Call it the thrill of victory - and the agony of talking about it after the game.
Sunday's win over the Bears is the best of both worlds for Eagles fans - giving us the ability of rejoicing that the team is now 5-4 headed into the bye week, while we grumble about a very uneven effort, call out some players for miscues, and question Doug Pederson and his staff.
At least we know this: The Eagles defense is capable of suffocating very bad offenses. They literally embarrassed Mitch Trubisky and the Bears offense in the first half, holding them to just 9 total yards and not even giving them a sniff of a possible score.
The problem was that while the Birds were dominant on defense, their offense was doing more than its own share of sputtering, settling for field goals and giving fans that awful feeling we know all too well - thinking that all those missed opportunities would come back to haunt us in this post-Halloween game.
It almost did.
The Bears rallied and got to within a score before the Eagles put the game away in the fourth quarter.
Some other things to ponder after this up-and-down effort:
* The Eagles can run the ball, behind their twin back attack of Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders. The problem is Doug Pederson too often abandons the run for the pass, where the Birds are not nearly as effective.
* Carson Wentz continues to be erratic, especially at the start of games, with a penchant for throwing high and missing open receivers.
* He gets little or no help from his wide receivers.
* The reason for that is the Eagles' wide receivers simply are not NFL quality. Alshon Jeffery has developed a case of the drops, something he first exhibited in the crucial miss against the Saints in that heart-breaking playoff loss last year.
* Darren Sproles might be done. He does not seem to have a lot left in the tank.
* Someone will need to explain to me why Mack Hollins is still on this team. Are you telling me that right now Jordan Matthews, the former Eagle who is now looking for work - would not be a better option?
* Perhaps the biggest question to come out of this game was the brain-scratching decision to use DeSean Jackson. The Eagles' only deep threat made one catch before retreating to the sidelines with what appears to be a new aggravation of that balky groin pull. Why would the Eagles use Jackson, who appeared less than enthused last week about the possibility of playing Sunday - when with the bye week looming they could have given him another two weeks to recover. Now he could be week-to-week for the rest of the season.
Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson now have two weeks to breathe some life into this offense. They shied away from any big moves at the trade deadline, and that move seems to be working out, with the return of several injured defensive components solidifying that unit.
Fixing the offense won't be as easy.
But it's something that needs to be done if the Birds are to make any kind of a playoff push.
Right now they're just not good enough.
Comments