FanPost

The Eagles Guide To The Playoffs

Hey BGNers, let's cut to the chase the Andy Reid era is over (whoo!) and the Eagles enter training camp yet again with the QB position a question mark. However, with this year starting to show a slight drop of progress, the Eagles still have a shot at the Lombardi Trophy believe it or not. With the NFC East up for grabs yet again look for the Eagles to try and come off on top. Here is what needs to happen for them to achieve that.

1. The QBs Need To Let It Fly...To An Extant

Basically it does not matter who wins per say they just need to put up sufficient numbers so their play does not lose us the game. Especially since usually relies on the ground game. They should put up at least 2,700 yards, 25 TDs, and at most 10 Ints. Just like I said before it does not matter who wins the battle but if Barkley wins it, Foles and Vick are trade bait and we have a QB of the feature. Foles may be good for development but he does not seem to have 'it'. I may be wrong but eitherway Vick is out if he is not the starter. If Vick is the starter he may bethe best fit for the system becuase it will make our run game much more respectable than if Foles ran it.

2. The RBs Need To Keep It In

Due to Chips system of utilizing running backs much more throughout the game, the amount of carries for McCoy and Brown should increase. Meaning they will have more chances to fumble than usually. McCoy lost a career high 4 fumbles last year along with Bryce at 4 as well. That is 8 fumbles for two running backs. That is unacceptable. Lesean and Bryce along with the other running back(s) need to all share the load and keep it tucked in for Kelly's system to work at its ceiling. Last season McCoy was on pace for 1000 yards despite playing only ten games. Now with Kelly having a full tool belt at the RB position the Eagles ground game must put up at least 2,300 rush yards compared to last years 1,874 to be able to keep up with their phasing proportions. At least 20 rushing TDs would not be bad either.

3. Brandon Graham and Trent Cole Must Make The Transition

With the Eagles making the the change to a 3-4 base defense the Eagles best QB hunters will be put in un charted territory. In 2012 Brandon Graham went through a promising year...Trent Cole the opposite. Neither of them has 3-4 experience so they need to begin to get thei bodies ready. Brandon Graham has done just that getting his weight into the 260's, almost 15 pounds lighter than least year. In terms of skills he has bern working out with LaMarr Woodley this offseason, primarily for techniques. Trent Cole has talked a lot this offseason about getting faster and building endurance. For a OLB this will be vital. Like Colts vet Robert Mathis if he tries hard enough the transition should be easy. Both of these two QB hunters must have at least 8 sacks a piece (primarily due to Connor Barwin in the rotation) for the Eagles D to get to the next step for a playoff run.

4. The Eagles Secondary Have to Mesh and Drop the Crutches.

Figuratively the crutches I'm referring to are Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman because they have been holding us up but at the same time holding us down the pas couple of years. Literally the crutches are the injuries the players in our secondary constantly withhold. Kenny Phillips is easily top 10 in his position when healthy. WHEN. Last season he played in only 7 games. The year before that helped the Giants ride all the way to the Super Bowl. Patrick Chung is solid but injury prone a well. That leaves Earl Wolff as the only other prominent safety on the roster. He has impressed in the OTAs and is a physical freak if you saw his youtube video. His idol is Brian Dawkins and he plays like a linebacker the way he tackles. The NFL transition maybe a bit difficult. The CB position has all new faces except Boykin and a couple of bodies. Cary Williams a new face, is a scrappy cornerback polar opposites of DRC and Nnamdi. However his inconsistency is a bit frightening. He gave up 1,100 passing yards and 7 TDs and if not for his Super Bowl run he would be another name. With that being said he is a little overrated but I like him. Bradley Fletcher just like Kenny Phillips is solid at least when healthy and possibly top 20 at his position. If he can stay healthy the Eagles got a diamond in the rough Boykin and Poyer are likely to fight for slot even though Boykin will almost surely win. Poyer would be great as a fill in just in case Williams does not work out. Ultimately the problems this unit has are the ability to stay healthy and if they can mesh. The team must be top 15 in passing yards allow and they bust generate over 15 turnovers.

5. Special Teams

Last year the Eagles could not return anything and we were letting returners zip past us with ease. This one doesn't require a huge write up. We need to keep other teams from being able to get to pay dirt while at the same time trying to set up good position ourselves. Good field position is key.

These are the most important and should have the most priority but these smaller ones are the key as well.

6. Win The Divisional Games-With the NFC East not big in competition thes games should be treated as mini Super Bowls especially with them counting as 6 games and division likely being won with nine or ten wins.

7. The Return: Jason Peters and Jason Kelce addition- They must be at tip top shape to boost the O-Line.

8. The coaching staff has to be able to keep the players focus in December.

Realistically I think the eagles have the talent for 10 wins but they will probably scrape out 8. However if they can get it together they are not far from a deep playoff run.