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What are the “experts” saying about Philadelphia’s football team?
It’s time for our weekly roundup of how various media outlets view the Philadelphia Eagles in their NFL power rankings. It’s always interesting to see how the Birds stack up from an outside perspective.
Pro Football Focus
10 - Given the competitive nature of the NFC, the Eagles will likely need to win the NFC East in order to return to the postseason. That means they have to take advantage of the opportunities given to them like they did against Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears. The news that Desean Jackson will be heading to Injured Reserve following core muscle surgery puts a damper on the excitement from back-to-back wins, however. Jackson has two receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns on passes 20 or more yards downfield. The only player on the Eagles with more receptions or receiving yards on deep passes is running back Miles Sanders. (LW: 9)
Blogging The Boys
11 - They aren’t going to go away easily. (LW: 13)
Washington Post
11 - The win over the Bears aids the Eagles’ recovery, but the loss of WR DeSean Jackson to season-ending surgery for his core muscle injury is significant. (LW: 13)
The Big Lead
11 - Philly scrapped out two consecutive wins against two of the five toughest defenses in the league. It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t need to be. Likely losing DeSean Jackson for the year hurts more than people will think. (LW: 14)
NFL.com
12 - A necessary win on Sunday for the Eagles, who get back above .500 and hit their Week 10 bye before huge tests against the Patriots and Seahawks. The Eagles’ defense held the punchless Bears offense to 9 total yards in the first half, the fewest yards allowed by the Iggles in a half in the last 40 years, per Elias Sports Bureau. Jordan Howard was the offensive star, finishing with 82 yards on the ground and a score against his former team. Carson Wentz isn’t putting up the MVP-like numbers that some expected this season, but he helped seal the win with four third-down completions on the Eagles’ final drive, which was capped by Jake Elliott’s game-icing field goal. Wentz will go the rest of the way without DeSean Jackson, who is headed for season-ending surgery after aggravating his core injury in his return Sunday after missing the previous six weeks. As we saw in Week 1, when he racked up 154 yards and two scores on eight catches, D-Jax could have really helped this offense. (LW: 14)
Pride Of Detroit
12 - The Eagles won despite a bad performance. Their defense befitted from an abysmal day from the Bears offense, and their own offense could not take advantage of opportunities. Miles Sanders looks like the only player on offense getting the job done at the moment. (LW: 13)
Scout
12 - They are much worse in our neutral power ranking where they are ranked just #16 in the league. Our projection recommends not betting on them to win it all. Their 1% chance is #12 in the league. Current Odds are 25/1, 3.8%. They are projected to win 9 games and come in under their pre-season futures line of 10. Their average wins per simulation puts them at #7 in the NFC. Based on money line odds their expected record at this point of the season is 5.2-3.8. At 5-4 they are in line with these expectations. (LW: 14)
Denver Post
13 - The Eagles had 36 more plays than Chicago and held possession for more than 40 minutes, but still scored only 22 points. (LW: 13)
Sporting News
13 - The Eagles are starting to put everything together again; their running game is opening things up for the passing game and also helping put their maligned defense in more comfortable situations. Doug Pederson has his team playing solid complementary football going into a bye and, in Week 11, the Patriots matchup. (LW: 13)
Chicago Tribune
13 - The Eagles have rebounded from their disastrous loss to the Cowboys two weeks ago with wins over the Bills and Bears. They get to rest up this week before hosting the Patriots and Seahawks in consecutive weeks, games that could define their season. The passing game remains a serious question. Zach Ertz is a reliable target for quarterback Carson Wentz, but DeSean Jackson is lost for the season, and the other wide receivers, including former Bear Alshon Jeffery, have been remarkably inconsistent. Jeffery and Nelson Agholor need to be better in the second half for the Eagles to be a legitimate threat in the NFC. (LW: 13)
MMQB
13 - For a moment in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Eagles might be in trouble. But Carson Wentz kept the offense on the field late as Philly converted four times on third down to bleed the clock and get in field goal range for the win. The Birds are right back in the mix with Dallas at the top of the NFC East. (LW: 13)
Bleacher Report
