Philadelphia Eagles: Mid-Season Review

This weekend, the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Oakland Raiders as they start the second half of what has been a whirlwind of a  season. If we were back in August, we would have already been counting this game as a win as its only the Raiders for goodness sake (Remember when our new and improved Chip Kelly offense was supposed to fly right by teams like the Raiders?) Well things have not seemed to look up for the Eagles as they have a dismal 3-5 record and trail the Dallas Cowboys for the top spot in the NFC East. Lets break down all of the highs and the lows that have come in the first eight games of the season.

QB Controversy

Let’s just start by saying that it was supposed to be Michael Vick, the same quarterback who has had just one 16 game season since his NFL debut in 2001. While Vick assured us that he would work to have a more healthy season than we have seen him have in Philadelphia, he hasn’t even made it through the first eight games. A boggling hamstring injury has called second-string quarterback Nick Foles to start under center winning a game in Tampa Bay and dropping one against Dallas.

If it wasn’t bad enough that Vick couldn’t hold up thorughtout the entire season, Foles has also been forced to miss action due to a concussion suffered in the Eagles loss to the Cowboys. Rookie quarterback Matt Barkley got plenty of playing time as a result, showing some impressive play as well as some costly rookie mistakes. With Vick out again going into the second half of the season, Foles will return and start. Who knows which quarterback will be starting by time we reach week 17.

Chip Kelly Offense

This was definitely the most anticipated and talked about aspect coming in to the new-look era for the Eagles. With the departure of head Coach Andy Reid, (who does not seem to be having ANY of these problems in Kansas City) fans were filled with excitement for the fast paced. high-flying offense. In the Eagles win against the Redskins at the start of the season, the Eagles proved to be a complete offensive threat with touchdown drives barely lasting a minute. Since then, the offensive play has become slower and slower and slower, largely due to the inconsistency at the quarterback position. Perhaps once the Eagles find the light at QB and gain some health among out offensive weapons, the offense will do what it was supposed to do.

Improving Defense

During week 4, the Broncos put up 52 points against the Eagles offense. That has been perhaps one of the only major mishaps of the defense so far this year. With the new-look defense under the direction of first-year defensive coordinator Bill Davis, thew Eagles have held opponents to just under 4 yards per carry making them 6th in the NFL. The safety and cornerback position has also improved from last year with some impressive play from newly-acquired cornerback Cary Williams. If the Eagles pass rushers are able to get in the faces of quarterbacks more often as the season progresses, the defense will be able to keep more points off the board.

Special Teams

One thing fans had to look forward to that hasn’t quite kicked into full gear is the increased number of punt returns Desean Jackson was to see this year. With the season ending injury to Jeremy Maclin, Jackson became even more of a valuable player whom the Eagles would look to keeping out of as many dangerous situations as possible like punt returning. Damaris Johnson has been the Eagles primary return man putting up returns that have been workable for the Eagles offense. A gem for the Eagles special teams has been punter Donnie Jones who has created trouble for many offenses causing many of their drives to start deep in their own territory. Kicker Alex Henery has had a relatively disappointing season thus far only completing about 77% of his field goals.

With a remaining schedule consisting of just three teams over .500, there is still hope that the Eagles can make a late, miraculous playoff run. And of course with the back and forth nature of the NFC East leader, there’s no telling who will come out on top.