Not much has changed. In other words, keep your expectations in check.