13 - A couple of weeks ago, the Philadelphia Eagles looked to be in real trouble after getting blown out in Dallas by the rival Cowboys. However, the Eagles followed that up with their best effort of the season in Buffalo, and after downing the Bears at home in Week 9, Philadelphia heads into the bye week at 5-4 and back in the playoff hunt. The bye week is coming at the perfect time for the Eagles. The team got veteran wide receiver DeSean Jackson back against Chicago for the first time since Week 1, but his return was short-lived. Per ESPN’s Tim McManus, Jackson will need surgery on the core muscle injury he suffered all the way back in Week 1. It’s a big blow, but it’s also emblematic of an Eagles team that seemingly has guys banged up all over the place. Philly needs to get as healthy as possible if the Eagles are going to keep the pressure on the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East. The first two games coming out of the bye are big ones—home dates with the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. But the team has at least built a little momentum as it gets some badly needed rest. (LW: 13)
Pro Football Talk
13 - They’re improving, but how good can they be if they won’t have DeSean Jackson again this year? (LW: 14)
Yahoo! Sports
13 - The DeSean Jackson injury is a tough one. You have to assume the Eagles regret not holding him out through the bye, which is this week. Jackson is out for perhaps the rest of the season, and the Eagles are going to miss him stretching the defense. (LW: 14)
Houston Chronicle
13 - The Eagles have won back-to-back games going into their bye week. They remain one-half game behind first-place Dallas. (LW: 14)
Bleeding Green Nation
14 - There isn’t much hope for the Eagles’ passing offense with DeSean Jackson potentially out for the rest of the season. Philadelphia must now rely on Establishing The Run™ to win games the rest of the way. The Eagles’ schedule is easy enough to where they can reasonably make the playoffs. But given the dreck this team is trotting out at wide receiver, can they really be considered as true contenders? (LW: 16)
ESPN
14 - Scary trend: The wide receivers have 15 drops. The Eagles’ receiving corps has fallen well short of expectations, in part because of the absence of DeSean Jackson (abdominal strain) -- and the rest of the group is failing to pick up the slack. Nelson Agholor and Alshon Jeffery rank 87th and 66th, respectively, in receiving yards, while the group overall is second in drops and first in fumbles lost (3). The unit needs to provide better productivity for Carson Wentz during the stretch run. (LW: 14)
The Athletic
14 - Apparently it’s going to take more than a two-game winning streak to get our panel excited about the Eagles again. Yes, we’ve been burned by the Birds too many times this season. But if the Eagles can come out of their bye week with strong performances against New England and Seattle, we’ll probably reconsider. (LW: 13)
Mile High Report
14 - The Vikings loss helped the Iggles playoff aspirations. A date with the Patriots after a bye does not. Bill Belichick is close to automatic with an extra week to prepare. (LW: 13)
USA Today
14 - Haven’t had a 100-yard rusher in two years, a 35-game stretch that’s league’s longest. Yet Philly run game much better than its air attack. (LW: 14)
Business Insider
14 - The Eagles’ poor injury luck continues, as DeSean Jackson re-injured his abdominal tear in his first game back since Week 1. He’s scheduled to have surgery and may miss the rest of the regular season. (LW: 14)
14 - The Eagles got off to quick start and did enough to hold on to victory against the Chicago Trubearskis. A bye week awaits, which would be good news except for the one tiny issue that the Eagles’ next opponent is the Patriots, who are also coming off a bye and are notoriously difficult to beat in such a situation. (LW: 14)
NJ.com
15 - The Eagles are primed for a legit stretch run. (LW: 16)
Rick Gosselin
15 - Timmy Jernigan is back after a six-game injury absence to pair with Pro Bowl DT Fletcher Cox in the middle of the Philadelphia defense and the Eagles’ run defense is back as well. Philly held the Bears to 62 rushing yards last week in Jernigan’s first game back. What a difference another 300-pound body at the point of attack makes. (LW: 16)
Detroit Free Press
15 - In the NFC East race, the Eagles actually have a more favorable schedule than the Cowboys down the stretch. (LW: 18)
CBS Sports
16 - Two straight victories has the Eagles back thinking playoffs after a bad start. They have fixed some of those defensive issues. (LW: 18)
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ANALYSIS
The rankings range from as high as 10 to as low as 16. The most common rankings is 13. The average ranking is 13.1, which is up one spot from last week’s average of 14.1.
The Eagles rightfully didn’t move up too much after an unimpressive win over a bad Bears team. It’s not all doom and gloom for this team; they’re at least an average group. But are they really much more than that?
The Eagles shouldn’t see too much movement in the rankings during their Week 10 bye. They’ll have a chance to prove themselves with a big test against the New England Patriots in Week 11.
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