What’s Going On In Philadelphia?

The Philadelphia Eagles currently sit in first place in an underachieving NFC East division.

First place sounds just fantastic until you realize the reason you’re in the position is because of a tie earlier in the season to the Cincinnati Bengals.

With a dreadful record of 3-6-1, the Eagles have several excuses to nourish larger issues within the organization.

Philadelphia sits behind just the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos in total giveaways in the NFL this season mainly due to poor QB play by former second overall pick, Carson Wentz.

Carson Wentz was a star in the making even last season recovering from an ACL tear suffered in 2017, and back/rib issues in 2018. The ACL injury ended Wentz’s season and ultimately ruled him out of the MVP conversation he was heavily leading until going down.

In his MVP-type season, Wentz totaled 3300 yards along with a 33-7 TD-INT ratio with three games missed.

2018 was a year to forget for Carson Wentz as yet again Nick Foles was called upon as Wentz suffered several back and rib injuries that sidelined him yet again late in the season when he is most needed. Wentz still posted 21 touchdowns and 3100 yards in just 11 games.

In Wentz’s 2019 campaign, he bounced back heavily totaling over 4000 yards along with a 27-7 TD-INT ratio. Wentz lead the Eagles to a division win and a playoff appearance against the Seattle Seahawks.

Unfortunately, Wentz went down with a concussion after awkward collision with now Tennessee Titan, Jadeveon Clowney. The Eagles fought and fought with yet another backup QB, coming up short in a 17-9 playoff defeat.

Now in 2020, the injury riddled QB has struggled all season long with turnovers, inaccurate passing, and misread defenses. Wentz leads the NFL in turnovers (18), along with the 2nd worst completion percentage (58.4) and 3rd worst QBR (73.3).

After a huge contract extension signed in June of 2019, the Philadelphia organization decided that Wentz is the present and future of the franchise, inking him until the conclusion of the 2024 season. The extension now sits uneasy with the Eagles fan base and front office as struggles continue, and seem to get worse each and every weak.

With that said, Wentz is not just a terrible player that lost all of his talent he had before this season. There are several factors that play into a success of an NFL QB, no matter the talent, success, or status.

Before the start of the season, the Eagles had finally assembled a healthy roster outside of Alshon Jeffery who suffered a major foot injury in 2019.

All-Pro guard Brandon Brooks then suffered another achilles injury, sidelining a huge piece of the Eagles offensive line for the entire 2020 season. The Eagles were then forced to refrain back to veteran Jason Peters on a cheap deal to fill in for Brooks at guard.

Unsurprisingly, the Eagles then lose another offensive linemen in Andre Dillard with a torn pec. Dillard was expected to take over the left tackle position for the next couple of seasons after Peters was set to hit free agency.

With a void at left tackle, the Eagles decided to give the spot back to Peters, increasing his base salary for the 2020 season. Peters has struggled this season along with the entire offensive line with 40 total sacks given up.

Back in April during the NFL draft, the Eagles selected Jalen Reagor who has shown flashes in his rookie year, but has been injured causing some missed games. Minnesota Vikings rookie receiver, Justin Jefferson was available, but GM Howie Roseman and the Eagles staff decided Reagor was a better fit. Jefferson leads all rookie receivers with 848 yards, and has caught four touchdown passes, with Reagor earning just 211 yards and a single touchdown.

The Eagles play calling has also been a stem of the historically bad offense in Philadelphia. Only person to blame is head coach Doug Pederson, who is in charge of all offensive calls.

The Eagles have always been aggressive as they’re known for their late 4th-down-conversions and QB sneaks for an easy first down, but this season has been more than conservative.

Earlier in 2020, Wentz was slinging the ball against the Redskins with both Jalen Reagor and Desean Jackson healthy and active. Jackson is now currently sitting on the Eagles injured reserve list and could return later in the season, but his presence is obviously needed in this system, and Reagor has statistically underperformed as a first rounder.

Another crazy stat for the Eagles is the young running back, Miles Sanders, has never had a game in his career with over 20 carries. Sanders currently leads the NFL in yards per attempt with an average of 5 yards.

Pederson has struggled to dial up successful plays for the offense to win games, but he is uninterested in giving up the offensive play calling as of today.

The Eagles have a brutal five game stretch at the wrong time as the NFC East is completely up for bragging rights.

Philadelphia’s schedule consists of the Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, and Arizona Cardinals after losing their previous two games.

If the Eagles are lucky enough to split even in those four matchups, they could still be struggling to stay in the divisional race with a good looking Giants team, a healthy Cowboys team, and a hungry Washington team.

Reports have surfaced Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie will make a ‘significant’ change within the organization if the Eagles do not win the division. Both Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson are on the hot seat.

As for Carson Wentz, he is obviously under contract with the Eagles, but his talents do surface attraction to teams like the Denver Broncos or Indianapolis Colts if the Eagles were to send Wentz elsewhere.

The Philadelphia Eagles have a lot of problems to sort out from now until season-end, and it’s not looking great for the Eagles or their $128M QB.