Difficult trip will not re-define the Eagles
Eagles’ upcoming games against Seahawks and Rams won’t diminish spectacular season
PHILADELPHIA » The Eagles had just won their ninth consecutive game, improving to 10-1, justifying their status at the top of the Las Vegas odds boards and delighting 69,596 fans in the Linc. Already, though, there were the fingers, the ones pointed toward the onrushing dark cloud. Because of the way that both the NFL schedule and the fortunes of some NFC teams broke, the Eagles had been aware of what was about to happen for several weeks. They would begin a two-game trip to the west, face Russell Wilson and Jared Goff, and face the potential of a small standings correction. Implied in that warning was that whatever they’d done to become 10-1 was interesting but never really meaningful. Even Doug Pederson, for some reason, chose to throw a book of matches into the flames when he was asked, moments after his team had just beaten the Chicago Bears by a clean 28 points, if what was about to happen would be a “litmus test” for the Eagles. “I do,” he said. Really? He continued. “Obviously it starts this next weekend on Sunday night with our Seattle game,” he said. “We’ve got a unique set of challenges coming up, but it’s just a oneweek-at-a-time, one-game-at-atime mentality. That’s what this team has embraced all season
long. They are going to be prepared and ready to go up there. But we can’t look past this next week. We have to stay in the moment.”
That’s the most appealing professional trait of Pederson: The first thing that springs to his mind, he says. That might be “go for it” when his team is facing fourth-and-long. Or it may be, “I do,” when asked about the litmus test that games against the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams will mean. He can cushion the original thought with follow-up coach-speak. But something told Pederson that the next two games would reveal something about the Eagles. Yet will they? Must they? And why? Should the Birds return east with a 10-3 record, the usual drill will start. They will be accused of being unable to win against top competition. They will be asked, and asked, and asked about whether they peaked too early. They will be reminded that they lost to the only firstplace teams they’ve played, including the AFC Westleading Chiefs. They will be taunted about roughing up the last-place Broncos, and the last-place Giants, and the last-place 49ers, and the lastplace Bears, and the disintegrating Cowboys, and the Chargers and the Redskins with their losing records.
Panic will spread. Sixers chants will break out. Somebody will call for Pederson’s job. It’s the way it works. It shouldn’t. Even if the Eagles would have a low RPI, if there were such a thing in pro football, it doesn’t mean that what they’ve shown through their first 11 games means nothing if they don’t show it again in their next two. It doesn’t mean that their defense isn’t quick, deep, hard-hitting, passionate and crisp. It doesn’t mean that Carson Wentz won’t be in the MVP hunt. It doesn’t mean that their receivers haven’t been wide open all year, or their offensive line hasn’t adjusted to the loss of Jason Peters, or they haven’t been fine on special teams.
The Eagles are a 10-1 team because they are good, not because their opponents are not. They contributed to those losing records. They earned their status. Just the same, the static has begun, with Wentz not even making it through Sunday night without being asked about the fright that the Eagles might have as they began a streak of three road games, including a trip to face the Giants in three weeks.
“I never really think too much about that,” he said. “I always have high expectations, so nothing really surprises me.
“I wouldn’t really say I am surprised, but at the same time this is a lot of fun and we have to enjoy it while we can.”
The Eagles are enjoying their season, searching out Mike Trout in the front row to hand him game balls, choreographing on-field dance moves, celebrating ordinary in-game achievements, soaking the head coach in Gatorade. And why not? They have had a spectacular season, with few wasted timeouts, bad penalties or thoughtless turnovers. They tackle. They execute. They prepare. They score when they are in the red zone. They win. And they have won in some tough spots, in Carolina on a Thursday, in Dallas with all that means, in Washington, in California against the Chargers.
None of that should be diminished should they stumble at a point in their schedule that most teams would find treacherous.
“The message is still the same,” Pederson said. “We’ve just got to focus on one week, one game at a time. We’ll take care of next week next week. I have addressed with the team that we’re staying out there and all that kind of stuff, but it’s my job to make sure that they stay focused on Seattle and we’ve got to take care of business against a good football team, and keep it simple that way.”
Seattle is one game, Los Angeles another. Neither will define an Eagles season. At 101, it’s too late for that. At 10-1, the Eagles have been defined already.