Brutal schedule. They'll win the division, but these 14 win predictions are crazy. I'm thinking 11 wins.
Trying to predict who is going to be tough and who isn't seems foolish at this point. I'm sure people thought the Cowboys and 49ers would be tough games last season and the Vikings and Broncos would be easy games. There are going to be at least 2 or 3 games on this schedule where looking at it now, you're like "tough game" and then when the game actually happens either the team has either fallen apart or they have injuries to key players. Maybe it's the Eagles who fall apart, I don't think it will be, but you never know. They've been really lucky with injuries lately, maybe this is the year it catches up with them.
Yeah this in part is why I'm bullish on the Eagles. Outside of a major QB injury, the floor to me for this team and that's with "everything going wrong" is 12 wins. Let's not forget the Eagles had their share of injuries last year to key players AJB and Devonta Smith, yet were still 2 dropped passes at the end of the 4th Q in 2 game from being 16-1. Not only do I think we know what the Eagles are/who they are, I think they are going to be BETTER than last year. You have to have a really really good team to F with us these days...
Well...devil's advocate here.
The defense is going to be a huge question mark this season.
Losing CJGJ hurts. You saw what happened last year in the Washington game when CJGJ got tossed? With CJ Washginton drive chart: Downs, Fumble, Punt, TD, Fumble, TD, Punt, Interception, Fumble. Without CJ: TD, TD, Interception, TD. Maybe Makuba can just step in at safety and the defense will be fine, but guys like McCollum, Brown and Cine, I'm not high on.
Then at CB, you lost all your depth. Adoree Jackson may be able to replace Slay, maybe. But who is replacing Rodgers and Maddox? Ricks and Ringo? Not ready to make that leap yet.
Then you lost your top sack guy in Sweat, a big piece in Williams, and a heart and soul guy in BG on the DLine, plus Dean isn't going to be playing until probably December if we're lucky. I'm looking at the edge depth, Bryce Huff, Nolan Smith, Moro Ojomo, Jalyx Hunt, Ty Robinson and Antwaun Powell-Ryland. There is a serious lack of depth on that DLine. Your top edge guy is Nolan Smith hasn't been a picture of health. Bryce Huff is a 3rd down pass rush specialist. Jihaad Campbell could be a good piece, if he can stay healthy, and that's a big if. You basically got Nolan Smith and a bunch of question marks.
Maybe they'll be fine, I trust Vic. But I have serious doubts the Eagles will be better, especially on defense.
We were the best defense last year in the NFL and also the youngest. Coming off a year where we finished 26th D/31st Pass D to 1st/1st and 2 total points off being the #1 scoring defense - The jumps from our year 1-2 guys and year 2-3 guys will be larger than the losses from the guys that moved on.
Doubling down on the Devil's Advocate - I disagree about the defense being a huge question mark. Did we lose guys? Sure did. All the guys we lost - CJGJ was probably the biggest, but every guy we lost - THERE IS A PLAN- and I mean, I gotta have faith in Vic to get things right, just like he did last year. CB is the toughest position to learn, had 2 rookies come in play GREAT. I think the plan with Nickel this year is to get Cooper on the field more, so in 2 WR sets, he will be the starting outside and in 3-wide, he slides to the slot and Ringo/Jackson are CB2. Vic has a great track record getting production out of safeties - Eddie Jackson and Justin Simmons is STILL out there on standby. Methinks he has a secret handshake "Batman signal" sorta deal with us if Drew Makuba isn't looking ready. Sydney Brown is NOT the guy they want so its Makuba or bust in my eyes - but you gotta figure all these guys 2nd year in Vic's system, when typically his team's Defense peaks year 3, I'm pretty confident they will be playing even fast this year - more turnovers/more sacks.
These guys we lost Sweat, BG, Williams, Slay, CJ, Isaiah Rodgers - none of these guys are stars or even super stars. Very good players for the most part, role players for some. This taps into the whole nonsense "Super Team" talk when going into last year you had
Sweat - coming off a 6.5 sack year where they forced him to take a paycut
Williams - coming off a career low .5 sacks
Slay - still playing solid, missing more and more time each season
CJ - ok this might be the true "real" loss, 6 picks in each season can't be ignored
Rodgers - nobody knew anything and it was hope he'd contribute, and he exceeded that
No one also thought Baun would be who he became, which is insane that he was literally the best LB in football last year.
Every year, every. Single. Year. The Eagles have some guy that people never heard of or have heard of but ya know they are down in their career or just need a fresh start - the come to Philadelphia and become their absolute ceiling. Baun was that guy last year along with Becton at RG.
One or more of these guys will be one of those guys this year and my money is on Azeez Ojulari. You look at his scouting profile and what he does, he is a perfect fit for Vic's defense. Josh Uche could also produce. Patrick Johnson coming back is another name we have at edge to go with who we drafted.
I'm pretty excited to see what these coaches do with this defense to be honest. Its an unknown ceiling and you have all these guys being taught the defense the right way, the first time in the NFL for the most part. I'm looking at a meteoric jump overall on defense to be honest.