PHILADELPHIA — You don’t have to be an expert observer to know how many mediocre teams there are in the NFL.
Eagles fans have been and will continue to be, um, lucky enough to see their fair share before the schedule turns toward a darker, colder winter season.
At the start of the Browns at Birds game Sunday, the Eagles were embarking on a stretch of four games against teams that were a combined 5-16. That included the 1-4 Browns, 2-3 Giants, 1-4 Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars, coached by their Super Bowl winning ex, Doug Pederson. The Jags had just lost in London Sunday morning — Philly time — by 35-16 to the mediocre Chicago Bears, the Jags falling to 1-5 in the process.
And good luck to Doug in his effort to stay employed the whole season.
As for the Eagles, good luck in winning enough games to get into the playoffs. Lucky or not, though, the time seemingly is now to help make that happen.
With a 20-16 win over the Browns by the end of the doggish Sunday afternoon, one major step on that path had been taken.
“In the end, we were able to find a way together as a team,” Jalen Hurts said, perhaps buoyed by his touchdown passes to each A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith. “Proud of how the defense really stepped up and played. The young guys, Cooper (DeJean) and Quinyon (Mitchell), stepping up against some really good receivers.”
None of those receivers, including veteran Amari Cooper and speedy Jerry Jeudy, were able to take anything to the house. And once again, monied quarterback star Deshaun Watson couldn’t so much as hit the 200-yard mark passing. He tried, but with the Browns’ offensive line, there’s only so much you can do.
Cleveland couldn’t do much all around, which is why the Browns are 1-5, something that head coach and Drexel Hill native Kevin Stefanski said, “we own.”
The Eagles were glad to oblige, though they know they have to play better, even with the light-bite schedule ahead of them. The next game is against division rival Giants, and it’s in the Meadowlands. That would be a test, and after Jacksonville and Cincinnati come two other division rivals in Dallas and Washington that at the very least will offer challenges likely greater than what they’ll find in New York.
Of course, for the players, it’s not about looking ahead, but rather game to game. For Eagles defensive line vet Brandon Graham, who on this day played in his team-record 200th regular season game, that’s how anything and everything should be judged.
“I just tell them, don’t get bored with kicking butt,” Graham said of his teammates. “I say that in PG (version). But at the end of the day don’t get bored with it. This league is funny like that. Whenever you start believing in whatever’s going on … you start letting your guard down, because you feel like they’re going to quit in a game, you have to play to the end, as you can see.”
Brown pointed out how the overmatched Browns did what they could to give the Eagles fits. It was only a couple of early defensive stops, including a terrific play by Brown to drop receiver Cedric Tillman on an end-around for a five-yard loss on a third-and-1 at the Eagles’ 29, that helped the team get back on track after a 10-10 halftime tie.
“I didn’t think I’d be here at 200,” Graham said, “especially how I started. But I told the guys, it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish.”
There are seemingly easy games for the Eagles dead ahead, tougher ones down the road. The important thing for them is they act like they don’t know that.
“We went out and did what we were supposed to do,” Graham said. “It wasn’t as pretty as some people might have thought it should be, but that’s the league for you. They had a good defense. They played hard. We played hard. At the end of the day, we kept them out of the end zone. I was proud of that as a defense. We have to clean some things up, but don’t we all?”
