Are Eagles in trouble after ugly 1-2 start?
By John Buhler
The Philadelphia Eagles have lost their last two games after winning in Week 1. Are the Eagles in trouble after their ugly 1-2 start on the year?
This is not what many expected. At the beginning of the year, many felt that the Philadelphia Eagles would be good enough to not only win the NFC East for the second time in three years but represent the NFC in the Super Bowl as well.
After winning Week 1 at home to the divisional rival Washington Redskins, Philadelphia has gone on to lose to the Atlanta Falcons on the road last week on Sunday Night Football and fell at home on Sunday to the Detroit Lions, 27-24. Is it time to start to panic in the City of Brotherly Love about the beloved Eagles?
It’s still very early in the season, but things are not looking great for Philadelphia. Washington has yet to win a game. The Redskins might get it done on Monday Night Football this week, but they aren’t anything close to being a playoff team. Atlanta is also 1-2 but plays in a much more winnable division over Philadelphia.
The Dallas Cowboys improved to 3-0 on Sunday afternoon, so the Eagles are now two games back of their biggest rival. That’s not ideal. Add that everybody and their brother thought that the Lions were going to come to town, take their loss and head back to Detroit. That wasn’t the case, as Detroit stays undefeated at 2-0-1 on the young NFL season.
So what gives with the Eagles? Are they in real trouble at 1-2? It’s too early to tell, but we can’t feel good about what we’ve seen out of the Eagles in their first three games. Quarterback Carson Wentz hasn’t exactly set the world on fire this year. He needs to improve his accuracy and his offensive line needs to do a better job of keeping him upright. Wentz can’t keep taking big hits.
Do the Eagles have the talent on the roster to offset this slow start? Sure, but these were three games that a Super Bowl-caliber team would have won. Washington will finish below .500 and we can’t trust Atlanta or Detroit to be world-beaters at this point. What’s going to happen when they play somebody that can contend for championships?
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Perhaps we are in the tail-end of Eagles’ championship window in this competitive life cycle? The secondary isn’t great and the offensive line has seen better days. Philadelphia has to win next week to improve morale. The problem is that their next game is on the road against the Green Bay Packers. That sounds a lot like 1-3, not what Eagles fans want to hear at this time.