I know I’m the Negative Nancy of the Eagles blogosphere, unable to enjoy a close win against a division rival. Yes, the 18-play drive was neat and the defensive line played well against a bad Giants offensive line. But without a heroic strip-sack by Jason Babin with a minute left after the Giants had already driven 70 yards, we might be talking about yet another fourth quarter collapse.
Frankly, this win only covered up many of the same problems we’ve seen in every loss. Turnovers, red zone issues, missed tackles, dropped passes, blown coverages, stupid penalties — it was all still there. We even saw new problems emerge: the offense couldn’t get LeSean McCoy going until his final run of the night.
There are far more people than I expected who are re-checking playoff scenarios based on the thought, “If only they could keep playing at the same level.” Let me tell you, that level is at best .500 the rest of the way.
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In other news, here’s Pro Football Focus’s charting of the Eagles pass coverage from Sunday night. We’ve talked about Nnamdi Asomugha’s problems, but if you saw Rob Gronkowski’s two touchdown game on Monday night, the linebackers should worry you much more.
Photo from Getty.