The Philadelphia Eagles: State of the Franchise

Okay, these last two games haven’t exactly been the best for the Philadelphia Eagles. Coming off a big win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Eagles lost a heart breaker in Chicago against the Bears.  The excuse: The Eagles just couldn’t punch it over in the red zone to make the score 27-24 with time running out.

Going into the game against the Washington Redskins, the Eagles looked like they would never look back.  They jumped off to a 14-0 lead, with a long, sustained drive led by Donovan McNabb, to a punt return TD by DeSean Jackson.

However, as the game went on, the Redskins figured the Eagles out, and Philadelphia was held to only a field goal in the next 3 quarters in a 23-17 loss. 

23-17 looks like a tight game on paper, but it was clear that the Eagles were outplayed. There's no excuse as to why they lost—Brian Westbrook was healthy, McNabb was healthy, and the Eagles didn’t have major turnover problems.

However, the red zone problem reappeared.  The Eagles couldn’t cash in and had to settle for a field goal.  For basically the whole day, the receivers weren’t getting open and Westbrook didn’t have much room to run.  I was looking for better play-calling for the offense, but I didn’t really see it.  Also, Clinton Portis had a huge day against an Eagles defense that is known for stopping the run. 

Westbrook will not play against the San Francisco 49ers, and neither will Shawn Andrews or Reggie Brown.  However, Kevin Curtis may see some action.  Regardless, I think the Eagles are really desperate now, and even though they’ve lost the last two I thought they should at least split, I’m picking them to win in San Francisco.

The Eagles look like a good team but after you’ve lost two in a row, it’s hard to find the positives.  I think that the Eagles can pick themselves up and win their next two. 

If the Eagles win this game, they can go into their bye week, think things over, and wait for everyone to be healthy.  They can run up the score against teams like the St. Louis Rams and probably the Atlanta Falcons, but they haven’t really figured out how to win the close games. 

If the Eagles want to do well this year, they must turn things around and win close football games, because the rest of the NFC East won’t be waiting for them.