Life comes at you quick within the NFL, and the Philadelphia Eagles are discovering that out proper now. Now they’re ready the place what appeared to be a runaway lead within the NFC East is quickly shrinking, and it could possibly be at risk of utterly slipping away after an unpleasant 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears on Friday.
Particularly after the Dallas Cowboys
won again on Thursday, persevering with to slender the hole within the division.
Might the Eagles truly lose the division?
The percentages are nonetheless within the Eagles’ favor, however given the way in which each groups are taking part in proper now, nothing must be thought of a given.
Dallas has quickly develop into one of many hottest groups within the NFL with three consecutive wins, and boasts one of many league’s greatest offenses. The Cowboys’ much-maligned protection has additionally been given an enormous enhance because of the trade-deadline addition of defensive lineman Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets.
Dallas actually began to get some perception for itself when it rallied to beat the Eagles in an enormous NFC East sport per week in the past. It continued on Thanksgiving with one other large win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
With Philadelphia’s loss on Friday, the hole within the division is now all the way down to only a game-and-a-half with 5 weeks to go within the season. Hardly insurmountable.
Are the Eagles nonetheless within the driver’s seat? Certain. Would they commerce positions with the Cowboys proper now? No approach. However that does not imply anyone in Philadelphia needs to be feeling good about any of this given the way in which the Eagles are taking part in.
Particularly in the case of the crew’s offense.
The Eagles offense has been a wrestle for a lot of the season, and it’s getting progressively worse with every sport. The passing sport has been non-existent. They entered play on Friday with the Twenty third-ranked passing offense within the league, and it seemed worse than that towards the Bears.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts has struggled with consistency, the crew’s greatest extensive receiver — A.J. Brown — appears perpetually depressing together with his function and utilization, and the play-calling has develop into shockingly conservative and bland.
The working sport that carried the Eagles to the Tremendous Bowl a yr in the past has struggled to construct any kind of a rhythm, and Saquon Barkley has been a shell of what he was final season. Even worse, they’ve nearly utterly eradicated any designed runs for Hurts, one thing that was a significant X-factor for the offense in recent times.
If all of that isn’t regarding sufficient, a brand new concern emerged on Friday — the protection that has helped hold the Eagles afloat this season and raise up the inconsistent offense was utterly dominated by the Bears’ working sport. They had been pushed round, bullied and couldn’t get off the sector on necessary third downs.
It simply seems like a crew that has no confidence and nothing going for it.
Conversely, the Cowboys hastily appear like a crew that may do nothing fallacious and they’re out of the blue respiration proper down the Eagles’ necks.
Philadelphia nonetheless has video games towards the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Washington Commanders (twice) remaining.
The Cowboys nonetheless have the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Chargers, Commanders and New York Giants.
The schedules are fairly comparable. However the division won’t come all the way down to the opponents. It’d come all the way down to what the Eagles and Cowboys can do on their very own.
The Cowboys must be very assured proper now, and the Eagles shouldn’t be.
