Can the Philadelphia Eagles Keep Up the Tempo?

Through two weeks of NFL football, the Philadelphia Eagles high-octane offense has been exciting for fans to watch and a pain for teams to defend. DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, and Michael Vick all have matched or eclipsed single-game career stats, and it’s only just the beginning of Week 3. All of this speed and constant work, however, wears on a player over time. The NFL regular season is too long and too much strain on a player’s body. The question on everyone’s mind is whether the Eagles can keep up the tempo or if Chip Kelly will have to tone down his offensive plans as players start falling left and right?

It is clear that Chip Kelly’s team is much faster and more explosive than it was under Andy Reid last year. Vick is throwing more, DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy are both gaining more yardage, and it seems as if no defense can match the speed of this offense. The Eagles box scores look more like EA Madden NFL stats than actual NFL game stats. Fantasy football fans are loving this offense. Chip Kelly has successfully brought his offense to the NFL.

But, the problem comes down to the players. As it is, many teams instill snap counts on players to limit their time on the field and defensive players are getting bigger and stronger. The game may be more biased towards offensive players but there are still plenty of very hard, clean hits. Players go down due to injury all the time. The point I am trying to make is that there is a lot of wear and tear in the NFL. Injury reports get longer as the season goes on. When it gets to that point, will the Eagles still try to fit 53 plays into one half of football? My guess is no. They cannot sustain the amount of pressure it takes to run this type of offense all year. There is one way they can keep their success high though…

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the reason they have done so well is their offense. The Eagles defense has yet to match the same quality that the offense has found. Until this happens, the Eagles will eventually run out of gas. If the defense were to step up and keep teams like the Chargers from matching the Eagles offense throw for throw, then Chip Kelly would not have to keep running his offense ragged.

The Eagles have an important decision to make. Will they continue to keep running at high speed? As if the NFL was a sprint instead of the marathon we all have understood it to be? Or will they finally make some adjustments on defense and allow their offense to breath in between drives? Whatever happens, this is a season to watch. Not just because it is exciting. But because we get to see how the new Chip Kelly Eagles adjust to keeping the petal to the metal every game.

Do you think the Eagles will be able to keep it up? Will injuries become too much of an issue? Or will teams figure out how to keep this offense off the field? Sound off below, on Twitter, or on Facebook!