Mark Sanchez Providing Eagles with Exactly What They Need in Nick Foles' Absence

A change of environment can make all the difference in the world, especially when we're talking about the wild and wacky NFL. Proof of that came Monday night, when Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Mark Sanchez put together one of the best games of his NFL career in place of injured starter Nick Foles. 

The opposing Carolina Panthers struggled mightily on both sides of the ball, but the reality is very few pro football teams can beat playoff-caliber opponents without their starting quarterback. It says a lot that the Eagles went out in prime time Monday night and crushed the Panthers by 24 points, 45-21, sans Foles. 

It goes to show just how strong this offense is. Mastermind head coach Chip Kelly gets the most out of his offensive players, which is why Foles, wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Riley Cooper, running back LeSean McCoy and offensive linemen Evan Mathis and Jason Kelce all had career years under Kelly's tutelage last season. 

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

We knew Sanchez had the ability. Why else would he have been such a star at USC? Dudes don't get picked fifth overall without the talent to excel at the professional level. The problem was for the first five years of his career he experienced major growing pains while working within a New York Jets offense that lacked imagination, depth and talent. 

But now he's got Cooper, McCoy, Mathis, Kelce, the rest of a jacked-up offensive line and two extremely skilled "X" and "Y" wide receivers in Jeremy Maclin and Jordan Matthews.

And of course, he has Kelly. 

So it's no coincidence that, based on passer rating alone (102.5), this marked the 10th-best performance of Sanchez's 64-game career. And it was also the first time Sanchez, a quarterback who had the NFL's lowest passer rating (71.7) during his four years as a starter in New York (minimum 800 attempts), was able to throw for 300 yards and multiple touchdowns without turning the ball over, as ESPN Stats and Info noted:

"After playing for a while, you learn a lot. [I've] made a lot of mistakes, made plenty of mistakes and had plenty of games where I'm throwing interceptions and hurting the team," Sanchez said during his postgame press conference, which aired on NFL Network.

"But the most important thing, as Chip talked about during the week, was for the offense to take care of the football, to communicate really well and to establish our tempo. And if we can do those things, generally we'll be successful."

By no means was Sanchez perfect. He completed only 54 percent of his passes—a rate that must improve in the weeks to come. But Kelly has built an offense that doesn't require perfection out of its quarterbacks. 

Sanchez's first job was to avoid killer mistakes. Mission accomplished Monday night against a feisty defense that entered Week 10 with a solid 16 takeaways. 

And while it's not as though everything else should merely be viewed as gravy, it's safe to conclude the 28-year-old also went above and beyond on a few occasions against Carolina. He led the Eagles to the end zone on all four of their red-zone possessions, which is crucial when you consider Philly entered Week 10 with the second-worst red-zone touchdown rate in the league (42.3 percent).

Matt Williamson, NFL Scout for ESPN, expressed his thoughts regarding Steve Young's comments about Sanchez:

Also promising? Sanchez completed five of his eight pass attempts on 3rd-and-8 or more. In other words, he was at his best on 3rd-and-long. Foles has a passer rating of just 73.5 this season in those scenarios. Sanchez now has a rating of 117.3 under the same circumstances.

Quarterback	Rating
1. Aaron Rodgers	150.4
2. Chad Henne	130.6
3. Ben Roethlisberger	130.3
4. Philip Rivers	128.8
5. Mark Sanchez	117.3
6. Matthew Stafford	113.2

On Monday night, four of those completions—a 23-yarder on 3rd-and-14 in the second quarter, a 20-yarder on 3rd-and-10 later on that same drive, a 33-yarder on 3rd-and-8 later in the second and an 18-yard touchdown strike on 3rd-and-10 in the fourth quarter—went to Matthews.

In fact, Sanchez and the rookie second-round pick out of Vanderbilt appear to have a ton of chemistry with one another. When throwing Matthews' way the last two weeks, Sanchez was 9-of-12 for 173 yards, had three touchdowns, zero interceptions and a passer rating of 156.3. 

So he's off to a hell of a start and is already adapting to this offense in his own way. That's promising, especially since Foles won't likely be available anytime soon. 

It'll get tougher with trips to Green Bay and Dallas in the next three weeks and a meeting with the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks after that. But Sanchez has been to a pair of AFC Championship Games and has nine touchdown passes and only three interceptions in six career playoff games, four of them wins.

He's been here and done this. And with a lot less support. 

It's early, but it's beginning to look as though the Eagles won't just survive with Sanchez under center. They might even excel. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.