The Eagles are finally getting back some of their important offensive pieces, which brings us to this important reminder:
We haven't seen what this offense can do. Not even close.
Over the next month, we're going to start to find out.
Having Carson Wentz back is obviously the big one. He's the franchise quarterback, an elite-level talent and the best player on the team. Then, add in Alshon Jeffery, get Jay Ajayi and Darren Sproles back, see if Jason Peters can last, if Dallas Goedert can make an impact as a rookie. Add them to Zach Ertz and Nelson Agholor. And all of a sudden, that's a great group.
But don't expect it to click right away. These guys haven't all played together for a long time. Heck, some of these guys have never played together. Before last week, Wentz had never played with Goedert in a game. And by the time Ajayi was comfortable with the offense last year, Wentz was hurt; and then Ajayi missed Wentz's debut last week.
It's going to take a while for this whole thing to come together. Doug Pederson admitted as much:
I think you saw it in Carson's play the other night. As well as he played, he can still get better and so now we start getting some pieces back. Listen, it's not going to be kind of where we picked up at the end of the season last year. It's just not. It takes little bit of time. I'm excited about it because, really, the sky is the limit now with the group and they begin to really work that chemistry out in practice and then in games.
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In a way, it feels like the Eagles are chasing a level of health that's never going to come in full. Because even if all those guys get healthy, the team still won't have Mike Wallace, who fractured his fibula. Maybe he'll make it back this season; maybe he won't. Without him and after trading Torrey Smith, the Eagles are missing that field-stretcher.
But even without that element, the Eagles on paper have all the makings of what could be an explosive offense. They know it. Now, it's about getting those names off paper and back on the field and working together.
Offensive coordinator Mike Groh is looking forward to getting the band back together but they've go to play games in the meantime:
We haven't had the same unit out there in the huddle each and every day, so we're excited about the guys you mentioned and their availability whenever they're cleared medically to get back out there on the field with us. We know the kind of players they are and we know their talented and the things they can do for this offense.
"We're excited about what we can be, but obviously, we're more concerned with who we are right now and trying to get a little better every day.
He's right, of course. The Eagles can't simply wait for their injured guys to get back in the lineup before they click offensively, especially because it might never happen completely. They've got to roll with what they have.
But if all those pieces come back and if they get comfortable with each other?
Watch out.
