The Streak Begins

By KO Kelly

A week ago today, the City of Philadelphia breathed a collective sigh of relief and rejoiced in the further dismantling of the already crumbling 2018 season for NY Giants. Our Birds came out with a statement game and as Coach Pederson mentioned in his post-game locker room speech, this win should serve as the spark they were needed to propel their title-defense campaign for the rest of season.

Wentz had his best game of the year and is off to a better statistical start than last year, which is amazing considering he is only nine months out from serious knee surgery. The chemistry he has with Jeffery, Ertz, and Agholor is likely to only improve from here, so get used to the return of +30-pts games. Clement and Smallwood performed well and have another chance to prove their mettle this weekend. With any lucky, they will have stellar outings and continue to quiet the doubters who contend we need to bring in a big-name running back before the trade deadline.

Speaking of running backs, though, we have to give credit where credit is due. Saquon Barkley was absolutely brilliant last Thursday. He runs the way Jay Ajayi thinks he is running when he hits the hole. Barkley also seems like a decent guy - he anti-OBJ - which makes it even harder to dislike him. He is going to be a nightmare for us for quite some time but luckily as long as Eli “Wait-I-Am-Allowed-to-Throw-the-Ball-Deep?” Manning is still their quarterback we are in good shape.

Now onto this week’s opponent: the Carolina Panthers.

This week last year we were still fuming from the infamous Pete Morelli Yellow Flag Festival, where he penalized the Eagles 10x more than the Panthers during our week 6 visit to Charlotte. Well, it seems the tables may have turned this year because in addition to the game being played at the Linc, there is also reason to believe the refs may be more favorable to us this time around. All I is a clean game with minimal interference from the zebras, oh and possibly the head of Pete Morelli on a silver platter! I mean really, does this guy even know that roughing the passer call on Barnett’s SACK of Cam Floppin’ was outrageous.

But I digress. This was our first real test last year after our week 2 loss against the Chiefs and will serve as a similar barometer for whether or not this year’s team is back on track. The Panthers are a lukewarm 3-2 with a recent loss to the Redskins and a nail-biter with the Giants. They may have cooled off after their somewhat hot start but they are still seen as real contenders in the NFC, especially with the Falcons sitting at 2-4 and the Bucs cratering back to reality.

McCaffery is having a strong season and will pose a significant threat to our banged-up defense. Cam won’t have much time to get the ball in his hands, though, because our front four will be putting pressure on him all afternoon. I am also going to call again for our first pick-6 of the season (eventually I will get it right). There will be some garbage points at the end but the Panthers offense will look mediocre for most of the game.

Wentz & Co will continue to connect through the air and on the ground as he puts up 4 TDs for the first time since the Rams game last year (note: he also threw for 4 TDs in week 7 last year against the Redskins). With the attention on Jeffery and Ertz, expect Matthews or Goedert to step up in this game. After this game, we will begin to forgive and forget the terrible football we suffered through in September as we Fly Eagles Fly on the road to Wembley!

Eagles win 35-17
Record 4-3