WC – 1/4/14 – vs. New Orleans Saints

WC – 1/4/14 – vs. New Orleans Saints

First Look At The Eagles: Not even the most optimistic prognosticator would have come up with what the Eagles have done under the first season of Chip Kelly’s tenure has head coach.
With the Cowboys win, the Eagles finish 10-6, NFC East Champions, winners of seven of their last eight games. They set a franchise record for touchdowns in a season, second in the NFL in yards per game, first in the NFL in rushing yards, fourth in the NFL in total points (just three points away from second), the top rated passer in the league, as well as the league’s leading rusher.
That’s not all.
The Eagles season saw rejuvenated campaigns from players who looked like they were heading their career finish lines. Brent Celek and Trent Cole looked like new men, and appeared stronger in the second half of the season than they did in the first.
All of this with a defense that will not be confused with the 1985 Bears, but has shown solid improvement, and a propensity for takeaways at the most opportune times.
No matter what happens for the Eagles in the playoffs, this season has been a success.
First Look At The Saints: The Saints made a statement in the last week of the season. With a 42-17 win over the Bucs, New Orleans made it clear that they’re ready for the playoffs.
The Saints went into the finale having lost three of their previous four games, with a dynamic offense that hadn’t looked so dynamic, with 17 points against the Panthers, 16 against the Rams, and just 7 against the Seahawks.
Drew Brees and the Saints offense was a given coming into the year, but it’s the defense that has really been the reason they’ve turned it around. The 2012 Saints defense was statistically one of the worst in NFL history, and in 2013, they’re 4th in the NFL in yards allowed, and fourth in the NFL in points allowed.
First Look At The Game: Most Eagles fans will try to take comfort in the fact that the Saints have not won a playoff game on the road with Drew Brees as their quarterback.
They will try to take comfort in the fact that a dome team, on the road, in January, is typically a bad spot, especially in cold weather.
Then they will remember the Tampa loss and the Carolina loss in the playoffs, and that comfort will go by the wayside.
The biggest challenge for the Eagles will be stopping Brees and tight end Jimmy Graham. While the Eagles did some of their “bend but don’t break” defensively against the Cowboys, they were shredded by Kyle Orton and Jason Witten. Suffice to say Brees and Graham is a more dynamic duo.
If the Eagles are able to once again, win the turnover battle, they will have a shot at winning the game. But don’t be surprised if either team winds up on the winning end of what seems like it will be a shootout.

Week 17 – 12/29/13 – @ Dallas Cowboys

First Look At The Eagles: The Eagles rebounded from the loss to the Vikings in just about the most impressive way possible. If the game was essentially meaningless for the Birds, no one told them.
Sunday night’s game meant an NFC North championship for the Bears with a win, and with the Dallas win earlier in the day, only meant potential seeding for the Eagles. That did not seem to matter. If the stats themselves don’t convince you, the Eagles passed the eye test in every way, looking fresher, faster and more focused than the Bears did.
Nick Foles, even though he’s had more impressive games statistically, has never looked better. For all the talk of how precise he’s been, his accuracy on Sunday night was unbelievable, throwing incompletions only when he needed to throw the ball away.
LeSean McCoy, after getting only eight carries against Minnesota, was back on his game as well, rushing for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Eagles performance was the defense. They shut down a Bears offense that was averaging over thirty points per game over the last three, and was second in the NFL in scoring offense coming into the game.
First Look At The Cowboys: We all knew it had to come down to this game.
There’s good news and there’s bad news about the Cowboys win against Washington.
The good news is that Tony Romo did what many said he could not. He won a big game, in comeback fashion, in December. Romo was battling a back injury, and led Dallas on a 90 yard touchdown drive to win the game in the closing minutes. In what looked like a setup for a classic Romo failure when DeMarco Murray was pushed back ten yards on a third and goal from the one, Romo stepped up and threw a touchdown pass to win the game.
The bad news is that the Cowboys did not look very good against one of the NFL’s worst teams. The defense looks like it will have trouble stopping just about anyone. The offense doesn’t look like it has much rhythm to it, and to call it unimaginative would be an understatement.
First Look At The Game: There are some conflicting stats going into this game.
We all know about the Cowboys’ record in December with Romo as the quarterback, and we all know how the last two week 17 win and in games have gone for Dallas (they’ve lost).
That said, the Cowboys are 6-1 against the Eagles in games that Tony Romo has started and finished.
With clutch narratives and “win or you get fired” situations for Jason Garret aside, the Eagles look like the better team in this case. The defense still isn’t a sure thing, but it is for sure better than Dallas. The Eagles offense is humming along while the Cowboys’ offense is just getting by.
The Eagles look like they’re going to end up with an NFC East title and a 10-6 record iun Chip Kelly’s first season. Not bad… not bad at all.

