Friday, September 1, 2017

My Top Takeaways from the Eagles' Preseason

The Eagles wrapped up their four-game preseason schedule with a listless 16-10 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night in advance of next Sunday's regular season opener against the NFC East rival Washington Redskins in a 1 p.m. start at FedEx Field.

My biggest takeaway from this year's 2-2 preseason was that the team, as a whole, comes into the regular season in relatively good health. Some marquee NFL players such as New England wide receiver Julian Edelman and Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill are already done for the season due to injury, so anytime you can get through a meaningless round of exhibition games without any major injuries that should be considered a huge success.

Carson Wentz firmly established himself as Philly's franchise quarterback last season as a rookie. One of his early highlights in his sophomore campaign was a pair of touchdown throws against Miami in Week 3 of the preseason. The fact that he completed passes to Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith to post those scores makes things all that much better considering that they were both brought in as a major upgrade to the Eagles' receiving corps.

A recent trade that sent Philadelphia's former No. 1 receiver Jordan Matthews to Buffalo for cornerback Ronald Darby was already validated to a certain extent with Darby's 48-yard interception return against his old team in the Eagles' 20-16 victory against the Bills in a Week 2 preseason contest.

While I was happy to see both Jeffrey and Smith make a solid contribution in limited preseason action, I am a bit concerned with the team's other big free agent acquisition LeGarrette Blount as a quick fix for the Eagles' running game. I was a big Wendell Smallwood fan as a rookie last year, but I still do not see him as an every down running back in the NFL. Blount had a monster season with New England last year in the Patriots' run to a Super Bowl title, but he was still viewed as expendable by a head coach that understands the true value of his players. While you cannot make all that much from what Blount did or did not do in the preseason, he needs to hit the ground running (literally) against the Redskins on opening day.

I have been impressed with the Eagles' willingness to keep wheeling and dealing with minor trades here and there. They are obviously committed to heading into a new season with the best roster possible. Most of the moves (as in the trade for Darby) have be focused on improving the team's biggest weakness; the defensive secondary. One of their latest moves was a trade with the New York Jets for defensive back Dexter McDougle in exchange for another defensive back Terrence Brooks. While I really do know whether this is an actual upgrade in depth or just a wash, I do like the fact that Howie Roseman continues to work the phones while Philly works to finalize its 53-man roster.

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