What They’re Saying About The Eagles

Here’s a sampling of what local and national media are saying about the Eagles.

Mike Foss of USA Today makes the case for starting Mark Sanchez over Sam Bradford.

Coach Chip Kelly, mad genius or reckless lunatic that he is, trusts his system over all. Average players executing his system well will be successful, he believes. While that may be true, the system doesn’t work when you give the ball away. Three interceptions and four turnovers total may not be enough to undo the Eagles in the NFC East but against stiffer competition, in the playoffs, or in Week 7 against the Carolina Panthers, Bradford’s mistakes and shortcomings will catch up to them.

Kelly has an accomplished quarterback sitting on the sidelines. He has a player who has been to two conference championships and proven capable of navigating one of the most perilous divisions in football. This player is Mark Sanchez, and though his career will likely forever be defined by the time he fumbled a football by running into another man’s posterior, he cuts a far more compelling figure than Philadelphia’s starting play caller.

Sanchez isn’t an elite quarterback. But he’s competent. He doesn’t share Bradford’s proclivity for getting picked off (The Eagles’ starter is averaging 1.5 picks per game). He’s also been to the playoffs before. If Kelly truly believes that it is the system that wins football games, why not utilize the less turnover prone quarterback? If you’re not sold on Sanchez, ask yourself what Bradford has done to establish himself as the better option? Through six games, Bradford has proven a liability. There is no question Monday’s win came despite his play. The question for Kelly now becomes how many more times is he willing to risk results and the integrity of his system on Bradford when there is a more reliable option a few feet away.

The Eagles have deviated from the script, and the result has been back-to-back wins, writes SB Nation’s Thomas George.

It was defensive beauty for the Eagles. Especially for defensive ends Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thornton and nose tackle Bennie Logan. End Vinny Curry jumped in, too. A combination of three of these linemen primarily formed the base of the Eagles’ 3-4 defense. Usually the Eagles rushed one more with the trio — often either linebacker Connor Barwin or linebacker Brandon Graham. This consistently proved a foursome that snapped the Giants offensive line.

Both teams are 3-3, but the win gives Philadelphia the NFC East lead.

“We just made up our minds to destroy the guys in front of us,” Logan said.

MMQB’s Emily Kaplan wasn’t convinced by the Eagles’ 27-7 win over the Giants on Monday night.

I think it was fitting that DeMarco Murray got his first 100-yard game as an Eagle in garbage time of one of the sloppiest games of the year. For anyone lucky enough not to have watched, don’t let Philadelphia’s 27-7 win fool you. It was an ugly effort by both offenses.

Is Chip Kelly anywhere near solving his quarterback problem? Yahoo! Sports’s Charles Robinson thinks not.

Maybe that annoyed Kelly on Monday – the consistent focus on the micro mistakes, when he deems the macro victory to be the most important part of the night. That’s fair. Sometimes it’s best to take a breath and remind yourself that things are never as good or bad as they seem in the NFL.

But after you’re done taking that breath, pop in all the tapes of Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford this season. And then ask yourself: at 3-3 and creeping toward midseason, is Bradford proving he’s the long-term answer at quarterback?

Darren Sproles’ hindrances have fueled him, writes Joseph Santoliquito for PhillyVoice.

Darren Sproles used to be ridiculed. By the kid across the street he beat up that day. By kids in his grade school. By ignorant teachers who didn’t understand or never bothered to look past a struggle he waged through much of his formative years.

Words came out of Darren’s mouth in halting starts and stops. Sometimes so forced his face would twitch, which incurred the wrath of children too young to comprehend. So he learned to stay quiet and not say much at all.