Phil Sheridan, for the Inquirer:
It’s one thing to be a bad team. Indianapolis without Peyton Manning is a bad team. Jacksonville, which fired coach Jack Del Rio on Tuesday, is a bad team. Bad teams lose to better teams. Pretty simple.
But this team has shown that it can be very good. And that makes an effort, or a lack it - as in Sunday’s game against New England - all the more galling for fans.
I don’t disagree with the overall point of Sheridan’s column, but his definition of a bad team is questionable. For starters, there isn’t one monolithic version of a bad team. At 4-7 and in line for a top ten draft pick, the Eagles are bad. Just because they’re not as bad as the hapless Colts, you can’t classify them differently.
Furthermore, I’m not sure how good the Eagles have shown themselves capable of being. They beat St. Louis (2-9) in the least convincing 31-13 win of the year. They beat Washington (4-7) when Rex Grossman mistook Kurt Coleman for one of his wide receivers. Then one fluky blowout of a flawed Dallas team (7-4) and one squeaky victory against the Giants (6-5). That’s not a high ceiling.