SHARE
Chux Report

What I’m Thankful For This 2018 NFL Season

The Super Bowl hangover is officially real, and we Philadelphia Eagles fans are witnessing it first-hand.

I could take the time to list all of the reasons why the Eagles are sitting at an absolute abysmal 4-6 record. I could talk about how pathetic they looked in the 48-7 loss to the Saints. I could sit here and point fingers at every single person that deserves blame, and there are a lot of them.

However, Thanksgiving is here and I refuse to continuously linger on the miserable Eagles season, especially when it’s already been discussed ad nauseam. Instead, I want to look on the brighter side of things and share what I’m thankful for this NFL season.

Philly still has Carson Wentz, and as long as we do then there will always be hope.

This might not be a popular thing to say right now after Wentz had the worst game of his career so far against the Saints. According to Pro Football Reference, his passer rating of 31.9 was the worst by an Eagles QB since AJ Feely in 2007. There’s no denying it, he was awful, and he continues to have his struggles with post-snap mental processing, which has led to critical plays going against the Eagles these past few weeks. Wentz isn’t without his flaws.

But let’s not forget the big picture, as tough as it is for some to see right now. There have been numerous factors that have contributed to the team’s struggles in 2018, but at the same time it’s still only Wentz’s 3rd season. He’s still the Eagles’ franchise quarterback and will be the Eagles’ franchise quarterback for years to come. Knowing how gifted, hard-working, and devoted he is to his craft do we not expect him to bounce back? It might not be this season, but with a full offseason of training and preparation (which he didn’t have this year), I’m willing to bet money that he will lead the team to a great year in 2019.

It’s almost safe to say that the 2018 season won’t amount to a Super Bowl repeat for the Eagles. But as long as Wentz is in Philly, there will always be hope for another championship run in any given year. That’s the impact a truly elite franchise quarterback has, and Wentz is one.

The Eagles are bad, but so are the Giants and Cowboys.

I think all us Eagles fans can agree that it would be much harder to deal with how bad the Eagles are right now if either the Giants or Cowboys were playing great themselves, but fortunately that isn’t the case. Yeah, both teams have pulled off 2 straight wins in Weeks 10 and 11, but that’s only put the Giants at 3-7 and the Cowboys at 5-5, which is nothing to really gloat about for either of them. Both teams still have their glaring weaknesses and wouldn’t be serious contenders in the playoffs. The Giants still have their offensive line issues and Eli Manning still isn’t that good. The Cowboys still have a lackluster offensive scheme and Dak Prescott still isn’t that good. So the way I see it, the more the Giants win, the less of a chance they have at grabbing the one good QB in the upcoming draft class, Justin Herbert. And while the Cowboys could end up winning the division by default, that just means that the team Jerry Jones will most likely stay committed to Jason Garrett and Dak Prescott. As an Eagles fan, both cases are certainly fine with me.

The running back position is great again (even though it always has been)!

It makes me so happy to see the resurgence of the running back position. In my opinion the elite guys in the league right now are Todd Gurley, Kareem Hunt, Alvin Kamara, Melvin Gordon, Zeke Elliott, Saquon Barkley, and David Johnson, and they’re all so incredibly talented. Also, while they might not be elite, other guys like Philip Lindsay, James Conner, and Christian McCaffrey have also made big impacts on their respective teams and are a lot of fun to watch. What makes a lot of them so great too is that they’re multi-dimensional threats in both the running and passing game, so they impact the game in more ways than one.

No one can deny the impact that a talented RB has on an offense anymore. When you look at the top teams in the league right now like the Saints, Rams, Chiefs, Steelers, Patriots, and Chargers, they all have great talent at the running back position. Even the Patriots, who have been the perfect example of being successful with a committee, invested a late first round pick on a lead running back in Sony Michel this past draft. The bottom line is that having at least very good talent at the position is important in today’s game and it boosts an offense significantly. Eagles fans everywhere should now know firsthand what it’s like to not have any talent at that position and what a difference it makes. Having Jay Ajayi and LeGarrette Blount was a huge reason why the Eagles won the Super Bowl last season.

Andrew Luck is back. Like, really back.

There was a lot of skepticism this past offseason over whether Luck would ever play football again, let alone be able to regain his form as one of the elite quarterbacks in the league. 11 weeks into the season and it’s safe to say that he’s back, and that’s a great thing for the NFL. I feel as though some people forgot just how good Luck is when he’s at the top of his game. He’s truly a special talent. Not only that, but the Colts look to have a young and very talented team that is growing each week, including an offensive line that is finally blocking for him and a first-year head coach in Frank Reich that has brought the offensive creativity he had in Philadelphia last season to Indianapolis. They might still be at least a year away, but things are definitely trending upwards for Andrew Luck and the Colts.

Los Angeles Rams vs Kansas City Chiefs, Week 11.

The. Best. Regular. Season. Game. I. Have. Ever. Watched. Hands down. And part of what made it so great is that it didn’t disappoint. So many times we’ll hype up a certain game expecting it to be a great showdown, but in the end it not turn out that way. That wasn’t the case with this game, however. 2 great offensive minded coaches, 2 of the best young quarterbacks in the league today, and 2 of the best young running backs in the league today all went blow for blow against each other the entire game. And to anyone that said that there was no defense, I’m not sure what you were watching. Each defense certainly gave up a lot of yards and points… A LOT… but they also came up with some huge turnovers that swung the momentum their way. And in the end it was the Rams defense that closed the game out. This was a game that I certainly will remember, and I’m grateful that I was able to watch it.

Football. And A2D.

I love this sport so much, and even though it’s been painful to watch the Eagles this season, I’m still grateful to be able to watch NFL football and talk about it here on A2D, whether it be with my articles or on Birds Of A Feather. It might not be my career (yet), but it’s a passion of mine that’s not going anywhere.