Eagles Rout Panthers; Move on to Lambeau

It's November, the weather is changing, but one thing that hasn't changed this season is that the Eagles are finding ways to win football games. This time Eagles fans just got to sit back, relax, and enjoy a shut out that has been a long time coming. Defeating the Carolina Panthers 45-21 on prime time showed the world just what this team is made of.

In Mark Sanchez's first start, he was very sharp. The best part of it all? No turnovers! Other than one bad throw that was nearly picked off (Luckily the defenders foot was out of bounds), Sanchez was comfortable in the pocket and made this offense go even faster than it usually goes under Chip Kelly. Sanchez had 332 yards and two touchdowns that were both thrown to his go to receiver Jordan Matthews. Sanchez's mobility gives the offense a different dynamic. Chip Kelly loves to utilize the read option in his offense but was unable to do this effectively with Foles. The highlight play using zone read was the first touchdown for Sanchez, reading the linebacker, Sanchez pulled the ball from McCoy and rolled left delivering a dart to Matthews who strolled into the end zone after he beat his defender on a crossing route.

Jordan Matthews continues to improve each game. He finally had his breakout performance against Carolina racking up a total of 138 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns. When people have come to question why the Eagles haven't gotten Zach Ertz more involved, well Matthews may be the reason. His long arms and size makes him a match up nightmare against most slot corners who are relatively small. He is on pass to be near the 1,000 mark in yards and already has 5 touchdowns on the year. I see Matthews taking over as the number one target with Mark Sanchez at the helm.

How about that defense huh?! What a long way the pass rush has come after Billy Davis's switch to the 3-4 scheme. Connor Barwin is at 10 sacks after his huge 4 sack performance, and is tied for second in the league for most sacks. I can tell the Eagles are allowing Barwin to be more of a pass rusher this year, where as last year he played back more, helping in coverage and focusing on the run. The secondary is starting to get into a groove. Their past two games have been the best that we have seen out of Carry Williams and Bradley Fletcher who both had an interception on Monday Night. Casey Matthews helped the Eagles seal the wound of losing middle linebacker, and team leader Demeco Ryans. On the second play of the game Matthews forced the ball out of running back DeAngelo William's hand to get the Eagle offense in great field position. I can't say enough about Vinny Curry and Brandon Graham, readers you already know how I feel about them.
 
One person that seems to get lost in the shuffle is slot corner back Brandon Boykin. The Eagles use a lot of different formations that tend to favor bigger players. Nolan Carrol is used as a dime linebacker with his size, but Boykin really isn't on the field all that much.

The Eagles special teams is a historically good unit. Chris Maragos, Trey Burton, and Darren Sproles are just a few players that have covered up the inconsistencies of the offense. Does anybody else think Sproles is a far superior returner than Desean Jackson? Believe it because it is true.

Next up is the Green Bay Packers who are playing some incredible football. Sanchez will be tested in the cold weather conditions at Lambeau Field.

Prediction: Eagles 31-28 Packers.

 

Eagles take costly victory in Houston

When a leader goes down, who is going to step up? Who is going to be the guy that everyone looks to when "Mufasa" doesn't get up? Sunday in Houston brought those questions to the team when the Eagles lost both their quarterback on offense Nick Foles, and quarterback on defense, Middle Linebacker Demeco Ryans to what looks to be season ending injuries. Nick Foles after being hit landed on his non throwing shoulder, he was slow to get up and went to the locker room to get x rays and possibly return to the game. Low and behold bad news awaited Foles who found out that it was a collarbone injury. If broken, the injury would sideline Foles for the majority of the second half of the year. This was the news that was broken on Monday. As a harsh critic of Nick Foles, I was calling for a change after the pick six to Houston in the first half. This doesn't mean however I wished injury upon the thought to be franchise quarterback. I was still waiting for Foles to have that one big game and start to play the smart, efficient football that he did last year. We may never see that again in Philadelphia if what I am predicting comes true.

Losing Demeco Ryans should not be over looked. What he did for the Eagles not only on the field, but off the field may have turned this franchise around. Chip Kelly believes to have success you need to change the culture of the team. Well Ryans certainly changed the culture with his lead by example, motivational leadership. This however on the field is a loss that can be recovered with the great play of Mychal Kendricks who will continue to remain as the SAM linebacker where as Casey Matthews will be the play caller now of the defense. The pass rush has been fantastic lately. Connor Barwin and Trent Cole have been steady, but I have been more impressed with Vinny Curry and Brandon Graham who have overcome a lot to continue their high pass rushing productivity.

The secondary had its best performance against the Texans Sunday. Carry Williams took Andre Johnson out of the game, as for Bradley Fletcher, he continues to be up and down with a tremendous pass break up on a deep route against Johnson, but continued to struggle on his angles taken when giving up a reception. Hopefully turnovers will come with the continued improvement of the secondary. That is the key, the pass rush is doing its job. We need the secondary to start taking some risks and go for turnovers.

Now lets get to the offense shall we?
After a huge 59 yard touchdown to Jeremy Maclin, things were looking up for the offense. That was until a interception by Nick Foles that was returned for a touchdown led back to the same moans and groans of this offense this year. In comes Mark Sanchez after Foles injury. The offense didn't skip a beat with Sanchez in, on his first play Sanchez threw a 52 yard post to Jeremy Maclin that put the Eagles in the red zone which was later converted into an incredible floater to Jordan Matthews. My opinion on Mark Sanchez is a positive one.

Chip Kelly's offense is a very Quarterback friendly one if they pick up the offense. Sanchez's mobility actually made the offense even more dynamic against Houston, including the touchdown to Jeremy Maclin when the pocket collapsed, Sanchez rolled to his right and delivered a bullet on the run. He doesn't have to win the games for you, but he certainly can't lose them. The run game took a huge step forward against Houston. Lesean McCoy ran for a hard fought 117 yards, Chris Polk pounded the ball down the field on the 8 plays all running drive that led to Polk finishing the job for a touchdown. Darren Sproles broke a 24 yard screen pass as well as another for 10 yards. He ran hard and converted some crucial third and longs for the Eagles.

If Sanchez can control the offense, distribute the ball to his play makers, and not turn the football over. We will most likely not see Nick Foles again this year. I am very confident that Sanchez can lead us to a NFC East championship, and possibly more. He has won playoff games, as well as starting in two conference championships. With 202 yards and 2 touchdowns, that is the production I believe Sanchez can provide, but the 2 interceptions cannot happen if the Eagles are going to make a deep playoff run.

Nick Foles's contract is up at the end of the year. Will the Eagles bring him back into the mix? Do Kelly and Roseman still believe Foles can be the franchise quarterback? One thing is for sure, as for right now, Sanchez is the guy.

And how about Jeremy Maclin huh? He is on pace for over 1,600 yards and 16 touchdowns. If that isn't comeback player of the year statistics then I don't know what is.