The Eagles are in first place and all is right with the world.
Right?
Uh, not exactly. This is Philly, after all.
Raise your hand if you're still trying to get a handle on this team, even after they vanquished the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.
Yeah, me too.
At the heart of this perplexing team, not surprisingly, is the quarterback.
I wonder where the confident Sam Bradford who showed up for those four series in the preseason went?
Obviously, he didn't go anywhere. But preseason is preseason, and the regular season, as Bradford, Chip Kelly and anxious Birds' fans are learning, is another animal.
It's easy to forget that Bradford did not play for nearly two seasons after suffering successive tears in his ACL in his left knee. And he was limited to those precious few series in preseason.
He's playing like a guy who is still feeling his way back.
He looks tentative. He's not stepping into this throws. Few of them appear to have the zip Bradford showed off in camp and summer practices. He still looks like he's not on the same page with his recievers. They go long; he throws short. They go in; he throws out.
The good news is that even with a sputtering Bradford, the Eagles, courtesy of their stout defense, have now won two straight games and sit in first place at 3-3.
Things don't get any easier from here. Another prime time game vs. an undefeated Carolina Panthers team led by a red-hot Cam Newton, playing the best football of his career, looms Sunday night.
The Eagles desperately need Bradford and the offense to step up their game. If they can elevate their play to the level displayed by their defense, this team will be something to reckon with.
Right now, they're just the best team in the NFC Least.
Then again, that's not all that bad, as columnist Jack McCaffery explains.
Comments