January 04, 2016
Julio Cortez/AP
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford hands the ball off to running back DeMarco Murray.
As I wrote earlier on Sunday, the 2015 season was doomed from the start -- even if some of us were blinded by a strong showing in training camp and in the preseason. Now that it's officially over, we can finally place into perspective just how big of a role GM Chip Kelly played in the demise of a team that was 20-12 in its first two seasons under head coach Chip Kelly.
Almost everything that happened after can be linked back to a decision Kelly made during his first few months with personnel control. So as we continue along through the rest of these reasons, there will be times when you're left wondering if the root of the problem was actually poor decision making by Kelly. And most of the time, you'll be right.
If you want to read more about those issues -- the bigger problems from a personnel standpoint -- you can do that here. For now, however, we're going to stick with the things that happened on the field. With that in mind, here are five reasons the Eagles season didn't play out quite like you hoped...
There were plenty of times this season, especially early on, when Chip Kelly would harp on the fact that his players were failing to execute, and that was the reason the offense was setting records for the fastest three-and-outs.
Most notably there were the drops. According to sportingcharts.com, the Eagles led the NFL in both dropped passes (34) and drop rate (5.8 percent) through Week 16. And it wasn't just that the receivers couldn't hold on to the ball -- so many of the drops came at a critical point in the game. Or they negated a potential touchdown. Some even went off an Eagles player's hand and right into the opponent's.
The Eagles also missed a few critical field goals early in the season that could have changed the outcome of the game. Would making one or more of those kicks have meant this team was any better than we currently believe it to be? Of course not, but if the goal here is to assess why they finished 7-9, then they very well could have played a role in that.
Remember, I'm not making excuses here; I'm simply trying to explain why the Eagles failed to live up to expectations this year. And since that's the case, injuries can hardly be tossed out and ignored.
Sam Bradford missed two and a half games, all three of which the Eagles lost. Former All-Pro Jason Peters looked like a shell of himself, and even when he was "healthy" it was clear the veteran tackle was playing through some pain. Ryan Mathews missed time. So did Zach Ertz. And don't forget Cody Parkey's early exit.
But here were two injuries that hurt the Eagles more than most.
The first was the pectoral tear that ended rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks' season. As we've previously noted, the Eagles defense was an entirely different unit with the third-round pick on the field. The other was Nolan Carroll's season-ending ankle injury. It's not that rookie Eric Rowe didn't play well in his absence, but it was the trickle down effect his absence had on the rest of the secondary, especially after Byron Maxwell also went down.
If you look at how poorly the Eagles defense played down the stretch, it's hard to say the loss of those were part of the reason why.
But those injuries only tell part of the story.
The defense also struggled down the stretch in large part because they were exhausted. The guys who were still healthy played more snaps than any other unit in the league, due in large part to the number of possessions Kelly's up-tempo offense affords opponents. That number would have been much higher had it not been for the Eagles' 26 takeaways. However, even those took a significant hit as the season progressed.
Through seven games, Billy Davis' unit was leading the league with 19 turnovers forced. Over their final nine games, though, the Eagles managed just seven, one of which was created by the offense after a turnover of its own.
And if you need further proof of the toll those snaps took on the defense, this should put it in perspective:
Eagles have now allowed more yards than any team in NFL history over the last seven weeks of a season: 3,134. Previous record: 3,122.
— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) January 3, 2016
The Eagles just became the first team in NFL history to allow 400 yards in the last seven games of a season: 521-430-427-412-493-418-406.
— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) January 3, 2016
Like it or not, Sam Bradford's play this season was a large reason the Eagles finished with seven wins. And I mean that as a compliment; had it not been for him, the Eagles would likely have the top pick in this year's draft.
It's a shame the offense and defense couldn't both be playing well at the same time. Just around the time the defense started to trend downward after a strong start, Bradford seemed to find a new comfort level in the offense and raised his play to a level we had only seen flashes of up until that point. In the 13 games that Bradford started and finished, the Eagles were 7-6; 7-4 in the last 11.
In his seven games after the bye week, Bradford was 176-of-258 (69 percent) for 1,959 yards, 10 TD, 4 INT, and a 97.03 passer rating. Compare that to his first seven games -- 170-of-274 (62 percent) for 1,766 yards, 9 TD, 10 INT, and a 76.4 passer rating -- and you can clearly see the improvement.
Unfortunately, by the time Bradford hit his stride, the defense was already gasping for air.
And when you combine all these things -- especially given the lack of continuity caused by another offseason of massive roster changes -- the Eagles were nowhere near worthy of making the playoffs. Just look around at the current state of the NFC East.
They couldn't win that dumpster fire of a division.
Had our expectations not been so high heading into the season -- don't worry, Chip had me fooled too -- perhaps 7-9 wouldn't feel nearly as disappointing as it currently does.
Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin
