Matt Barkley completed 11 passes on 20 attempts and threw three interceptions in the Eagles 17-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com
It started with Nick Foles. It ended with Matt Barkley.
Overall, in the words of another Barkley, it was flat-out “turrable.”
Where do you even begin with a game like this? Perhaps you
start with the root of the problem.
It didn’t matter who was under center in this game. This was
Foles’ game. It ended as Barkley’s. It could have been Michael Vick. Hell, the Philadelphia Eagles could have thrown James Casey out there in emergency against the Dallas Cowboys. It wouldn’t have mattered.
The Eagles were a mess at the quarterback position. Foles
picked a bad time to have a bad game. Vick’s health couldn’t be any more
important.
The real question out of all of this is what is more
important to the fans? Is winning what matters or would you rather draft a
quarterback in the first round of a QB-heavy draft and start over?
I couldn’t have been further from the actual final score
with my prediction. However, defensively everything happened as I saw it. The
Eagles competed defensively for the entire first half and into the game’s final
quarter. Even at 10-3, a win was hanging in the balance for the Eagles.
The defense failed to make the stops when they were needed
most while the offense never amounted to anything.
But the defense isn’t at fault for the 17-3 final. It starts
with the highly acclaimed Eagles offense, which entered the game ranking fourth
in scoring.
Vick is a talented quarterback, but to me, isn’t a fit for
what Chip Kelly is trying to do. He plays like the quarterback Kelly needs to
have, a quarterback with the capability to escape pressure on the run. But Vick
doesn’t think pass first, which is also what Kelly needs.
That’s where Foles starts to fit the bill. Vick is a mobile
quarterback. Foles is a pocket presence. Foles is better equipped for the
Eagles offense until he needs to move. The second that happens, the Eagles
offense is in trouble.
Barkley also doesn’t appear to have much running ability.
More than that, he was a fourth-round selection that almost every team stayed
away from while the Eagles traded up for his services. He’s not the player of
the future.
By all indications, the fact that the entire offense had a
bad game on the same day is more in the hands of Foles than anybody else. The
coaches didn’t make bad passes. The receivers didn’t throw to themselves. And
even in cases where the Eagles failed elsewhere offensively – whether through
LeSean McCoy’s one extra move on the run or the next of Brent Celek’s dropped
passes – it starts with the quarterback.
Kelly didn’t shy away from talking about the Eagles terrible
performance on offense. That said, he wouldn’t lay all of the blame on his Week
7 starting quarterback.
“We didn’t play well at all offensively,” Kelly said. “It
was all of us on offense, me calling plays, everybody. It’s not just one guy.
“I think all of us on offense, myself included, our decision
making wasn’t very good.”
But…
“He was off,” Kelly said of Foles. “At times we had guys
open and we didn’t put the ball on him. But there were times where we didn’t
help him either.”
Obviously, Foles was unavailable for post-game comment due
to his injury. But Barkley and McCoy, among others, provided some
insight to the offense’s woes.
“I thought I was ready to go in,” Barkley said. “I was
trying to do everything I could, maybe too much. I tried to extend a few plays
and come from behind. I was trying to get the ball in the end zone.”
“We just didn’t finish any drives,” McCoy said. “We didn’t
execute at all. We just didn’t play well. I think that was one of my worst
performances since being a rookie.
“I don’t think we gave [Foles] much of a chance. There are
plays we should have made, there are plays I should have made, to help him out.
He’s a good leader. We just let him down.”
“We couldn’t complete a ball today and we couldn’t run it
effectively,” Jason Avant said. “We just couldn’t connect when we had
opportunities. It was just bad.”
Whatever the reasoning may be behind this loss, the offense
as a whole cost the Eagles, wasting an excellent defensive afternoon. All in
all, the silver lining is that it was only one game, not only for the Eagles,
but also Foles.
“I think you have to look at them through the whole body of
work in terms of what he can do and can’t do,” Kelly said. “You hopefully like
to chalk it up as just a bad day.”
From Foles standpoint, he may have missed his only chance.
For Vick, at least for now, the offense may be his again. For the rest, it’s
about a game that went by the wayside with a terrible performance.
“It’s tough,” Jason Kelce said. “We pride ourselves in being
a good running team. That was embarrassing.”
As for the starting quarterback in Week 8 against the Giants, it wouldn't be a surprise if Vick was ready. But Chip Kelly's response showed just how difficult of a decision it will be.
"I can't answer that question," Kelly said. "I have no idea."
Kevin Durso is a
contributor for Eagledelphia. Look for his "Game Preview" every Eagles game day.
Follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
