I like to refer to Jones as the Eagles “Mr. Everything.” I know when I see him, and tell others about his performance in the first half, most people tend to say something like, “Let’s just throw him to the wolves…”
This might be true if Dre’Mont wasn’t emerging as a force in the second half of the season.
Don’t get me wrong, the Eagles certainly aren’t in trouble at this point, and I believe they will do just fine in spite of the mental mistakes the front office has made in free agency and with the overall lack of draft classes since the Chip Kelly era.
However, I think it’s hard to fight the fact that the coach has a lot of qualities very reminiscent of his mentor in New England, Bill Belichick. You know, all the complexities about “the new world” that he likes to cite and just did during Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.
Everything that an NFL coach loves about his game is on display when he gets into trouble. With Jones there, it might just be “build the wall,” or just maintaining the same basic structure, but you better believe he’s seeing things differently when he sees a guy his quarterback almost breaks the tackle on.
It’s a great situation to be in, with LeSean McCoy coming off a season in which he led the NFL in rushing, and in tandem with the stout run defense.
Before they can get deep into the playoff mix, the Eagles need to get better at producing points.
The defense has become the name, and while we’ve been talking about how good that unit is, there’s nobody on the offense who gives their defense a headache like LeSean McCoy (or Doug Martin) does. He’s better than J.J. Watt as a pass rusher, he’s just better, and it’s not even close.
For a team that struggles mightily when it comes to getting a team into their territory, and in its own 10-yard line, The man who has a face like a four-car garage (the middle part of his face is covered in body armor for different reasons. Thank goodness his hands are back and strong enough.) has the ability to break a big play or two on a fairly frequent basis.
So I think the Eagles will be just fine, and are definitely one of the top six teams in the conference.
Just make sure nobody hurts us. We’ll take care of those badgering fans outside the door.