We’ve had this argument before— does playing well down the stretch run of an ultimately disappointing season have a carry-over effect upon the following season?
The last time we had this conversation, the 2011 edition of the Philadelphia Eagles fought back to finish 8-8 after being completely knocked down at 4-8. With most of its players and coaching staff returning for 2012, we thought the carry-over effect would be positive heading into 2012. But the exact opposite occurred—beginning with the training camp tragedy of the death of Andy Reid’s son, the 2012 season spiraled out of control early, the team blundered its way into despicable loss after loss, the coaching staff was being picketed by fan protesters, and the Eagles finished at 4-12.
This time around, it’s different. We already have our new coaching staff and a new QB who by all accounts looks like the face of the franchise going forward. We have proven players at certain positions who are under contract for 2017 and beyond. There’s every reason to believe that circling the wagons and playing hell-bent for wins over these last four games will really mean something significant to the program’s chances for success in 2017.
For rookie head coach Doug Pederson, these final four games of 2016 are a chance to prove to himself he has become better at the art of learning how to win tight games which earlier in the campaign had seemed to slip-slide away from him. That learning opportunity inevitably transfers down the line to his assistants and players. They say you learn more from a loss than a win, but I respectfully disagree. Finishing out a game for a close victory teaches more about emotional discipline and intelligent decision-making than having to review last-minute desperation ploys of passion to save yourself from drowning in your own mistakes.
To be fair to the big picture, the Eagles at 5-7 are still mathematically alive in the NFC wild-card scenario—but to say that’s a long-shot would be an understatement.
The Redskins come to town with a 6-5-1 record. One of their wins was a 27-20 beat-down of the Eagles at FedEx Field in mid-October which featured a lot of plays in which the Birds seemed to beat themselves when the game was still tied and up for grabs. Washington dominated the time of possession by churning out 230 yards on the ground.
If nothing else, by beating the Redskins on Sunday while eliminating self-inflicted injury in the process, the Eagles can take a big first step into carrying over a sense of renewed confidence in themselves and their program heading into 2017.
A win on Sunday would also illustrate dramatically how costly that divisional loss to the ‘Skins really was back in October. Beating Washington back then in a winnable game would have set the Eagles up to come out of this Sunday’s game with a record of 7-6. Imagine how different things would feel right now across the board? I think that is a feeling the younger players on the roster need to appreciate and experience in order to get better on game-day in the future. The impact of just one divisional game slipping out of a team’s grasp can change an entire season, let alone the confidence and learning curve of an individual career.
It doesn’t really matter that the Redskins themselves are struggling a little right now. You get two ages-old divisional rivals battling it out in December, it’s a separate universe of its own out there—throw out the stats.
The bottom line going into Sunday’s game: the Eagles are having trouble scoring offensively the last two weeks, and the Redskins are having trouble stopping opponents from scoring. Washington has allowed 31 points in each of the past two weeks, both losses. The Redskins have struggled defensively most of the year, especially when it comes to third down (last in the league) and red zone (30th out of the 32 teams).
That all boils down to a “show-me” challenge for the Eagles offense. As porous as the Redskins “D” can be at times, it still has OLB Ryan Kerrigan continuing to harass quarterbacks. With 10 sacks thus far, Kerrigan is just a half-sack behind Atlanta’s Vic Beasley for the NFC lead. Kerrigan’s sidekick Trent Murphy has eight sacks as a reserve rusher. At inside linebacker, Will Compton and Mason Foster combined for 10 tackles in that Week 6 matchup against the Eagles and kept tight end Zach Ertz virtually invisible.
Defensively, the Eagles have yet to find an answer to limit the passing attack of Kirk Cousins. Same goes for the rest of the league. Currently ranked second in the league with 309.1 yards in the air per game, Cousins has thrown for the third-most yards (3,811) and third-most completions (320) of all quarterbacks. He currently has a 99.6 passer rating and a 67.5 completion percentage.
The Redskins have four players with over 600 receiving yards each, making their offense even harder to defend. To this point, Jamison Crowder has been the team’s leading receiver with 767 yards, but Pierre Garçon (714 yards), DeSean Jackson (644 yards) and Jordan Reed (630 yards) are all close behind. The four players have combined for 17 touchdowns in 2016 and accounted for over 70 percent of Washington’s receiving yards.
The Redskins’ run game has been successful as well, racking up on average 109.5 rushing yards each week. Rookie Rob Kelley has taken over the feature RB spot from Matt Jones. On the season, he’s registered 524 yards on 112 carries (4.7 average) and four rushing touchdowns. Three of those scores came against the Green Bay Packers in a game where he accumulated 137 yards on the ground. While not the starter the last time his team faced Philadelphia, Kelley did have five touches in that game, one of which was good for a 45-yard gain.
Along their offensive line, the Redskins will also get All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams back from a 4-game suspension.
On paper, it looks like a game the Eagles should win based upon overall defensive stats, especially with a home-field edge demonstrated so far in 2016. But when you’re playing to prove your system and your personnel commitments are on a rightful path to growth and development for the future, you’re not dealing with paper—you’re investing in the hearts and minds of young men. Let’s find out what we’ve got to carry over from here.
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