I let the last couple of weeks of the Philadelphia Eagles season run their course without supplying any commentary on here for a number of reasons. One, sheer laziness. Two, I was enjoying the shit out of these games so much and talked about them so much outside of an online forum that I didn’t really have the juice to provide a take on it. But three, and probably the most important one, I had a small part of me that still was feeding into the various Eagles superstitions I have and I didn’t want to ruin a good thing by talking about it or projecting out into the season any further than the next game on the schedule. But as this season has proven so far, this team is way beyond any superstitions and expectations I set for them. To sum up my take of the season so far in the simplest terms for the 2017 Eagles at the midway point: Holy shit.
I really thought that my 2017 Eagles Game Predictions I wrote prior to the season were heavily leaning in favor of the Eagles best case scenario. Not necessarily in a biased way, but more so I tried to play out the pros and cons of what this team was on paper and tried to take a positive lean on the games I was unsure of, mostly because of my faith that Wentz was going to take a decent step in his development. At this point in the season I had the Eagles sitting at 6-3, with losses coming to the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos. I had them starting off slow, gaining some momentum during the middle part of the first half before falling to the Denver Broncos going into the bye. Still a pretty solid start for the Birds, and one that I thought was realistic regardless of whatever optimism I was projecting on them.
Flash forward to today. The Birds are sitting atop the NFL at 8-1, having defeated the New York Giants in dramatic fashion on a 61 yard field goal by Jake Elliot, and the Denver Broncos during a dominating 51-23 victory. Only loss I had right was the Kansas City Chiefs game, and even that game had Wentz with the ball in his hands with a chance to win on a Hail Mary opportunity. I don’t think even the most optimistic Eagles fans would have said this is the start we would have had.
There are a few key things that have gone right for the Birds that differed from my expectations. For one, I hit the nail on the head by telling everyone to calm down about Doug Pederson. I even thought I was premature in writing that when he went for a 4th and 8 against the Giants the week after it was published, but all in all he has proven to be a solid head coach and all chatter about him has subsided.
The running game has been the biggest surprise for me. Blount has been super effective and has made the Eagles great at clock management with his ability to grind out yards. Corey Clement, who I was down on in my preview, has carved out a nice role. And top it off, after losing Sproles for the season in week two, Howie goes out and trades for a 24 year old potential Pro Bowl running back in Jay Ajayi right before the trade deadline to solidify the group. The running back group has been a nice surprise and could get even better down the stretch with the addition of Ajayi.
The Eagles have also benefited from who I labeled as the X factor this year: Nelson Agholor. Dude has really progressed like the coaches were raving about in the preseason. While Wentz and Alshon have been slowly building chemistry, Agholor has been the go to weapon of the WR unit. His improved play has been a god send for this passing game.
I think overall the biggest surprise, however, is the depth and resiliency the group has shown. Sproles goes down? Clement and Blount step up. Sturgis goes down? We found a guy with a cannon leg. Peters goes down? Vaitai surprisingly has been solid so far. Hicks goes down? Bradham and Kendricks hold down the fort. Darby goes down? The rest of the corner back group steps up. The Eagles have lost key guys at varying times during the year and haven’t flinched. It’s extremely impressive, and Doug Pederson and the coaching staff deserve a ton of credit for keeping the ship afloat through solid player development and scheme. The locker room leaders such as Wentz, Peters, Maragos, Sproles, and Kelce also deserve a ton of credit for keeping this group together through all of the adversity. It's really been remarkable what they have accomplished given the circumstances.
So what now? I still don’t want to project too far out, but based off my preseason predictions if the Eagles finish the way I had it after the bye they would still be 12-4. I have no reason to think they can’t finish better than that at this point. They have a huge divisional game against the Cowboys this week, which I had as a loss during the preseason. Given the circumstances now, with the Eagles on fire coming off a bye, Dallas missing Zeke and potentially Tyron Smith and the Eagles can essentially put the nail in the coffin of the Cowboys this week? I am not so sure about that prediction anymore.
This team is special. I could talk about this team for a disgusting length of time. There is a lot to be excited about with Carson Wentz at the helm and a defense that is playing with shades of the Jim Johnson years. Even still, the Eagles fan in me is taking this week by week and keeping my expectations in check (looking at you Chip Kelly. I still have fucking PTSD due to the 2013-2015 seasons). We still have big games coming up against the equally surprising LA Rams, and the always tough Seattle Seahawks. For now, we should enjoy what this team is doing, and come playoff time we’ll see if this team truly is the real deal.