No way you could have predicted the thread of the Eagles’ 2018 season unless you had forecast it would be “unpredictable”. That’s a nice way of saying nothing, reminding me of one of Marty M.’s old quotes: “Well, this team is coming around, I tell ya, we’ll know more about it when we know, ya know? Sometimes you see things happening and I get excited about it, my head spins and I can’t see straight, that’s what I see in this team.”
Tommy Lawlor of Iggles Blitz put the 2018 season into this nutshell:
“At the beginning of the year, Ronald Darby was the team’s top cornerback, Jay Ajayi was the feature back, Derek Barnett was a key part of the pass rush, and Mike Wallace was the deep threat.
“At the end of the season? Rookie Avonte Maddox was the playmaking corner. Wendell Smallwood was the feature back. Daeshon Hall had replaced the guy who replaced Barnett. There was no deep threat.”
To me the 2017 Super Bowl-winning season was like Secretariat’s 31-length win in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. The 2018 Eagles season was more like Secretariat’s 3rd-place finish in the Wood Memorial that same year. The horse was suffering from an abscessed tooth which was undiagnosed before the race.
The setback of Secretariat caused many of his fans to jeer, just as many of we Eagles fans sort of lost faith when the team was 4-6.
“He just didn’t have his punch today. had him in the clear on the backside and I tried to move him up, but he didn’t respond when I hit him at about the half‐mile pole”, said his jockey Ron Turcotte. “Coming into the stretch I got into him again, but once more I felt that he wasn’t himself.
“He bore in a little going into the stretch. He finished good, but not with his usual kick.”
That in effect summarizes the 2018 Eagles season—we finished good, but not with our previous year’s kick (no pun intended).
Lawlor’s highlight chapter of the season?
“The high point of the season for me came when the Eagles went to Los Angeles and beat the Rams. That was a sign that the team wasn’t just beating bad opponents. They could go play with anyone, anywhere. I think that win gave the players tremendous confidence. I know it made me believe in them.
The next week Nick Foles set a franchise record with 471 passing yards. He drove the team down the field to set up Jake Elliott with a chance to win the game. Elliott nailed the kick and the Eagles beat the Texans 32-30.
Seeing them beat the Rams and Texans, both division leaders, in consecutive weeks made people really start paying attention to the Eagles. This was no longer a feel-good story, but a team to be feared.”
Ultimately we made some hay in the playoffs in Chicago but came up short in New Orleans.
Looking for a team MVP? EYE nominates Malcolm Jenkins and Fletcher Cox as co-keepers of the flame. Lawlor gives the nod to Jenkins:
“The MVP must be Malcolm Jenkins. He didn’t miss a snap on defense this year and even played some on the special teams units. Jenkins played at a high level. Beyond that, he was the leader for this team and did a masterful job of holding it together. Jenkins is a special person.”
Going forward, my main concern is the continued development and health of our franchise quarterback Carson Wentz. I’m a little reluctant to admit it, but Wentz has become a bit of a question mark performance-wise, and yes I’m making allowances for his multiple injury comeback-status. Overall he put up a nice statistical season, and he only had one real stinker game (31.8 QBR, 3 INT on Nov. 18 at New Orleans). But the question of his durability meshes with the probable reality that our mobile QB will not be so mobile anymore. How will that change the game that Wentz must play or coach Doug must now call? How do all the new variables reconcile with our previous perception that we had been blessed with an “elite” QB?
Obviously I’ve been spoiled by Wentz’ fabulous winning run in 2017, and I’m reluctant to settle for anything less. But when you take away the man’s mobility, what will you be left with? An overly-cautious version of Joe Pisarcik? It’s nice to have a 69% completion rate, a 21-to-7 TD/INT ratio, a QBR near 100, as Wentz did overall in 11 games in 2018, but what does it get you other than a .500 W-L record in the end? What was missing in Wentz’ repertoire in 2018 were BIG PLAYS, the kind you buy with your legs and downfield vision. Wentz took 31 sacks for 202 yards and fumbled 6 times in his 11 games. A lot of that carnage was on him, not on his offensive line or pass-pro blockers, as Wentz struggled (understandably) to adjust from his former mobility to pocket statue status. Sometimes he just held onto the ball too long while standing in place. Too many big plays are missed when you do that, and protection breaks down.
In summary, I don’t relish the re-invention of Carson Wentz as a pure-pocket passer. Doug has got to come up with something different in 2019. Maybe he will install some rolling-pocket stuff to get Wentz more mobile in 2019? Something has to give if Wentz (and we) are ever to realize his personal goal of starting 19 consecutive games in a season.
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