Eagles just got punched in the mouth, but don’t panic yet
By Josh Hill
After a hot start, the Eagles got sucker punched by the first good opponent they’ve played — but don’t panic.
Overreactions are a part of sports, but they don’t have to dictate the journey of a team. The Philadelphia Eagles played their first good opponent all season and lost. Talking heads all week will meltdown with overreactions about how the team has been posing as a contender.
Do not panic.
The Eagles were bound to lose a game before the end of the year, just be thankful it was now and not in January. Carson Wentz looked good but vulnerable when he was put under pressure. The offensive line needs to shore things up otherwise we saw how the offense struggles without a running game. Defensively the Eagles weren’t terrible but also weren’t tight enough in coverage to contain Russell Wilson. Philly was soundly beaten in Seattle, but this isn’t the end of the line.
Losing to the Seahawks didn’t expose the Eagles as frauds, rather it gives Doug Pederson and company the chance to assess and adjust ahead of the playoffs. Losing on Sunday night in Seattle might have been the best thing that could have happened to Philadelphia.
So many parallels can be seen between this Eagles team and the Cowboys of last year. The hype train is chugging along for the Eagles MVP candidate quarterback and an exciting running game that has helped make the defense look really good.
We saw on Sunday night what happens when an inexperienced team with no quality wins runs into a team that knows how to punch back
Sound familiar?
Dallas was all the rage heading into the postseason last year as the NFC’s top seed and didn’t win a single playoff game. The Eagles could still be headed towards that, as the loss to Seattle parallels the Cowboys late season struggle in primetime against the Giants.
Course correction is the name of the game, and it’s something that the Eagles need to do. Sean Payton and Mike Zimmer have turned their teams into bonafide Super Bowl contenders by adjusting on the fly better than any other coach has this season. New Orleans went from 0-2 to winning nine of its next ten games. Minnesota is currently looking to leapfrog Philly despite having Case Keenum and two backup running backs leading the offense.
The Eagles are good, there’s no doubt about that. Some of the throws that Carson Wentz makes are football porn at it’s finest. The defense is stout and the running game is a three-headed monster that can attack from all angles. But the playoffs take even the smallest flaw and blows it up under the microscope. It’s what sunk the Cowboys last year and threatens to derail the Eagles superb season.
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We saw on Sunday night what happens when an inexperienced team with no real quality wins under its belt runs into a team that knows how to punch back. Philly took one right on the chin and are down on the mat, but it’s only Week 13. There’s still plenty of time for Pederson, Wentz and the rest of the gang to identify what went wrong against the Seahawks and make sure this sort of game doesn’t happen when there won’t be a next week to adjust.