Week 2: Eagles' Studs And Duds
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- The Eagles have played 120 minutes of football this season have had the lead for less than of seven of them, but hey, who's counting? More importantly, the Birds are 2-0 and on Monday night they became the first team in NFL history to comeback from 14-point second half deficits in each of their first two games, as they rallied to beat the Colts 30-27 in Indianapolis.
It was the biggest win of Chip Kelly's NFL coaching career and boy, it was a lot of fun to watch.
Duds
3. Casey Matthews
When you play 14 snaps and still manage to make the "duds" list, you know it's bad. Matthews entered the game in the second-half after Mychal Kendricks, who was playing excellently, left with calf spasms. Matthews was easily picked up on a blitz by the Colts on his first play and later was juked out of his shoes by Trent Richardson, yes Trent Richardson, with under 10 minutes left in the game.
Eventually, Emmanuel Acho saw some snaps at linebacker.
2. Jordan Matthews
Maybe it's about the preseason hype or unfair expectations. Maybe it's about the loss of DeSean Jackson. Either way, the rookie wideout from Vanderbilt has been disappointing early on. In his first two NFL games, Matthews has only three catches on eight targets for 54 yards, including one 30-yard catch.
Last night, he dropped a pass on a simple out-route that he should have caught, looked lost at times on the line of scrimmage, and did not display any explosiveness. He's a rookie so we'll give him time, but the preseason hype has the bar set very high for this kid, whether it's warranted or not.
1. Riley Cooper
Without the question, the most significant concern coming off the Eagles' week 2 comeback win, is the wide receivers. The Eagles wideouts, collectively, caught only six of their 18 targets for 70 total yards. It's clear they're missing a true No.1 WR and it's even more blatant Cooper is not a No. 2 WR.
Cooper was only targeted three times on Monday night, and finished the game with one catch for eight yards. That's it. He had trouble getting off the line of scrimmage, looked gassed at times, couldn't get open, and oh, he dropped a sure-fire touchdown early in the game.
Studs
3. Cody Parkey
He responded. Yes, he missed a 38-yard field goal he should have made earlier in the game, but he redeemed himself...twice. After Parkey drilled the game-winning field goal the Colts called timeout and he had to do it again, and he did. He's a rookie. He was a nervous. He played with the Colts in the preseason. It was a hostile environment. And he drilled it.
His confidence will be booming heading into week 3.
2. Malcolm Jenkins
I know what you're thinking: 'My grandmom could have caught that interception.' Maybe so, but Patrick Chung probably wouldn't have.
Although it was thrown right to him and the intended receiver fell down, Jenkins caught the ball with 5:15 left in the game, with the Birds down a touchdown. It was a monstrous, game-saving play and it was the Eagles' first interception of the season.
1. Darren Sproles
This was a no-brainer. Not only is Philly raving about this guy, everyone is, including his former quarterback who is 0-2 in New Orleans. See for yourself:
Think Brees misses him a little?
Some stats on Sproles' remarkable performance courtesy of 94WIP's / CSNPhilly.com's Reuben Frank:
- Sproles is first Eagle with two 50-yard catches in a game since Dec. 12, 2010.
- Sproles only played 25 of 68 offensive snaps last night, averaging 7.1 yds per snap he was on the field.
- Sproles is the only player in the NFL this year with a run of 40 or more yards and a reception of 40 or more yards.
- Sproles' 152 rec yards most by Eagles RB since Westbrook 156 vs. GB 2004. 5th-most in franchise history.
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