Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

6 thoughts on a bizarre Eagles afternoon

6 thoughts on a bizarre Eagles afternoon Well, that happened. And as an old friend once said, "We can all do the math."

Well, that happened. And as an old friend once said, "We can all count."

Why were the Eagles suddenly able to throw the ball downfield? They hadn't been able to do it for 3 1/2 games, and then, suddenly, the Washington zone parted and the tide rushed in: Sam Bradford to Nelson Agholor, to Jordan Matthews, to Riley Cooper, to Miles Austin. They almost won the game for a lot of reasons, but it was this discovery of the deep ball that changed everything. So what took them so long?

Injuries, as it turns out, are more about cyclicality and less about the magic of Sports Science. That can be the only conclusion as the Eagles continue to drop in alarming numbers after doing just the opposite at the beginning of the Era of Chip Kelly and the Technicolor Smoothies. The Eagles are a beaten-up team on both sides of the ball. They have been slammed by the law of averages.

So, just how bad were the other kickers the Eagles tried out last week before signing Caleb Sturgis?

Speaking of injuries, when left tackle Jason Peters left the field in the first half with a quad injury - the same injury that slowed him in practice this week - any chance that this offense could be a methodical machine was lost. As long as Peters is either out or a shell of himself, the Eagles will have to be about big plays and crossed fingers. That offensive line is such a mess right now that it is hard to remember a time when it was worse.

Whichever scout advocated for the drafting of linebacker Jordan Hicks deserves a bonus. Players do not so routinely find themselves around big plays by accident.