What They’re Saying About the Eagles

Here’s what the national media are saying about the Eagles after their 40-17 win over the Ravens.

Will Brinson of CBS Sports thinks the sky is the limit for Chip Kelly’s offense this year.

It’s just the preseason and don’t read too much into anything but, man, the Eagles offense could be really good in 2015. One problem: Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews have to stay healthy.

If they do — and they could! — this offense could really start to hum. Bradford looked mostly sharp on Saturday night and took some big hits (including a questionable shot near the knees from Terrell Suggs) against the Ravens. Everyone’s going to hold their breath every time Bradford’s on the field for the next few weeks and/or for the entire season, but it actually is possible he stays healthy.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Burke says Sam Bradford staying healthy was Kelly’s number one priority, and they were successful with that.

“The good news is he stood up,” Eagles preseason announcer and NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock offered after that Suggs hit.

Mayock chuckled a bit as he said it, but he was absolutely right. Chip Kelly gave Bradford just one series Friday, a clear indication that the Eagles’ main goal was to get their injury-prone quarterback a chance to get his feet wet. To shake off the rust. To take a little contact and being to trust his own body again when it came to playing in an NFL game.

Steve Smith mocked Nelson Agholor for dropping a pass, reports Rachel Wold of FOX Sports.

Agholor almost had a touchdown in his grasp on a pass from quarterback Mark Sanchez. However, he lost control of the pass in the end zone. Classy as always, or not so much in this case, Smith ripped into Agholor on the sideline after the drop.

The 36-year-old called out the first-round draft pick with some colorful language and said, “Yeah, you dropped it, big boy.”

A round table of Baltimore Sun writers are unimpressed with the Ravens’ performance, but applauded the Eagles’ intensity and tempo.

Mike Preston, columnist: It might have been only a preseason game, but this was one of the ugliest games in Ravens history. They played as if they had no interest in the game. Look for coach John Harbaugh to be in a sour mood this week. He was embarrassed in a homecoming game. The Eagles just had more intensity.

Childs Walker, reporter: Well, that was dreadful. The Ravens are severely banged up, especially on the offensive line, and they were outclassed in all three phases of the game Saturday. They couldn’t keep up with Chip Kelly’s offense and sabotaged themselves with 17 penalties. The only solace is this game will be forgotten by Sept. 13.

NBC Sports’ Michael David Smith says Terrell Suggs shouldn’t have been flagged for roughing the passer, although he did deserve a personal foul penalty for something else.

Suggs is right that quarterbacks can be hit like runners when they’re running the ball on read-option plays, and the penalty was confusing because the referee announced the penalty as “roughing the passer” even though it wasn’t on a passing play — Suggs hit Bradford after Bradford handed off to Darren Sproles. Roughing the passer was clearly the wrong call, but Suggs still could have been flagged for unnecessary roughness. The league office will likely have more to say about the hit this week.