Eagles Flying Way Under the Radar

All 32 NFL training camps opened this week and the big headlines around the league at NFL.com continue to revolve around teams such as New England, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Green Bay as the top four favorites to win a Super Bowl this season. There is also quite a bit of press on Denver's chances to win the AFC West for the sixth-straight season in the absence of Peyton Manning. Ironically enough, former Eagles' quarterback Mark Sanchez is still penciled in as the Broncos' starter. The stories go on and on with one common thread; nothing and I mean nothing is being written about our beloved birds.

Since Chip Kelly departed town, Philly is not even back page news with the majority of the national sites covering the NFL. I recently scrolled through the NFL section at ESPN.com and the one Eagles-related headline that was near the very bottom of the homepage read "Jason Peters Embracing the Post-Chip Kelly Era". Even with Kelly way out on the West Coast he still commands most of the attention when it comes to this team.

I often time refer to the term "flying under the radar" as it pertains to certain team or player that is out of the public eye, but I am not even sure I can put Philly into this category heading into the 2016 season. Maybe I should go with "out of sight, out of mind" as the tagline for this year's team.

There was an interesting poll on NFL.com this week. It asked the question "Who is the Most Intriguing Team to Watch in Training Camp?". The choices were the Rams, Eagles, Dolphins, Broncos and Other. With a tally of over 65,000 votes, Denver led the way with 21 percent of the vote followed by Los Angeles (13 percent), Philly (10 percent) and Miami (8 percent). The "other" category garnered 48 percent of the votes. I guess this means that the Dolphins are another team that nobody really cares about.

With a rookie head coach like Doug Pederson trying to defy the odds that he can be a success in this league, it is probably a good thing that most NFL fans have turned their attention elsewhere. This guy could be the next "Andy Reid" or he could simply hang around for a couple of seasons while the Eagles plunge to the basement of the NFC East. Right now this is a 50/50 proposition that is going to have to be played out on the field. The only good news is that if Philly does crash and burn under his watch, it will probably go unnoticed by the majority of the national press.