Philadelphia Eagles News & Standings: Can Mark Sanchez Lead Team to NFC East Title Over Dallas Cowboys?
The Philadelphia Eagles are trying to repeat as NFC East champions. Unfortunately, their starting quarterback Nick Foles has a broken collarbone and he is out indefinitely.
Last season, Foles had an incredible regular season, throwing for 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Foles hasn't been himself this season in eight starts with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, but options are limited at this point.
Mark Sanchez, who the Eagles signed in the offseason, has started the last two games for the team. This season, Sanchez has six touchdowns, four interceptions and five fumbles. In his last game against the Green Bay Packers, Sanchez played terribly and was vastly outplayed by Aaron Rodgers. An even bigger issue has been the Eagles' terrible defense, which ranks No. 26 overall.
The big question in Philadelphia now is, can Sanchez lead the Eagles to an NFC East championship?
Sanchez has always been turnover-prone throughout his career. Sanchez has 74 career touchdown passes compared to 73 interceptions going back to his playing days with the New York Jets. Even though Sanchez did help guide the Jets to two AFC Championship games, both times the Jets were a wild card team. Sanchez has never led a team to a division championship before in his career.
As good as running back LeSean McCoy is, he is having a down year. Last season, the Eagles were very successful because McCoy led the league in rushing yards with 1,607, about 100 yards per game. This year, McCoy has just 729 rushing yards, only 72.9 yards per game, which is a dramatic decrease from last year. The Eagles have to depend on their passing game a lot more this season than they did last year.
Sanchez is who he is. He will do some good things, but history and statistics tell us he will offset that with a turnover or an inaccurate pass.
Moving forward, the Eagles still have to play the Dallas Cowboys twice, who have a very good passing attack. With the Eagles' pass defense, which ranks 28th, not showing any signs of improvements, the Eagles' only hope to defeat the Cowboys may be to win a high-scoring game. McCoy struggling and a pass defense that ranks near the bottom doesn't set up well for Sanchez.
Head coach Chip Kelly has implemented a quarterback-friendly offense that is very fast paced. Jeremy Maclin leads the Eagles with 921 receiving yards this season, and Sanchez should look to get the ball to him more often. Expect Tight end Zach Ertz to get a lot more touches with Sanchez behind center, as he does struggle with the deep ball.
The Eagles face the 2-8 Tennessee Titans next week at home. This should be an easy victory, but if Sanchez struggles again, the Eagles may want to consider giving Matt Barkley a chance.
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