What to Expect from Mark Sanchez, Philadelphia Eagles Offense in Week 16

The Philadelphia Eagles turned in one of their most disappointing regular-season performances in years this past Sunday, losing to the Dallas Cowboys by a 38-27 score. This does serious damage to Philadelphia's playoff chances. The team entered the day with a good chance to all but clinch the NFC East title. But now Dallas holds the lead, and the Eagles will need some help to even reach the postseason.

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If the season ended tonight the Eagles would not make the playoffs - currently the 7th seed with 2 games left pic.twitter.com/IPqkgchdmC

— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) December 15, 2014

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Giving up 38 points is no way to perform on such a big stage, but the problems started with Mark Sanchez at the quarterback position. It's been two years of the Chip Kelly era, and the organization likely still has no idea who will be the franchise's long-term quarterback going forward. It's certainly not Sanchez, but is it Nick Foles? Is it a college quarterback, one not currently on the roster?

The offseason will shed some light on that situation, but for now, the team will have to ride Sanchez for its final two regular-season contests, especially given the report from Kelly on Monday that Foles still hasn't been medically cleared to play.

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Coach Kelly: QB Nick Foles' bone is not healed. He's not cleared. He's out this week.

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 15, 2014

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Sanchez should be able to beat the Washington Redskins and then New York Giants in consecutive weeks, but it will take more than that for the Eagles to make the playoffs.

To come away with a victory, it starts with Sanchez.

The key to beating the Washington Redskins will be Sanchez's ability to limit his turnovers. That's essentially been the story of the season for him; in his starts, the Eagles are 2-0 when he doesn't turn the ball over and 1-3 when he does.

Kelly's offense has done wonders for Sanchez in almost all aspects but the turnovers.

	Comp %	YPA	TD %	INT %
2012	54.3	6.4	2.9	4.0
2014	61.9	7.9	4.5	4.0
Difference	+7.6	+1.5	+1.6	0

As a result, the Eagles have gone just 3-3 with Sanchez as a starter after going 6-2 under Foles (and two plays from being 8-0).

Fortunately, Sanchez gets himself the Washington defense, one that every quarterback looks forward to facing. The Redskins are an abysmal football team, having lost six consecutive games. They’re 27th in the NFL in points allowed, 29th in average net yards allowed per passing attempt and 31st in touchdown passes allowed.

That bodes well for Sanchez. He hasn’t yet faced this Redskins team as a member of the Eagles, but Nick Foles lit them up back in Week 3. In that contest, Philadelphia scored 37 points (seven on a kick return), with Foles throwing for 325 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Sanchez has done well against below-average defenses. He torched the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football. He threw for over 300 yards against the Tennessee Titans. And he did play well in the first Dallas game.

Sanchez has a slew of weapons, ranging from LeSean McCoy to Jeremy Maclin to Jordan Matthews to the underutilized duo of Darren Sproles and Zach Ertz, each of whom is capable of making a big play when called upon.

Given the importance of this football game, the Eagles can’t possibly lose this. The Redskins have nothing left to play for. A strong dose of McCoy should make life easier for Sanchez. Last time, McCoy somehow rushed for just 22 yards on 19 carries, but he’s a much better player than that.

Sanchez is at his best when he’s not asked to throw the football more than 25-30 times per game. If that’s the case in this contest, it should be an Eagles victory.