More improvement from Nelson Agholor, an underrated Super Bowl performer, two agonizing yards from a milestone and an incredible accomplishment that LeSean McCoy is closing in on.
It's all right here in this week's edition of Roob's 10 Random Eagles Observations!
1. Doug Pederson has found the perfect balance these past few months of allowing his players to really enjoy being Super Bowl champions while still keeping an eye on 2018, and that's not an easy thing to do. The Eagles have celebrated when it's time to celebrate and they've worked when it's time to work, and honestly, I feel like most of the guys on this team would rather be at an OTA practice under the hot June sun than at some banquet re-living Super Bowl LII. Which is the beauty of this team. Zach Ertz put it beautifully when he said this: "There's always going to be one-hit wonders in this league. Teams that won one Super Bowl or players that made one Pro Bowl and then you didn't hear from them again. But it's the great players and the great teams that are able to have that sustained success." And that right there is the mantra for this football team. Last year was incredible. But it's in the past. It's time to move on. It's time to go to work.
2. Five quarterbacks in NFL history have had a passer rating of 101.9 or higher in their second NFL season [minimum of 200 attempts]. Three of them are Hall of Famers – Otto Graham, Kurt Warner and Dan Marino. The other two are … Carson Wentz and Nick Foles.
3. This is insanity, but there's no doubt in my mind T.O. can still help a football team. I know, I know. He's 44. The oldest player in NFL history to catch a pass is Jerry Rice, Owens' former teammate, who was 42 years, 67 days, when he caught his last three career passes – 3 for 25 yards from Matt Hasselbeck for the Seahawks against the Jets on Dec. 19, 2004. The only other player to catch a pass in his 40s is Brett Favre, who caught a batted pass that he threw (for minus-two yards) against the Rams at 40 years, 1 day, for the Vikings in 2009. I know T.O. hasn't played since 2010, when he caught 72 passes for 983 yards and nine TDs playing for the Bengals. But T.O. is different than other human beings. He's a freak of nature. He could play till he's 50. But considering his history, no team is ever going to take a chance on him. It's a shame, but that's the reality.
4. It still blows my mind that the Eagles won the Super Bowl just two years after Chip Kelly was fired. Think about that. Jeff Lurie, Howie Roseman and Pederson overhauled the entire franchise from late 2015 train wreck to 2017 NFL champs in 769 days.
5. During that span, the Browns have won one game.
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6. Kind of lost in all the Super Bowl insanity – Philly Special, Nick Foles' performance, Brandon Graham's strip-sack, the 4th-down conversion to Zach Ertz – was LeGarrette Blount's remarkable performance. Blount's 6.4 rushing average that day (14 for 90) is highest in NFL postseason history by a back 31 or older. The previous record was Tiki Barber's 5.3 for the Giants in the 2006 wild-card game that the Eagles won at the Linc. Blount destroyed that record. And it came after a stretch in which Blount had averaged just 3.7 yards per carry in his previous eight games. Blount wasn't here long but what a tremendous impact he made both as an unfailingly unselfish leader and as a battering-ram running back.
7. Hard to believe DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin are the only Eagles draft picks with a 1,000-yard receiving season since Fred Barnett, who was drafted 28 years ago. I expect Nelson Agholor to do it this season.
8. I'm still sad Brent Celek is sitting there with 4,998 career receiving yards.
9. Wondering what the heck the Redskins are thinking is a way of life around the NFL, but it still blows my mind that they believe they have a better chance of winning with a 34-year-old Alex Smith and than with a 29-year-old Kirk Cousins.
10. LeSean McCoy has averaged 101 yards from scrimmage per game in his brilliant nine-year NFL career, and he now has 13,470 net yards from scrimmage – eighth-most in NFL history by a player before his 30th birthday (behind seven Hall of Famers). Every back in NFL history who's gained 16,000 yards from scrimmage - and there are 10 of them - is in the Hall of Fame. At his current pace, Shady would get to 16,000 in Week 9 of the 2020 season. I'm sure as heck not betting against him.
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