PHILADELPHIA _ Let's say you were frozen in carbonite, Han Solo-style, for the last six weeks, and let's say your friends and guardians defrosted you late Sunday afternoon, and let's say, after you got over your hibernation sickness and your eyesight returned, the first thing you did was check the score of Sunday's Eagles game, and you saw: Eagles 31, Jets 6. You'd be ecstatic. You'd assume the Eagles were crisp and dominant and damn near flawless. You might notice that their record was 3-2, that they had won their last two games, and you might conclude that they were hitting their stride and rounding into the form that would make them a Super Bowl favorite.
And there would be your mistake � not in thinking that the Eagles can't or won't be a championship contender this season, but in drawing any conclusions about them based on Sunday's final score or their performance in that game. It wouldn't be your fault. You wouldn't have known any better. But you'd still be wrong.
The Eagles were dominant, generally, because they were playing the Jets, who are 0-4, whose starting quarterback has missed three games because of mononucleosis, and who had scored one offensive touchdown all season before Sunday. They are shorthanded, poorly coached (on offense), and know already that, unless Sam Darnold returns from his illness and plays better than any quarterback ever had, their season is heading nowhere. Good teams beat bad teams. All teams beat the Jets.
But in doing so, the Eagles didn't look crisp, and they were light years from flawless, and a similar effort in any of their next three games � all on the road, all against opponents superior to the one they faced Sunday � will result in a loss at best and embarrassment at worst. First, they get the Minnesota Vikings, who thumped the New York Giants on Sunday in East Rutherford. Then they get the Dallas Cowboys, their primary rival now in the NFC East. Then they get the Buffalo Bills, who possess one of the stoutest defenses in the NFL.
Win one of those three, and there will still be questions aplenty about this team. Win two of those three, and they'll make it clear that they're the team everyone thought they would be before the season. Win all three, and ... well, let's keep that thought at a safe distance for now. Lose all three, and ... well, Lincoln Financial Field might no longer be standing by the time the Eagles are scheduled to play there again.
No matter the results, though, that trifecta will be far more revealing about Doug Pederson's team than Sunday's rout was. The Jets are that awful, and the Eagles were that sloppy: eight penalties, five punts, a muffed kick that led to the Jets' lone touchdown. Take this victory for what it was: a victory, nothing more.
