Most football experts had Philadelphia finishing third in the NFC East this season with slight move upward to 8-8 after winning seven games last season in Doug Pederson’s first year as head coach and Carson Wentz’s rookie year as the team’s new starting quarterback.
Flash forward to this Sunday’s home game against Denver as solid favorites, the 7-1 Eagles have rapidly accelerated the program with a chance to match that projected win total in Week 9. Pederson has shown the right temperament to reach all of his players, while building a coaching staff that knows how to do their job. Philly is firing on all cylinders in every phase of the game as the most balanced team in the NFL.
How far this current ride lasts is anyone’s guess, but with the best record in the NFL the Eagles control their own destiny when it comes to the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. Home field throughout the postseason is the quickest and easiest route to earn a trip to the Super Bowl, but there is still quite a bit of work to be done to turn this dream into reality.
One of the main reasons for this rapid reversal in fortunes is the Eagles’ front office led by team vice president Howie Roseman with the financial support from team owner Jeff Lurie. The fact that Carson Wentz is playing like a 10-year veteran also helps along with Jim Schwartz’s shutdown defense and some of the best special teams play in the league under the direction of Dave Fripp.
Even the best quarterback in the NFL cannot reach his potential without having the right personnel to run the ball, catch his passes and protect him in the pocket. A top-notch coaching staff can only squeeze so much out of their players. The biggest reason why teams win Super Bowls in the NFL is talent across the board. This starts with the NFL Draft to build depth through the ranks. It continues with the right free agent signings to fill the right holes and lately in the league it revolves around a few key trades here and there to push a team even further towards the ultimate goal of winning a word title.
The Eagles’ front office has excelled in all three of these categories since Philly beat Dallas in the last game of the 2016 season and it is starting to pay some huge dividends in the team’s performance through the first half of this year’s campaign.
The recent addition of running back Jay Ajayi proves the point. This guy ran for over 1,200 yards last season in Miami and he comes to the Eagles with 465 yards rushing in seven games this year. LeGarrette Blount was brought in as a free agent to get the Birds’ ground game back on track and heading into Sunday’s game against the Broncos, the offense was ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing with an average of 129.2 yards per game.
The prevailing attitude among every member of this organization that good is not good enough is another big reason why the Eagles have gone all-in to make that improbable run from the bottom of the division last year to the best team in the NFL at the halfway point of the 2017 season.
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