What They’re Saying About the Eagles

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

The Birds drop four spots to seventh in the NFL.com power rankings:

Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis might want to throw out the game tape from Sunday’s swamping by the Packers. Why ruin his players’ confidence heading into the stretch run? Even when the members of Philly’s D played their assignments correctly, Aaron Rodgers busted the containment for a few big runs. At least the secondary made up for it by not tackling Eddie Lacy.

Sure, much will be made of Mark Sanchez’s play, but I saw a quarterback pressing to keep his team in a game with an opposing offense that couldn’t be stopped.

Dave Dameshek of NFL.com talks about the return of “the real Mark Sanchez” in his video segment The Shek Report.

Michael Fabiano of NFL.com gives his fantasy football list of who to start and who to sit for Week 12:

Start ‘Em (Start of the Week): RB LeSean McCoy vs. Titans

I get a ton of Twitter questions about McCoy, so I’m going to put him in Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em for the first time in years. While he’s been a huge disappointment based on his draft position, I would be confident starting him against the Titans. Their defense has allowed an average of over 20 fantasy points per game to home backs.

Start ‘Em: K Cody Parkey vs. Titans

Parkey has scored double-digit fantasy points just once in his last four games, but he’s still maintaining a nice level of fantasy production. His totals are even better at home, where he is averaging an impressive 11 fantasy points per game. The Titans have been generous to kickers this season, so Parkey should have a solid line.

Good Matchup: WR Kendall Wright vs. Eagles

Sit ‘Em: TE Zach Ertz vs. Titans

Ertz is coming off his best game since Week 6, and he scored just 5.5 fantasy points. That’s due in large part to a lack of snaps (and targets), some of which have been going to veteran Brent Celek in recent weeks. So while this week’s matchup against the Titans looks good on paper, Ertz is anything but a lock to post good totals.

Bad Matchup: TE Delanie Walker vs. Eagles

Matt Franciscovich of NFL.com gives fantasy roster strategies heading into the playoffs which includes dropping the 2014 “busts”:

Zach Ertz, TE: We’ve been duped, y’all.

Over at ESPN.com, the Eagles drop four spots to eighth in the power rankings:

Philadelphia allowed 53 points to the Packers Sunday, the most allowed by the Eagles since 1972 (62-10 loss to Giants). The Packers had no turnovers, snapping Philly’s 21-game takeaway streak.

Peter King of MMQB ranks the Birds eighth in his Fine Fifteen:

8. Philadelphia (7-3). Hard to know what to do with a team that got smashed into a million tiny pieces at The Tundra. I guess I’m passing it off as the Packers will score 50 on anybody these days. Move on, nothing to see here.

SI.com’s Audibles Podcast discusses young quarterbacks including Nick Foles.

Chris Burke of SI.com rounds up the Week 11 winners and losers:

​Fourth Down: Mark Sanchez’s redemption tale.
Let’s all make sure we save some overreactions for next Sunday, when there is a pretty good chance Sanchez bounces back and lights up the Titans in Philadelphia. Should that happen, the discussion again will shift to how well Sanchez fits Chip Kelly’s system, what a wizard Kelly is with quarterbacks and so on and so forth.

For now, however, Sanchez and his teammates are trying to erase the memory of a putrid 53-20 blowout loss to the Packers.

Donovan McNabb (via FoxSports.com) puts the Eagles at eighth in his power rankings:

8. Eagles – Reality check for Mark Sanchez in Lambeau. Defensively they need to get better.

FoxSports.com drops the Birds six spots to ninth in its power rankings:

We saw shades of the old Mark Sanchez with several poor decisions against Green Bay, but the defense’s inability to stop big plays continues to hold this team back. The running game is also averaging 1.4 fewer yards per carry than in 2013.

CBSSports.com lists the Eagles at sixth in its power rankings, falling only two spots from last week:

There goes the Mark Sanchez hype. Maybe Chip Kelly’s offense can’t work for everybody after all.

Pat Kirwan of CBSSports.com moves the Birds down four spots to tenth in his power rankings:

The Eagles got a reality check when they visited the Packers on Sunday. Mark Sanchez looks like he can throw for 300 and two TDs every week, but everything else has to be right for this team to win big.

Pro Football Talk gives the Eagles a small downgrade of two positions to fifth in its power rankings:

5. Philadelphia Eagles (No. 3; 7-3): Suddenly, Nick Foles looks a lot better.

Yahoo Sports drops the Eagles from third to fifth in its rankings:

A close loss at Lambeau would have been no big deal. But that blowout loss? Not a good look.

Matt Cassidy is a journalism student at Temple and an intern at Birds 24/7.