Sam Bradford Managing Philadelphia Eagles to Victories

Would it surprise you to learn the Philadelphia Eagles have a 5-2 record in the last seven games Sam Bradford has started and finished?

It's funny. Everybody gets so caught up in Bradford's statistics when they evaluate the quarterback's performance this season. The sixth-year veteran is averaging 6.7 yards per pass attempt with 10 interceptions and an 83.5 rating through 10 games, among other pedestrian numbers.

Yet how many times has somebody tried to convince us that wins are the only stat that truly matters? That it's a direct reflection of the man under center?

That's not always entirely true, of course. Then again, it's no coincidence that the Eagles are experiencing more success with Bradford in the lineup than without.

Since a rough first two weeks of the season, Bradford has been playing quite well.

GMS	CMP%	AVG	TD-INT	RATING
10	63.5	6.7	13-10	83.5

Over the last eight games, the Eagles signal-caller has completed 62.6 percent of his passes for 6.9 yards per attempt with 11 touchdowns to six interceptions for an 87.2 rating—still only OK, but not bad at all. Bradford has made major strides in just the last three games, however, completing 68.2 percent for an average of 7.6 yards with four touchdowns to no interceptions—good for a sparkling 106.5 rating.

Keep in mind that Bradford's numbers likely would be better over the entire span were it not for a supporting cast that's frequently let him down. Receivers were dropping tons of passes, having a measurable impact on stats. An inconsistent ground attack has often put the offense in difficult-to-convert down and distances. And the protection at times has not been good, leaving the quarterback little time to scan the field.

In fact, in each of the Eagles' last three losses with Bradford at the helm, he was sacked at least four times, finally suffering an injury at the hands of the Miami Dolphins in Week 10. What happened when he was out of the lineup for two games?

The Eagles got smoked.

A Mark Sanchez-led squad was beaten by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions by a combined score of 90-31 in his two starts. Granted, the larger issue in those two losses was a defense that surrendered 391 rushing yards and 10 touchdown passes, but Sanchez did nothing to keep the score competitive.

Steven Senne/Associated Press

Meanwhile, Bradford came back and immediately presided over the Eagles' most impressive victory of 2015, a 35-28 win over the New England Patriots. And while the quarterback can only claim so much responsibility when there were three defensive and special teams touchdowns, the fact is Bradford made the plays that needed to be made.

Bradford only completed 14 of 24 passes for 120 yards with two touchdowns against the Patriots. But he managed the game, avoiding sacks and not throwing any interceptions.

Say what you want about Bradford's numbers, but for many reasons, they're not a great indicator of the season he's having, much less the progress he's continually made. He's a better quarterback today than he was on opening night, which surprises nobody.

Bradford hadn't played a meaningful NFL game in nearly two calendar years entering this season. He was coming off of back-to-back season-ending ACL injuries. He was dropped into a new offense for the first time, one he had little time to master with limited preseason action.

As he continues to grow in the system, get reacquainted with the speed of the game and learns to trust his knee, anybody can see Bradford is gaining confidence and improving. For the Eagles, the outcome has been more notches in the win column.