Eagles Enter Bye Week With NFL's Best Record
By Kevin McGuire
The Philadelphia Eagles are the best team in the NFL. At least, that is what the standings have to say as the Eagles enter their bye week on a high note. Following a 27-0 victory on Sunday night against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles are 5-1 entering the bye week. At 5-1, the Eagles share the best record in the NFL.
What makes the Eagles and their 5-1 record somewhat impressive is there has only been one game that was never in doubt. The Eagles slumped out the start of the season with some ugly wins against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Washington, and a victory at Indianapolis looked like a bit of a gift in the end (but they’ll take it). The offense had nothing on the road against San Francisco and the offense went to sleep in the second half against St. Louis, but the Eagles managed to hold off a Rams rally.
On Sunday night the Eagles put together their best game of the season, and it was not even close. The coaching was superb, the offense was in sync and the defense was in Eli Manning’s face all night. Perhaps the team took some motivation from the constant trash talking from the Giants, which was capped with New York stomping on the Eagles midfield logo before the start of the game. Having a dependable offensive line on the field showed just how valuable it is to protect Nick Foles and make room for LeSean McCoy in the ground game. If the Eagles come out of the bye week with this same level of play, the ingredients are in place for a potential postseason run.
As things stand now, the Eagles are tied with the Dallas Cowboys for the top spot in the NFC East. The Eagles and Cowboys do not play their two division battles until Thanksgiving (in Dallas) and a few weeks later in December in Philadelphia. Philadelphia has plenty of business to take care of before those huge division games come along, but it looks as though the Eagles could be the NFC’s best team right now.
Dallas scored a huge win on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks, but the Eagles have the best point differential (+51) in the NFC and have made winning at home a habit. The memory of an extended losing streak at home is as distant as ever now. The Eagles are 4-0 at home this season. And the offense is once again scoring plenty of points, even if the special teams and defense have helped it out in recent weeks (those points are valued just as much as they are on offense). Only the Colts have scored more points than the Eagles.
Chip Kelly now needs to keep his team grounded. Fortunately, that looks to be pretty easy considering the maturity and leadership being displayed by some key players on the team. It starts with Foles.
“It’s a great position to be in,” Foles said of being 5-1 at the bye week, according to the team's official website. “We still have a lot of season left to go and I still have a lot of things to improve on, which excites me. You all know how I am. It will be great to have the bye this week to get healthy, get some rest, recoup and get ready to go.”
McCoy has had some frustrating outings early on, but even after his best game of the season he is keeping focused on the bigger picture.
"The first thing people want to talk about is oh well you got the running game, but we are 5-1," McCoy said via PhiladelphiaEagles.com. We are 5-1 with me going over 100 [yards] or under 100. That’s what I am really here to talk about because that’s what matters.”
It is almost a shame the Eagles have to take a week off this week. After a performance like Sunday night’s, who doesn’t want to see them come right back out next week and keep it going?
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Kevin McGuire is a Philadelphia area sports writer covering the Philadelphia Eagles and college football. McGuire is a member of the FWAA and National Football Foundation. Follow McGuire on Twitter @KevinOnCFB. His work can be found on Examiner.com.