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The Eagles are soaring but to what heights?
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The Eagles are soaring but to what heights?

It’s been apparent for several weeks now that the Philadelphia Eagles are among the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. On a weekend when Philly rolled the defending NFC East champs and the Los Angeles Rams stumbled in Minnesota, the Eagles’ case for being the team to beat became that much stronger.

One New York Daily News writer Monday published a column instructing fans to come to grips with the reality that the Eagles are Super Bowl-bound. That’s at least somewhat intentionally provocative fodder to spur clicks, but it’s not far off from the consensus view.

With an NFL-best 9-1 record, it’s easy to see on paper why fans feel that way. Not only does the Eagles’ full 2017 body of work look impressive, but they’re building steam as the season goes on. Three of their first five wins came in one-score games. Their last four wins, however, have been by multiple scores, with the last three holding a victory margin of at least three touchdowns.

Carson Wentz gets the preponderance of the attention and accolades for the quick turnaround, as the Eagles have already exceeded their seven wins in 2016. Being the starting quarterback, that comes with the territory, except it would be hard to say Wentz isn’t deserving of all the plaudits. Whereas his play last year was promising for a rookie and showed flashes of greatness, he’s now putting up numbers to rival any passer in the league. He leads the NFL in touchdown passes and is fifth in passer rating among quarterbacks who have started more than one game.

What has enabled Wentz to make such a dramatic jump is the stellar play he’s gotten from the Philadelphia offensive line in pass protection. Pro Football Focus ranks Philly’s line as top in the league in pass blocking efficiency. A big upgrade in the receiving corps certainly helps, as the team brought in Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith over the offseason. Nelson Agholor has also come to life, looking more like the first-round talent he was after two years of struggles in which he was defined by frustrating drops.

Even amid the front-running, there are small signs that they are capable of dealing with adversity. You couldn’t tell it from the final score of Sunday night’s win over Dallas, but Philly came out flat in the first half, couldn’t convert on third down early and trailed at halftime. By the time the game was over, though, the Eagles poured on the points and forced Dak Prescott into having the worst game of his young career.

That Philly defense is starting to get the credit it deserves as well. The Eagles boast the top-ranked run defense, keyed by a dominant defensive front that gets pressure without elaborate blitzes, even if defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is also a fan of those. Rookie defensive end Derek Barnett looks like a star in the making and improves with each week. Against Dallas, he registered two sacks and forced a fumble.

Beyond that, the secondary is rounding into shape. Patrick Robinson is improving into a breakout cornerback. Fellow corner Ronald Darby returned this week from a dislocated ankle suffered in Week 1, got an interception and held Dez Bryant in check to the tune of 63 yards.

Six weeks remain in the regular season, plenty of time for devastating injuries to befall a team. Philly has been relatively fortunate on that front, though they have lost left tackle Jason Peters, middle linebacker Jordan Hicks and running back Darren Sproles. However, the line remains bullying without Peters, who has made a point of providing scouting tips and advice while recuperating. A trade for Jay Ajayi made Sproles’s absence less pronounced, even if Ajayi’s ability to catch passes out of the backfield isn’t quite on par with what Sproles provides, and the defense has held up just fine with Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks holding down the fort.

With a four-game lead in the NFC East, it would take a catastrophic undoing for the Eagles not to win the division. The picture after that is less clear. They hold only a one-game lead over the Saints and Vikings and two over the Rams and Seahawks. As impressive as they’ve been, a few stumbles could knock them out of first-round bye territory, and while their Week 12 opponent, Chicago, should be a safe victory, they follow that up with three consecutive road games, the first two at the Rams and Seahawks.

All this has to be familiar to Philly fans. The Eagles started the 2004 season 9-1 en route to the franchise’s second Super Bowl appearance. They fell just short against Tom Brady’s Patriots. If they do end up making it to Minnesota to play for the championship again this season, the Pats have to be the presumptive opponent at this point. Sure, the Chiefs handed Philly their only loss of the season to date, but Kansas City has been lagging over the past five weeks. Besides, if the Eagles are going to capture their first championship of the Super Bowl era, wouldn’t it be that much sweeter against the franchise that already denied them once?

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