NFL Week 17 Power Rankings: Eagles need help at quarterback and cornerback

Week 16 of the 2014 NFL season is over which means it's time for everyone's favorite activity: NFL Power Rankings. With the return of power rankings comes the return of the weekly Philadelphia Eagles power rankings compilation.

Here is a round-up of how various Internet media outlets have ranked the Eagles. Let's see what the 'experts' are saying. As always, we'll start by revisiting mine first.

Bleeding Green Nation

11) Choke. What happened to being 9-3 and entering Week 14 with a 92.5% chance to make the playoffs? Three straight losses have eliminated Philly from the playoffs.

Last week: 9

SB Nation

13) N/A

Last week: 10

Cincy Jungle

12) Losing to Washington hurt the Eagles, they just have too many turnovers.

Last week: 9

Revenge of the Birds

11) N/A

Last week: 9

Philadelphia Daily News

16) Nobody was happier about Bradley Fletcher's play the last two weeks than Izell Jenkins. There's a new "Toast'' in town, baby!

Last week: 9

CBS (Prisco)

11) They've lost three consecutive games, and their playoff hopes are done. So much for Chip Kelly's revolutionary ways changing the league.

Last week: 8

CBS (Kirwan)

11) The Eagles were 9-3 and then the wheels came off. The Mark Sanchez interception was a shame last week because he was playing well before the pick. The season was lost and it is a hard pill to swallow for a team better than a few that will make the playoffs.

Last week: 8

ESPN

13) Thirteen accepted penalties Saturday, most by Philly since 2010. Two missed field goals in a three-point loss. Season-high four drops. Just a brutal game from the Eagles when it mattered most.

Last week: 9

NFL.com

10) Opportunity missed by the Philadelphia Eagles, who have far more than Mark Sanchez to blame for their late-season woes. You can start in the secondary; I've received plenty of feedback on Twitter about Bradley Fletcher in that regard. I give my regards to Chip Kelly, who said himself, "We have no one to blame but ourselves."

FOX

12)  Mark Sanchez is not the answer at quarterback, but the blame doesn’t stop with him either. The Eagles’ secondary and pass coverage as a whole has collapsed over the last month and they were unable to keep up with their ridiculous early season defensive touchdown pace.

Last week: 9

PFT

14) The only thing worse than a one-and-done postseason appearance is no postseason appearance at all.

Last week: 10

Yahoo!

13) In 14 days, the Eagles lost three games and went from first place to out of the playoffs. Priority No. 1 in the offseason has to be finding better cornerbacks. Or maybe getting a better pass rush.

Last week: 13

USA Today

12) Is bloom coming off the Chip Kelly rose? Or is his system so good that it makes average QBs shine? Either way, 35 turnovers are unacceptable.

Last week: 10

Business Insider

13) Quarterback and cornerback are two of the most important positions in the modern NFL, and the Eagles had below-replacement-level players at both of them.

Last week: 9

Washington Post

17) Coach Chip Kelly’s second season with the Eagles ends up being a major disappointment. The Eagles seemed to be the NFC East’s top team by a significant margin entering the season. That appeared to remain the case at Thanksgiving, when they won convincingly in Dallas. But things have unraveled from there with three straight losses. Mark Sanchez hasn’t been the answer at QB, and the Eagles’ playoff hopes have been extinguished even before the final weekend of the regular season. That was practically unthinkable a month ago.

Last week: 14

Newsday

12) Eagles had fate in their own hands at 9-3 after a dominating Thanksgiving Day win over the Cowboys. Three losses later, and their playoff hopes are gone.

Last week: 9

DONOVAN MCNABB

15) Future's in question at quarterback. It's safe to say Mark Sanchez is not the answer.

Last week: 12

Analysis

The rankings range from as high as 10 to as low as 17. 12 was the most common ranking. 12.7 is the average ranking. That's nearly down three spots from last week's average ranking of 9.94.

The Eagles playoff hopes were extinguished this week. They choked against Washington and then Dallas clinched the NFC East with a win over Indianapolis. The Eagles were in such good position to make the playoffs this season, but they just blew it.

Philadelphia's final game against the New York Giants is fairly meaningless, but not for power rankings. They might be able to salvage a spot or two in the rankings with a win over the G-men. Hooray for (very) minor victories?

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