I’ve got to give it to Chip Kelly, it appears that his offense is still ahead of NFL defenses and he hasn’t pulled everything out of his bag, yet. Kelly puts his offensive players in position to adjust before and during the play to make it nearly impossible for the defense to make all the adjustments needed to stop them.
He’s clearly ahead of the defenses in the league, but is the talent on the Birds roster good enough to do something with it.
That awesome performance by the Birds offense against the Steelers in the 3rd preseason game, got the attention of a lot of top football people in the NFL. It wasn’t just the effectiveness of the first team Eagles offense against the first team Steelers defense, it was the play of the second team Eagles offense against the first team Steelers defense.
Birds starting quarterback Nick Foles isn’t likely to be as mistake free this year as he was in the 2013 season, but I expect him to play well as he gets more comfortable in the offense. This is his football team and it will go as far as he can take them.
Like everyone else, I feel good about the fact that Mark Sanchez backs him up. Sanchez has looked very good in the offense and I don’t expect him to be back next year, if he continues to play so well. He has starting quarterback talent with better speed than Foles, so he could hurt a defense with his legs more than the starter.
This should be a huge year for LeSean McCoy. He’s the best running back in the NFL. If he and the offensive line stay healthy, he could threaten 2000 yards. I don’t like the fact that they didn’t hang onto a veteran running back, who could take over and carry the ball 20 times a game, if he were to go down.
Darren Sproles couldn’t take over at his size and age and carry the ball 20 times a game. Young Chris Polk hasn’t shown the ability to stay healthy and carry the ball 20 times a game. McCoy had better stay healthy.
It’s also very important that the offensive line stays healthy. Unfortunately, they don’t have good tested depth upfront and that’s a problem. Chances are somebody is going to go down, because this offensive line is starting to get old. Other than Allan Barbre, who is starting at right tackle in place of Lane Johnson for the first four games, I don’t trust any of those backups to play for an extended period of time.
The passing game will be different this season with DeSean Jackson gone, but it can be just as potent, at least from a scoring standpoint. They won’t have as many big plays down the field, but they can be more consistent.
I expect good but not great years from Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper. The ball is going to be spread around to a number of receivers and nobody is going to have record-setting numbers. Maclin and Cooper just need to consistent and Foles just needs to get the ball to the open man.
The wideouts will benefit from the attention paid to McCoy, Sproles and the tight ends. Sproles is Mr. Third Down and he’s nearly impossible to cover one-on-one coming out of the backfield. Second-year tight end Zach Ertz will be one of the key weapons. Starting tight end Brent Celek should have another good year.
Kelly is still ahead of the defenses in the NFL, so the Birds should be able to put points on the board. The key will be staying healthy.
Gcobb let’s see how they fare against the elite defenses in the NFC west ,not the crap they were up against last year for the most part.I share the belief the offense will be efficient but the amount of pressure the inadequate defense will put on them will be the key..I see two tight end packages to help in protection packages ,and a lot of long drives as opposed to Djax going over the top …the weapons are there ,foles will ,be in a contract year ,hoping the pressure of that doesn’t distract him ..I like there opportunity to provide us with a home playoff game and a step forward ,in there progression..
There is waaaaay too much hype about Chip Kelly and this offense.The bottom line is that ALL the breaks went our way last year…we played weak defenses, without their starting QB’s, in a weak division. We squeaked into the playoffs had a favorable matchup….and lost.
Now suddenly everyone has our offense has this unstoppable force…
Pump ya breaks! Lets see how this offense fairs against the smashmouth defenses like Seattle and San Francisco….lets see this offense when we go toe-to toe against QB’s like Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck can we outscore these teams with high power QB’s ?
I’m calling for us to get 7 wins this year…and still be in the running for the division…I hope i’m wrong…but its going to be tough this year…a lot tougher than Chip Kelly lovers will have us believe
Honestly – as bad as the division seems to be (worse than I previously thought and I still had the Eagles at 9/10 wins) we’d just have to IMPLODE to not get to the playoffs.
I mean IMPLODE. And considering how every break, went our way last year Foles could have that Eli Manning type luck.
I wouldn’t complain about that. lol
HATERS GO AWAY. Foles is going to have another good year. this teams offense is LEGIT and it starts UPFRONT.
We dropped Arizona who had one of the best defenses in the league last year. Idk if there going to be as dominate this year with the absence of Dockett and Washington this year but they were the only team to beat Seattle at home in 2 years. If this offense can set records in its first year imagine year 2 with a more potent depth chart . Lesean should be considered for MVP this season because he is the best running back in the nfl…period. Anybody who doesn’t think so is still living in the past. Adrian’s time is done.