EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ The Eagles are showing their limitations, and maybe it's time that they and everyone else recognize them.
After their 28-23 loss to the Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, they are 4-4 overall and 0-3 in the NFC East. The sheen from that 3-0 start has dulled. Their young quarterback threw two early interceptions that led directly to 14 Giants points, and if we're going to praise Carson Wentz for rallying and recovering from his slow starts, then it's only fair to point out that he again showed a tendency to treat his receivers (when they were open) as if they were 10 feet tall and bulletproof.
Their first-year head coach, Doug Pederson, combined a pair of mismatched qualities _ the daring nature to go for it on fourth down, the inability to call a play appropriate for a fourth-and-short situation _ to cost his team at least six points in the first half. Their best running back _ or, better yet, the running back whom Pederson prefers _ is Darren Sproles, who is an incredible special-teams performer but is also 33 years old and just 5-foot-6 and 190 pounds and has never been an every-down back in the NFL.
Their defense, for all the praise of coordinator Jim Schwartz and his aggressive system, has one productive pass-rusher at the moment: Brandon Graham. The Redskins, the Cowboys, and the Giants _ you know, the Eagles' three intradivisional opponents _ all put up at least 27 points and 300 total yards against this defense, whose success apparently hinged on the health of tackle Bennie Logan. Logan left the Eagles' loss to the Redskins three weeks ago with a left groin injury, and with the exception of one fine performance against the Vikings, Schwartz's unit has been leaky since.
How you view these truths depends largely on how you viewed this particular Eagles season from its outset. If you were of the mind that the Eagles initiated a rebuild the moment that they traded Sam Bradford to Minnesota and made Wentz their starter, then even these tough losses are hard, necessary lessons for seasons and situations yet to come. They will reveal just what the Eagles have to do, what holes they have to patch, to improve over time, and the fact that it will take an intricate alignment of dominoes to fall in just the right order for them to reach the playoffs this year is no great failure.
But if you acknowledge that they had an opportunity to win each of the four games that they've lost and that winning just one of those games would cast this season in a different light, then it's fair to be a little disappointed, and to wonder what might have happened had Ryan Mathews not fumbled against the Lions. Or if Pederson had had Caleb Sturgis try a long field goal late against the Cowboys. Or if Leodis McKelvin had covered better Sunday.
Oh, one more thing: Doug: Stop running Wentz wide on those zone reads. This ain't North Dakota State and the Missouri Valley Football Conference anymore.
