The time has come for Chip Kelly and his Philadelphia Eagles to deliver on the big stage.
After two years in the head coaching job, Kelly has taken on General Manager duties this season and oversaw an off-season of change. Every single change made has a clear purpose, with the sole intention of finally bringing the Lombardi trophy to Philadelphia in the next year or two.
This and plenty more was discussed when I recently joined the Across The Pond podcast with @atpthom. This podcast can be heard here.
Roster
Additions: QB Sam Bradford, RB DeMarco Murray, RB Ryan Mathews, WR Miles Austin, LB Kiko Alonso, LB Brad Jones, DB Byron Maxwell, DB Walter Thurmond.
Gone: QB Nick Foles, RB LeSean McCoy, RB Chris Polk, WR Jeremy Maclin, TE James Casey, G Evan Mathis, G Todd Herremans, LB Trent Cole, LB Casey Matthews, DB Brandon Boykin, DB Cary Williams, DB Bradley Fletcher, DB Nate Allen.
Projected depth chart
The roster is stacked with talent on both sides of the ball and in special teams.
The offence, in its third year under Kelly has undergone significant transition. Sam Bradford comes in as the new starting quaterback and has been in red hot form in the limited preseason action he has seen.
Kelly finally has the north-south running game he always wanted thanks to the arrival of DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews. Both can be injury prone, providing insurance if one of them goes down, however if they stay healthy they could form a lethal combination. The third running back Darren Sproles isn’t too shabby either. Would be a starter on a lot of team and provides great versatility in that he can be used in the passing game and in special teams.
Jordan Matthews steps up to take the number one receiver spot from the slot. He will be partnered by Josh Huff and Riley Cooper and backed up by the exciting rookie Nelson Agholor and the veteran Miles Austin.
On the offensive line, Jason Peters, Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson return from last year’s line that was great until injury struck. Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardiner have both had solid pre-seasons and will fill the guard spots come Monday night in Atlanta.
The defensive line has undergone the least amount with Fletcher Cox, Bennie Logan and Cedric Thornton returning. Logan in particular is said to be in great shape heading into the season. Back-up Beau Allen has also had a great pre-season and will provide important snaps, especially in the event of injury.
The linebacking corp looks scary with the addition of Kiko Alonso from Buffalo to partner Connor Barwin, DeMeco Ryans, Mychal Kendricks and Brandon Graham.
The secondary was the second worst in the NFL last season. Acquiring Byron Maxwell from Seattle went a long way to fixing this problem. Walter Thurmond has looked good at Safety in the pre-season and will form a good combination with Malcolm Jennings.
The special teams were a feature of the Eagles last season and may have actually improved this season. Options abound galore including Sproles, Matthews, Mathews, Agholor and Huff.
Schedule
The schedule looks a lot kinder to the Eagles this year, they should get off to a good start playing just one team, the Cowboys, that made the playoffs in 2014 through the first six games.
Divisional match-up wide they go up against the NFC South, possibly the worst division in the NFL, and the AFC East, which will be tough. The Patriots at Foxboro in December can almost already be put in the “L” column, while the following week where they host Buffalo will be eagerly awaited for the return to Philadelphia of all-time Eagles rushing leader LeSean McCoy, who was traded for Kiko Alonso in the off-season.
Finishing second in the division means they avoid the divisional winners in regular season.
And of course the intra divisional match-ups with the Cowboys (Wk 2 & 8), Giants (Wk 6 & 17)and Redskins (Wk 4 & 16) are always grudge matches. Finishing the season against New York and Washington, two teams that are predicted to be middle of the road to bad, may be the difference between missing the playoffs and getting a high seed in the NFC playoffs.
5 keys to success
- The health of Bradford, Murray, Mathews and Alonso who Kelly gave up a considerable amount to get.
- The ability of the coaching staff to gel all the new players into a cohesive unit pulling in the same direction.
- Stopping long passing touchdowns scored against. An improvement by the secondary, even to mid table, will see the Eagles record go north rapidly.
- Winning at home.
- A continuation of the brilliance on special teams from 2014.
Prediction
Best case scenario: 13-3
Worst case scenario: 7-9
What I think will happen: 11-5, win the NFC East. Make at least the divisional round of the playoffs
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