October 15, 2019
Are power rankings completely dumb and meaningless? Yes. Yes, they are. However, personally speaking, whenever I see them, I click. And now that I've sucked you in with promises of many power rankings, you'll read it and like it.
Here's where people around the country have the Birds ranked after the sixth week of the 2019 regular season:
Biggest weakness: Pass defense
The Eagles are tied with the Giants for most pass plays of 40-plus yards allowed (seven). Six receivers have had 100-plus-yard performances against them. Their injury-depleted cornerback group could get Jalen Mills (foot) and Ronald Darby (hamstring) back this week. Whether the duo's return makes an appreciable difference is unknown.
#JimmySays: The Cowboys are 12th here. Did nobody watch them lose their last three games, including an awful loss to the winless Jets? Lol.
We have to send the Eagles back to Power Rankings purgatory after a virtual no-show against the Vikings in Minneapolis. This was an ugly game for Doug Pederson's team, which could not move the ball consistently on offense and was helpless to stop Vikings QB Kirk Cousins from building his comeback narrative on their backs. Concerns in the secondary were temporarily tabled during Week 5's walk-through (well, technically, it was a real game against a Luke Falk-led Jets offense), but those worries move back to the forefront after Cousins threw for 300 yards and four touchdowns. Jim Schwartz is one of the better defensive coordinators in the league, but does he have the pieces to get the back end stabilized? If not, the NFL's better quarterbacks are going to torch the Iggles into irrelevance by December.
#JimmySays: If they were in another division, the Eagles might be "irrelevant in December," but not in the currently very ugly NFC East.
Philly’s patchwork secondary finally got ripped to shreds by old friend Kirk Cousins, and the book is out on how to beat the Birds. Seems like an odd time for Doug Pederson to be predicting a road win over a division rival with first place on the line.
#JimmySays: The alarming thing about the Eagles' secondary is that it really isn't even "patchwork." The two starting corners on Sunday were both Day 2 picks in 2017. Injuries at corner do not excuse their performance on Sunday in any way.
Cutting linebacker Zach Brown, the day after he played 81.7 percent of the team’s defensive snaps, was surprising. It doesn’t seem like he was the problem. Maybe the Eagles felt they needed to send a message.
#JimmySays: Brown's release doesn't come as a surprise at all to me. He has not been good, and he was particularly bad against the Vikings on Sunday. That he trashed the opposing team's quarterback the Friday before the game certainly didn't help, but I don't think there's some big message being sent here. Kamu Grugier-Hill should be getting back to 100 percent, and Nate Gerry has actually been pretty good.
Their defense is a disaster right now. And now they face a big-time division game against the Cowboys. They better tighten up.
#JimmySays: Thanks as always for the insight, CBS.
The Eagles got smashed by the Vikings as their much-maligned pass defense and compressed passing game blew up on them in the worst ways. Philadelphia has to keep digging deep for big plays while also not giving them up despite its dominance against the run.
#JimmySays: "Compressed" is a great word for the Eagles' speedless passing game.
Turnovers telling tale of this team. When Philly has two or more, it hasn't won. But limit giveaways to one or fewer, and Iggles 3-0.
#JimmySays: Wait, turnovers are bad? Hang on, let me look into that further...
OMG, checks out!
But also, as it applies to the Eagles' loss on Sunday, I wouldn't have "turnovers" in my top 10 of the Eagles' problems. A fake field goal resulted in an INT, but I wouldn't call that a traditional "turnover," as much as I would a crazy decision. The other two turnovers -- a Zach Ertz fumble and a Carson Wentz INT on a throw he normally wouldn't make -- both occurred in garbage time with under 7 minutes to go and a three-score deficit.
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