Week 16 – 12/22/13 – vs. Chicago Bears

First Look At The Eagles: Eagles fans across the Delaware Valley believed that with the departure of Andy Reid, the team would no longer fall victim to the clunker, look-ahead, trap game against a bad opponent. Eagles fans across the Delaware Valley were wrong.
The defense that had not allowed a team to score more than 21 points in two months, allowed the Vikings, missing Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart, to drop 48 points behind a career best performance from Matt Cassel. The same Matt Cassel who didn’t get starts earlier this season over Christian Ponder and Josh Freeman.
The defense didn’t get pressure, and couldn’t cover, a bad combination.
The offense, though it put up 30 points, did not have the same success running the ball as they have in previous weeks, with LeSean McCoy rushing the ball only eight times, and finishing with fewer yards on the ground than Nick Foles. Foles, who did finish with an impressive line, was nowhere near as precise as he has been in previous weeks.
First Look At The Bears: If Chip Kelly has been story number one in the NFL as far as “offensive system” goes, Bears head coach Mark Trestman has been story 1a.
Trestman decided to go with Jay Cutler at quarterback this week, and although he wasn’t quite as perfect has Josh McCown has been, he was good enough to put up 38 points on the Browns for a win in Cleveland. Cutler did throw two interceptions, giving detractors enough ammunition for their cause, but also threw three touchdown passes, to give his backers some ammunition as well.
While the Bears have been scoring points at an impressive clip, the defense has been terrible. Ranking dead last at Pro Football Focus in overall defense, as well as dead last in run defense.
First Look At The Game: It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which this game does not result in a lot of points on both sides.
The Eagles defense, though improved, showed in Minnesota it is far from a finished product. The Bears pass offense is ranked fourth overall at Pro Football Focus, so you have to imagine they’ll be able to move the ball.
While the Eagles secondary matches up unfavorably to the Bears excellent passing offense, the Bears rush defense matches up poorly with the Eagles top ranked rushing attack.
As usual, this one will come down to turnovers. Based on what we know now, Jay Cutler is far more likely to throw a couple of interceptions than Nick Foles is. If recent history holds true, the Eagles, especially at home, should be able to come away with a win this week.

Week 15 – 12/15/13 – @ Minnesota Vikings

First Look At The Eagles: The Eagles have won five straight, and are looking like they could be one of those teams “nobody wants to face in the playoffs.”
After a disastrous first half, in disastrous, snowy conditions against the Lions, the Eagles exploded in the second half thanks to LeSean McCoy’s team record 217 yards and two touchdowns, blowing the game open with 28 fourth quarter points.
Though McCoy was the catalyst, quarterback Nick Foles bounced back from a less than stellar first half by completing seven of his final nine passes with a touchdown, and would have had two if Brent Celek had decided to score instead of downing the ball to kill the click.
The ever-improving Eagles defense took another step toward respectability by allowing the Lions only one offensive touchdown. Sure, the conditions were a problem, but they were a problem for both offenses. It also didn’t hurt that Reggie Bush aggravated a calf injury prior to the game and did not play.
First Look At The Vikings: While the Eagles won a crazy game in the snow on Sunday, the Vikings lost one.
The Vikings dropped to 3-9-1 after a 29-26 loss to the Ravens, which featured a final two minutes that you’re likely to never see matched. A bigger loss than the game itself, is the potential loss of Adrian Peterson. Peterson went down with a foot injury, and will have an MRI on Monday.
If Peterson is out, the Vikings go from a one-weapon team to, well, less of a challenge.
Though they’ve got the second worst point differential in the NFC, the Vikings have played better of late, losing the close one to the Ravens, tying the Packers, and winning in overtime over the Bears in their last three.
First Look At The Game: This should be easy for the Eagles, as long as they don’t go into the game thinking it will be easy.
With the NFC East title in their sights, and the Vikings one of the worst teams in the Conference, you’d hope that Chip Kelly will keep the Eagles focused on this game alone. Everything that Kelly has said about the NFL being a “week to week league” holds true this week.
Though there is no reason on paper, for the Eagles to lose this game, it will take focus, and that all starts with Kelly.

Week 14 – 12/8/13 – vs Detroit Lions

First Look At The Eagles: If the Eagles ever figure out how to keep up the pace they’re setting in the first halves of games, the rest of the league might be in trouble.
Like they did against Washington in their previous game, the Eagles got out to a big lead against Arizona, and then held on at the end to win. The Eagles went up 24-7 on the Cardinals early in the third quarter on Nick Foles’ third touchdown pass of the day. Those points were the last they’d score, as they’d punt away the next five possessions.
The defense came up with a big stop at the end of the game, after the Cardinals had pulled to within 24-21, and the Eagles stayed tied atop the NFC East with the Cowboys.
As scary as it got at the end, a win is a win, and the Eagles have taken four in a row. Nick Foles went another game without an interception, and his three touchdown passes put his season total at 19. The defense hasn’t allowed more than 21 points in the last eight games, and the front seven had its most dominant game of the season against Arizona, sacking Carson Palmer five times.
First Look At The Lions: When the Lions are clicking on both offense and defense, they can be a scary team. That was exactly the case on Thanksgiving, when they put a serious beat down on the Packers, winning 40-10 and upping their record to 7-5.
The dynamic offense is led by the best wide receiver in football, Calvin Johnson, one of the best all-around running backs in the game, Reggie Bush, and a quarterback who year after year puts up impressive numbers, Matt Stafford. If the offense has a weakness, it’s turnovers, they’re second worst in the league with 25 of them (14 interceptions, 11 fumbles), and a not-so-hot -8 differential on the year.
The defense looked downright scary against Green Bay, their front seven all over Matt Flynn, creating pressure every time he dropped back. While the defense is ranked 26th in the league against the pass, they’ve given up only 82 yards per game against the rush, good for third in the league.
First Look At The Game: Once again, the Eagles will be in a game that features two of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/