The Eagles came out flat against the Giants in week 10 despite having two weeks to prepare for a team they just saw a few weeks ago and who had only beaten Washington (twice) through their first 9 games. Not great. What the hell is wrong with this team?
Leadership
Who are the leaders of this team? Over the last few year, Malcolm Jenkins unequivocally led the defensive side of the ball. At times he would even go to DC Jim Schwartz and make suggestions to help a struggling secondary. Schwartz listened, made the suggested adjustments and the defense improved. Who does that now? McLeod? Mills? Cox? Doesn’t seem like any of them are really fit for the role. Offensively, presumably Wentz is the leader, but he’s struggling as much or more as anyone else, and it honestly doesn’t feel like players are really playing for him. Even Kelce was terrible in this game. When was the last time you could say that?
For the offense, Doug Pederson doesn’t seem to have full control. There are approximately 1 million offensive coaches with input into the game day plan. That feels like a few too many. Doug needs to cut out the noise, but is he even allowed to? Meanwhile, once the LT position opened up for Jason Peters, there was never much doubt he would be there whether it’s what Doug wanted or not, because he could just ring up the Bat-phone to Lurie and demand he get to do what he wants. This is not great. Ownership shouldn’t be undermining the authority of the coaches, if that’s indeed what’s happening. This team isn’t good, and aren’t likely to do much in the playoffs if they make it there, so why are we giving snaps to aging players on the end of their contracts? Feels like something Doug might prefer to do, but is hamstrung by higher-ups.
Defensively, Jim Schwartz appears to have a very large say in personnel. I don’t mind coaches having input, but the responsibility for who the team signs, trades for, drafts, etc. should be on the GM, not the DC. If Schwartz is indeed dictating the defensive personnel, the product on the field is a sure sign it’s not going well. Maybe the GM should be making those calls? Just a thought.
I’m not saying there isn’t leadership on this team. I just don’t know who it is. Feels like there’s a bunch of people who get to make decisions depending on what the decision being made is. There needs to be a clearer structure. Jeffrey Lurie hired a GM. Let him be the GM. Roseman hired a head coach. Let him be the head coach. Pederson/Roseman brought in a bunch of assistants and a DC. Let them do their jobs. Let’s not have each of these people doing things they aren’t meant to be doing. If things fail, then make moves. Unfortunately, it might be too late for this regime.
Rest of Season
I still believe the Eagles should try to win the division. Getting Carson Wentz into the playoffs and allowing him to play a full game could be invaluable to his development. Winning a playoff game could be even more so, but one step at a time. This team, and this division, is terrible. Winning the division is the only reasonable path to the playoffs. Let’s see what each team is facing down the stretch.
| Eagles 3-5-1 | Giants 3-7 | Football Team 2-7 | Cowboys 2-7 | |
| Week 11 | @ Browns | BYE | v Bengals | @ Vikings |
| Week 12 | v Seahawks | @ Bengals | @ Cowboys | v Football Team |
| Week 13 | @ Packers | @ Seahawks | @ Steelers | @ Ravens |
| Week 14 | v Saints | v Cardinals | @ 49ers | @ Bengals |
| Week 15 | @ Cardinals | v Browns | v Seahawks | v 49ers |
| Week 16 | @ Cowboys | @ Ravens | v Panthers | v Eagles |
| Week 17 | v Football Team | v Cowboys | @ Eagles | @ Giants |
Eagles
The Eagles are heading into the gauntlet portion of their schedule with 5 games in a row against teams currently with 6 or more wins. These teams are not without their flaws, however. The Browns can boast about exactly one quality win this year, and haven’t exactly looked dominant in their other wins. The Seahawks are in the midst of a skid and their defense is suspect at best. The Packers are a good, but flawed team that can’t stop the run and had to scrape to beat the 1-win Jaguars. The Saints just lost their starting QB and have really only dominated Tampa Bay this year. The Cardinals are arguably the most fun team to watch, but their defense isn’t exactly great. That said, all of these teams are clearly better than the Eagles. If the Eagles can pull out one win against this group, they’ll be 4-9-1. With games against division rivals at the end of the year, they’ll have a chance to get 5 or 6 wins.
Giants
The G-Men only have one more game within the division: week 17 against the Cowboys. The rest of their games are outside the division where the NFC East has really struggled. The good new is one of those games is against an equally challenged squad in the Bengals. They’re certainly playing better than any of their division rivals, but it’s hard to predict more than 3 wins remaining on their schedule, which would bring them to 6.
Football Team
Washington has an easier remaining schedule than the two teams ahead of them with 5(!) games remaining against relatively lackluster teams. They probably have to run the table against those 5 teams to have a shot at the division. That feels….unlikely. They’re only two wins are against the Eagles in week 1 and the Cowboys. They also just lost to the Lions, who are kinda not good. It’s possible Alex Smith gets hot and they make a run, but 3-4 wins down the stretch still feels like a lot from this team. Even being optimistic, they’re looking at a cap of 6 wins. I’m starting to sense a theme.
Cowboys
If we’re being honest, the Cowboys might not win another game this year, and that would probably be for the best for this franchise. Having said that, they do have 5 games remaining against beatable opponents. I’m not counting the Vikings here because they appear to be playing much better and Dalvin Cook is probably going to run for 300 yards against them this week. The Cowboys are bad, and even going 2-3 in those 5 games would feel like an accomplishment. That puts them at 4 wins, 5 if you want to be very optimistic.
Results
It feels like the Eagles could go 1-4 in their next five then win their last two against the weaker teams in the division and get to 6 wins. Their stupid tie against the Bengals gives them an advantage here because that would mean anyone else would have to get to 7 wins to overtake them. Given how bad this division is, it probably won’t even take 6 wins but let’s call that a goal.
Winning the division this year isn’t exactly going to be an accomplishment. If either the Giants or Eagles can steal a win, that would probably be all it takes. The Eagles have the talent. The Giants have the coaching. Washington has…Alex Smith? Dallas has basically nothing. Whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll be riveting so you should definitely stay tuned for this race. (spoiler alert: you really shouldn’t).
Go Birds…I guess.
