What They’re Saying About the Eagles

Here’s a roundup of what the national media are saying about the Eagles this week.

Grantland’s Bill Barnwell lists Chip Kelly’s decision to kick a 60-yard field goal as one of the three worst coaching moves of Week 7:

You could piece the logic together for this one for a team like the Raiders, but not here. Henery doesn’t have the sort of leg to boot a 60-yarder. A likely miss gives Dallas excellent field position to try for a field goal of its own after a couple of completions, which is almost exactly what happened. Punting basically ends the half. Why, with one of the best offenses in football, didn’t Kelly try to pick up one yard? Even a failed conversion attempt gives Dallas the ball back with worse field position than a missed field goal would. If the Eagles can convert with a short run or a pass play, they can call timeout and end the half with a closer kick; the odds of Henery hitting even a 52- or 53-yard field goal are much better than they are a 60-yard one. Kelly knows that, and maybe he attempts the conversion with Michael Vick in the lineup. In any case, though, Henery’s field goal try was the worst of both worlds.

Those of you who checked out the first edition of Zone Read know I didn’t understand this decision either.

The Eagles fell two spots to No. 19 in ESPN.com’s power rankings:

Nick Foles may have won the starting job for Michael Vick after Sunday’s performance. Foles is now 2-6 career as a starter, with both wins coming against the Bucs.

Andrew Sharp of Grantland attempts to write the worst sports column on earth. The topic? Chump Kelly.

Did you see the game Sunday? The one when the Eagles got embarrassed at home against the hated Dallas Cowboys? That was a genius on the Philadelphia sideline. A celebrity. A rock star. The guy who promised us 10 touchdowns before you could blink. But there he was Sunday, staring into the distance while his high-powered offense scored three points in 60 minutes. Chip? What a chump.

Before you go e-mailing the author, please realize this is a satire. With some of the stuff out there, it can be difficult to tell these days.

Peter Bukowski of SI.com names Matt Barkley in his “bad” section of the Rookie Watch list:

You can’t be too hard on a quarterback forced into action due to injury in a game against the division leader. That being said, Barkley threw three interceptions and at least two more that could — and probably should — have been intercepted. As you’d expect, he looked tentative and unsure of his reads and was unable to make use of Chip Kelly’s trademark pace. Luckily for the Eagles, Michael Vick should be back in action soon, but Barkley didn’t do himself any favors in the race to be Philly’s starter in 2014 and beyond.

Elliot Harrison of NFL.com has the Eagles 19th in his power rankings:

A wonderful effort by Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis’ unit was ruined by quarterback play. This tweet from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Charean Williams pretty much sums up what transpired at the Linc on Sunday:

“Foles was bad. Barkley was worse.”

Brian Billick of FoxSports.com has the Eagles 21st:

Do you think the Eagles will have another Vick/Foles joint press conference to now name Vick as the starter? At least we can rule out Matt Barkley as a viable option.

Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com has the Eagles 17th:

It’s time to go back to Mike Vick. Even if Nick Foles is healthy, he isn’t the answer.

Pat Kirwan of CBSSports.com has them 25th:

A week ago, the speculation was that it was time for Nick Foles to be the permanent starter. But he suffered a concussion vs. the Cowboys and probably heading to the bench in favor of Mike Vick.

Four quarterbacks were worse than Nick Foles last week, according to Football Outsiders:

Foles’ performance his last six drives went like this: 6-yard completion; four incompletions in a row; 16-yard completion; sack; completions for 12 and 9 yards; eight incompletions in a row (!!!); sack, injury, game over.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has the Eagles 18th:

Matt Barkley is the answer, if the question is “who can throw three interceptions?”

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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