Nearly seven months ago, in a 2014 Philadelphia Eagles season review, I wrote the following words:
- The Eagles lost games this year b/c the talent on the field wasn't up to the task against more talented units.
Is there any doubt that the Eagles have less talent on their roster, top-to-bottom, than San Francisco, Green Bay, Seattle? I don’t think so. They are most comparable to Arizona & Dallas. Consider this: how many defensive starters would play meaningful snaps for the Cardinals? Fletcher Cox? Mychal Kendricks? Maybe Connor Barwin? Consider this: how many offensive starters would play meaningful snaps for Dallas? Jason Peters, Shady, Maclin?
The lone exception to this fact is, perhaps the last loss of the season: at the Redskins. Though I believe the overall talent level is higher for the Eagles, they lacked skill in their secondary that was opposing a potent Redskin strength in WR.
When it comes down to it, the following are true of the 2014 Birds:
- The offense wasn't talented enough to beat good defenses (SF, ARI, SEA)
- The defense wasn't talented enough to stifle good offenses (GB, DAL)
The words were true then…and yet they manage to be useless as a forecast for the upcoming season. Why? Because Eagles Head Coach & General Manager Chip Kelly has managed to turnover a large portion of the Eagles starters. DeMarco Murray, Ryan Mathews, Sam Bradford, Kiko Alonso, Byron Maxwell, and Walter Thurmond are all likely to start & are new to the franchise. Matt Tobin, Allen Barbre, Nolan Carroll, Brandon Graham, are all returning contributors who will (presumably) be stepping into starting roles. This doesn’t include the guys like Zach Ertz & Josh Huff: who could steal starting roles away from Brent Celek & Riley Cooper, respectively. This doesn’t include the draft picks—Nelson Agholor & Eric Rowe— who should rightfully step in and contribute meaningful snaps throughout the course of the season. They could end up stealing starting jobs, themselves.
So, how can we take the words written last December—coupled with the above changes—and look forward to 2015? Is this offense talented enough to beat the good defenses on the 2015 schedule? Is the defense talented enough to stifle the good offenses on the 2015 schedule? Today, we’ll start to answer these phenomenally pertinent questions while looking at the teams from the NFC South.
Atlanta Falcons
This is a hard game to get a read on. It is the season opener and both teams will have the entirety of the preseason to game plan for the showdown. It is in prime time on Monday Night Football in Atlanta. It is hard to win on the road under normal circumstances and—despite Atlanta being a terrible sports town—this will be a tough game to win.
The Falcons focused no small amount of offseason resources on improving their defense. They acquired Justin Durant, Brooks Reed in free agency. They extended Cliff Matthews, Charles Godfrey, etc. They drafted two standout defensive pieces in defensive end Vic Beasley & cornerback Jalen Collins. They know the offense can score on a fast track at home: defense was the problem last year. Can these pieces come together in training camp to stop the Eagles offense? Perhaps, more importantly, this question should be asked: which unit—Eagles offense or Atlanta defense—will gel more quickly? The Eagles are not without their new additions, as previously stated. If Chip Kelly can
The Eagles defense—and the revamped secondary, especially—will have Matt Ryan & a stellar Atlanta WR corps to contend with. Look for the Falcons to go to the air early & often because they have little other offensive alternative. Davonta Freeman is the lone threat at RB & he is rushing behind an OL that was the fifth-worst ranked run blocking unit in the NFL, according to ProFootball Focus (PFF). Without a foundation in the run game, the front seven should be able to get after Matt Ryan and force mistakes. I don’t believe that Chip Kelly loses this game with an entire preseason to prepare & going against a rookie head coach in Dan Quinn (pedigree or not): this ought to be a win.
Carolina Panthers
Make no mistake, despite their 7-8-1 record last year—and back-dooring their way into the postseason—this is a talented club that can handle the Eagles on Sunday Night Football in late October. Cam Newton has earned his contract extension & is a major playmaker in this league. PFF rates him the 13th best passing & 2nd best running QB in the NFL. He finally has some weapons at his disposal. Kelvin Benjamin, entering his second year, has elite size & a catch radius that will challenge the big bodied corners that Chip has acquired. Rookie Devin Funchess adds to the size of receiving corps and should develop into an outstanding playmaker in this league. They acquired Jarrett Boykin & Stephen Hill in free agency. Greg Olsen continues to be one of the more underrated tight ends in the NFL. They will bank on Jordan Stewart, Mike Tolbert, & Fozzy Whittaker—along with Cam—to shoulder the rushing load. This is an offense with talent.
The defense—like the offense—has remarkable young talent & got better this offseason. Shaq Thompson is as dynamic an athlete as there was in college football last year. Coupled with Luke Kuechly, this could be the start of the best LB corps in the NFL. The front seven, as a whole, could be a lot for the Eagles OL to handle in efforts to establish the run. Still, the secondary has it’s question marks and, hopefully, the Eagles have the receiving talent to expose this weakness. This will, in all likelihood, be a very close game in Charlotte.
New Orleans Saints
This really all depends on which Saints team shows up. They are hemorrhaging reliable offensive talent. The last two offseasons, they’ve lost Sproles & Jimmy Graham. Marques Colston is still productive but, perhaps, beginning his decline. Brandon Cooks should be a highly sought-after fantasy talent but had his rookie season cut short with a broken thumb. CJ Spiller is a nice signing but was the odd-man out in Buffalo this offseason: being outplayed by an ageless Fred Jackson. Mark Ingram is, statistically speaking, average and rarely finishes a 16 game season. Drew Brees is the Saints. They will be as successful as he permits them to be. The problem there is that the Saints were a horrific pass blocking team last season. Trading for Max Unger & drafting Andrus Peat should help but (not unlike the Eagles) that is a lot of new personnel to work with.
The Saints defense was absolute dreck last season. As such, they went out and addressed the dilemma. They acquire Danell Ellerbe & Brandon Browner and drafted Stephone Anthony. If Jairus Byrd & Kenny Vaccaro can bounce back, then the secondary shouldn’t be ass much of a disaster as it was last year. Following the theme in this division, this team has a lot of new faces in the locker room & could prove to be difficult if the Eagles new talent comes together slower than their opponent. If this game were in the Big Easy, I’d consider a possible loss. It is in South Philadelphia instead and—though tough—should be a win.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This team is still several years away from being a complete & talented roster top-to-bottom. Make no mistake, there is talent on the offense: Mike Evans, Doug Martin, Bobby Rainey, Vincent Jackson, etc. The offensive line was addressed by draftin Ali Marpet & Donovan Smith in the draft but the rookies—along with the rookie QB—will need seasoning in the NFL for this unit to be viable. Assuming the Eagles can move Jameis Winston around in the pocket & affect the passing game that way, the Eagles defense can keep the Bucs in harbor.
Tampa Bay had the fifth worst defense in the NFL last year, according to PFF. No single offseason can fix that. On top of that, the Buccaneers had the worst special teams unit in the NFL: compared to the Eagles at 3rd best overall. If the Eagles don’t win this week 11 home game going away, it will be a travesty.
Prediction Time:
For the sake of parity, I see the Eagles winning 3 out of 4 of these games.
