3 Focus Points for the Eagles Bye Week – Opinion Piece

(Sanders running with the ball, Image by Alexander Jonesi https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderjonesi/49240615381/)

Sit back and, relax, the Eagles are on a bye week! But if the team still has playoff aspirations, there’s still work to be done, even if there isn’t a game to be played. Here are three things for the Eagles to focus on during their bye week.

1. Get Healthy and Stay Healthy

It seems like year after year the Eagles have been derailed by major injuries, especially in the subsequent seasons following the team’s Super Bowl victory. Fortunately, and I say this as a knock on wood, eat a four-leaf clover, and rub my lucky rabbit’s foot, the team has avoided “the big one”, the major season-ending injury to a major contributor. Fans held their breath as Jason Kelce went down last week, but the anchor of the offensive line is expected to be full-go against Washington. Jalen Hurts should be receiving those snaps from Kelce next week as well. The quarterback should return with a chip on his shoulder after missing last week’s game.

2. Get Miles Sanders in the End Zone

Miles Sanders is our most proven and most explosive offensive weapon. He’s a Pro Bowl-caliber running back. In the last three games, he has recorded two of his highest totals for yards and rushes, and also recorded his three longest rushes of the season at thirty-four, twenty-seven, and twenty-five yards. Lastly, in the four games where Sanders had the most total touches, we won! The equation is simple: if the offense can find Miles Sanders, they can find a “W”. It’s a travesty that he has yet to score a touchdown this season. If the team wants to break through for a post-season birth, Sanders must be heavily involved.

3. Get After the Quarterback

The Eagles play Dak Prescott, Daniel Jones, and Taylor Heinicke in their last four games, seeing Heinicke twice. While Dak is the only quarterback that could even remotely strike fear into the heart of Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, none of the three QB’s should be taken lightly. The key is doing something the team hasn’t done much of – sack the quarterback. The Eagles have only registered 21 sacks on the year. That puts them in the bottom four of all NFL teams. That doesn’t bode well with the Eagles being one of the worst teams in the league in terms of pass breakups as well. Putting pressure on quarterbacks, making them uncomfortable, and bringing them down will be a major part of our playoff push.

Mac Johnson is a Emmy nominated documentarian, award winning television producer and writer whose sole purpose is to provide a platform for underserved communities. He is a proud HBCU graduate, having studied communications at Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University. Mac is also an active member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and looks for community outreach and volunteering opportunities in his spare time. He is a die hard Eagles fan, vegan food connoisseur and a lover of all things hip-hop, gospel and jazz.

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