Although the Philadelphia Eagles have booked their ticket to the playoffs, it did not excuse them from heavy criticism for their late-season collapse.
After Sunday’s 27-10 loss to the New York Giants – that saw the Eagles down 24-0 at halftime – the NBC Sports desk in Philadelphia did not hold back on their judgement towards the team. ‘I’m embarrassed by the performance,’ said broadcaster Ron Jaworski. ‘This team now for two months has looked like an ill-prepared professional football team not worthy of representing what we believe is a great city. And we deserve better than that. ‘You mentioned that last week against Arizona was rock-bottom (when the Eagles were beaten 35-31) – I thought it was.
‘The way that team came out today, I’m embarrassed for them. To put that kind of product on the field against the New York Giants, a team they are better than.’ Jaworski’s colleague Reuben Frank chimed in by mentioning how the Dallas Cowboys were down early in their game against the Washington Commanders. The Eagles and Cowboys were locked in a tight race for top spot in the NFC East. However, the Eagles looked lackluster in their loss to the struggling Giants. Dallas, meanwhile, came back against Washington to top the division.
We run coach [Andy] Reid’s offense, and ultimately, that’s what we’re going to run. Every quarterback is different, every quarterback does things differently, some things better than others et cetera, et cetera,’ Gabbert said. ‘We’re just going to run our offense. Hopefully throw to the open guy, run the ball well and score some points.’ Along with Kelce and Mahomes, the Chiefs could rest several other key players on Sunday, and potentially cost them some significant milestones. Besides Kelce, wide receiver Rashee Rice needs 58 yards receiving to break Dwayne Bowe’s franchise rookie record. And defensive tackle Chris Jones needs a half-sack to trigger a $1.25 million bonus for reaching 10 on the season.
Reid will not be sitting all of his starters, and he knows there are some meaningful numbers at stake. The fact that Dallas was down 10-7 and they were already falling apart,’ Frank added. ‘The Eagles are already falling to pieces with a chance to maybe win a division and get a No 2 seed, and even that was not enough motivation to get them to wake up and play like a real football team. That’s the most alarming thing about it.’
