NFL News: Philadelphia Eagles Eliminated From Playoffs; Who's to Blame, What Went Wrong?
Without a doubt, the biggest losers from Week 16 were the Philadelphia Eagles.
Their loss to the Washington Redskins dropped them to 9-6 overall. With the Dallas Cowboys defeating the Indianapolis Colts and improving to 11-4, the Eagles were eliminated from the postseason. Just a few weeks ago, the Eagles controlled their own destiny, but this three-game losing streak has brought on one cold winter in the City of Brotherly Love.
The Eagles defeated the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day to improve their overall record to 9-3. An NFC East Championship looked to be all but in the books. But then, the Eagles lost their next three games to the Seattle Seahawks, Cowboys and Redskins.
At 9-6, the Eagles are currently the No. 7 seed in the NFC and have no opportunity to advance to the final No. 6 wild card spot.
So what happened?
Who's to blame?
Who's fault is all of this?
The biggest reason the Eagles missed the playoffs was because they failed to show up against top competition. This season, the Eagles faced six NFC teams that had a winning record when they faced off. Ready for it? The Eagles were 1-5 against those teams. Those losses came against the Cowboys, Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. If you're going to beat the best teams in the playoffs, you have to be able to beat them in the regular season first.
Overall, the Eagles are a combined 5-6 against NFC teams.
The biggest elephant in the room is obviously the defense. It was a rough year for defensive coordinator Billy Davis. The Eagles defense ranks 25th overall in yards given up. The Eagles pass defense (which was 32nd last season) has given up the third most touchdowns this season. This offseason, the Eagles have a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the football.
As good as head coach Chip Kelly has shown to be on offense, his schemes and play calling sometimes put the defense in a bad situation. The Eagles run the fastest offense in the league, and if they don't score a lot of points, it spells trouble for the defense, who will be on the field a lot. Even Kelly hasn't been able to improve Mark Sanchez's passing skills enough to win in December.
Another factor to consider is DeSean Jackson, who is, without a doubt, the best deep threat in the league today, and releasing him this offseason may have been a mistake. Jackson is having another great season. This year Jackson has 1,083 receiving yards, his fourth 1,000-yard season in the last six years.
There's no doubt Jackson saved his best moments for his former team this season. Against the Eagles in Week 3, Jackson had 117 receiving yards including an 81-yard touchdown. Just this week against the Eagles, Jackson had 126 yards receiving. It's pretty safe to say releasing Jackson hasn't paid off for the Eagles, especially considering they didn't get any value back.
Many NFL fans believe the Eagles were a little overconfident after their dominating performance over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Who could blame them? After that convincing road victory, the Eagles controlled their own destiny.
This offseason the Eagles have a lot to focus on. Improving their secondary is priority No. 1. It doesn't look like the Eagles will be able to draft Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, but trading up may be an option.
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