Three Eagles MVPs from Week 14, plus seven things I think about the Birds

Presenting The 60-Second Eagles Review, where we relive each 2018 Eagles game in no more than a minute, complete with a weekly trio of Birds MVPs:

Find previous recaps on Bleeding Green Nation right here.

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Seven things I think about the Birds

1. I think Carson Wentz probably deserves more blame for Sunday’s loss to Dallas than he’ll get. Spend enough time over-analyzing the ways the Eagles could’ve edged the Cowboys and you’ll eventually distribute blame to everyone, Wentz included, but it can’t be overstated just how off he looked for the majority of a crucial game. This writer is a full-on Wentz defender, and without No. 11 in the fourth quarter, the Birds wouldn’t have clawed back in it. But there were way too many skittish and uncomfortable moments early on.
2. I think, even though the numbers will say the Eagles defense got absolutely run over, this loss was almost entirely on the offense. Dak Prescott somehow threw for more than 450 yards, and Amari Cooper had the game of his life, yet it was hard to come away from the game pointing fingers at guys like Cre’Von LeBlanc or Corey Graham when big, proven names like Wentz and Doug Pederson so often failed to do their part and pick up the slack.
3. I think the Eagles at least showed a great deal of fight. Who cares now, right? Well, sort of, because a loss is a loss. But they certainly aren’t quitting on Doug. The problem isn’t effort, it seems, so much as it is preparation and execution.
4. I think, against all odds and common sense and just about everything else, the Cowboys actually won the Amari Cooper trade.
5. I think Super Bowl LII feels like a long time ago, as if it were a season from another dimension. Just under a year ago, Nick Foles was out-throwing Tom Brady and Pederson was out-coaching Bill Belichick to win a Lombardi. Can you believe that?!
6. I think the Eagles are more in the Wild Card picture than many fans will care to admit, more so because of other teams’ failures than the Birds’ own record. But I also know that to expect anything less than another slow start or stale scheme from Pederson’s tired bunch in the final three weeks of the season is to expect, well, a small Christmas miracle.
7. I think, if and when the Eagles’ playoff hopes do fizzle out (and they aren’t fizzled yet), it will be a slight relief not only for fans but for this team. The weight of post-Super Bowl expectations may have been mostly cliched messaging, but still, the bar was set high for all parties here, and to have an offseason where everyone can breathe and hit the reset button would probably be healthy, if not a little disappointing.