The truth is, the Eagles are still not really contenders, despite Chip Kelly's 20-12 record so far as head coach in two seasons. This season, the Eagles had a win over Dallas, a win over Indianapolis, a win over Carolina, and a win over Houston that can now be looked back on and called decent victories (albeit, Carolina ended up 7-8-1, even if they're in the post-season). More often than not though, they failed the big tests. San Francisco handled them despite their own problems this year, as did the Arizona Cardinals team that is playoff bound despite going through all of their QB's. Green Bay crushed them in Lambeau, and Seattle came into Philadelphia and let them know this isn't their year. Still though after those four losses, there was still a solid opportunity at the playoffs. Then the team totally dropped the ball against Dallas, coming out mentally unprepared and physically overmatched in some spots. The Washington loss was just a snow-ball effect to be honest, but the awful loss sent them to their season-ending grave. The team just was a little short.
With that said, this team has had back-to-back ten win seasons and is a top six NFC team, even if they aren't going to the playoffs (Carolina is only in by winning their division). They score a lot of points and their defense on the whole improved. Their special teams were much better than not. In short, they're not a bad team. They're a 20-12 team the last two years that needs to fill a few holes. They are both a few players from being a 12 win team, and a few mistakes from being an 8 win team. Still, they are a far cry from the 4-12 team Chip inherited.
This is an off-season that can go either way though. Their quarterback play was simply not good enough in 2014, whether you want to discuss Nick Foles or Mark Sanchez. This doesn't mean that Foles can't be given another shot in 2015 if the Birds can't get a franchise quarterback in this off-season, but it means it's an area of concern. Jeremy Maclin is a free agent and Shady McCoy goes into 2015 with just $1 million remaining on his deal, but at an $11 million cap hit, so he'll probably need a new deal. Herremans injury on the line probably scares me the most (in terms of needing an actual replacement), but the line had a lot more injuries, so there are needs there. All of this is just offense, and frankly the defense needs a lot more than that. They absolutely need to re-tool the secondary, needing at least a replacement for Bradley Fletcher, and probably Nate Allen as well, if not all four starters. Demeco Ryans injury issues put middle linebacker in question for next season as well, and the failings of last year's top pick make another pass rusher something worth considering.
Chip has been more successful than not, but his second year did leave more questions than his first. The secondary that hurt them so bad in year one was worse in year two. His draft wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good enough either. On the other hand Jenkins and Sproles were steals, so he did some things right. This just wasn't the wild success of year one.
I'm not totally down on this season though despite the failings. The Eagles won ten games like I figured they would in the pre-season. They did so despite losing their starting quarterback for the second half of the season. They did so despite losing DeSean Jackson. They did so despite a tough schedule. Unfortunately, Dallas was better than we thought. Hopefully a strong off-season, strong draft, and good workouts in the off-season improve this team. They have a laundry list of needs to improve, but the good news is that they are doing that as a ten win team, not as a four win team like two years ago.
0 comments:
Post a Comment