Giglio: 5 reasons why Eagles can win the Super Bowl

[time2rock]

Giglio: 5 reasons why Eagles can win the Super Bowl

It’s time to say it, and say it without being afraid of looking silly months from now: The Eagles are loaded, and poised to be a Super Bowl contender.

Yes, the same Eagles that went into last season with an over/under of 6.5 wins. The same team that started 2-5. That was then, this is now. And in the NFL, a lot can change in the span of a year.

Here’s why the 2022 Eagles are absolutely poised to be a true Super Bowl contender.

The roster is loaded, and more talented than the 2017 group

At first, you might want to balk at that statement. But go through the rosters, from top-to-bottom. The current group is more talented, especially at wide receiver, cornerback, and linebacker.

Adding Chauncy Gardner-Johnson was the cherry on top of an outstanding offseason by Howie Roseman. The Eagles addressed virtually every weakness from last year’s team, while still keeping flexibility for future moves. The Eagles added A.J. Brown, Haason Reddick, James Bradberry, Gardner-Johnson, Kyzir White, Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens and Nakobe Dean in the span of six months, and drastically upgraded the roster. Perhaps the final piece of the puzzle will come in the form of a deal for a running back around the trade deadline, just like in 2017.

The NFC is about to have a down year, opening up a chance at home field advantage

This is crucial.

Sometimes windows and moments of opportunity form in pro sports seemingly out of nowhere, and good organizations leap through them. The 2007-2011 Phillies certainly did that, taking advantage of a down era in the National League and winning as the 90s Braves dynasty fell off and before the current Dodgers dynasty took shape.

The NFC is clearly the weaker conference in the current NFL landscape, but I’m not sure how much has been made of how last year’s top contenders look primed for a step back in 2022.

Green Bay has won 13 games three seasons in a row, becoming the first team in NFL history to pull off that feat. Is this team really going to pull that off four times in a row? I doubt it, especially with such a green wide receiver room after Devante Adams’ departure. This feels more like an 11-win team than any sort of regular season juggernaut.

Los Angeles has to fight a Super Bowl hangover, lost Von Miller and will play one of the league’s most difficult schedules. Plus, Matthew Stafford is dealing with an elbow injury that seems like it has lingered for a while.

San Francisco has quarterback drama, doesn’t seem totally sold on what it has in Trey Lance, and has not put together a quality offense line throughout the preseason. Kyle Shanahan is a very good coach, but this feels like a work in progress more than a home-field advantage kind of squad.

Tampa Bay? Please. The interior offensive line has been gutted compared to the last two years. The team is old. The head coach is gone, pushed upstairs and replaced by the defensive-minded Todd Bowles. Judging by his run with the Jets, don’t expect much aggressiveness or push-the-envelope fourth-down decision making from this team. Plus, there’s the very strange case of the 45-year-old GOAT that retired, came back, and then disappeared from training camp for 10 days. Tom Brady’s super power has been to want it more than anyone else for more than two decades. I don’t get the sense Brady is all-in any longer, and that could sink the end of his career.

Dallas had the anti-Eagles offseason, losing talented player after talented player. Tyron Smith is the best player to be seriously injured this summer, severely impacting the offensive line in front of a not-quite-as-mobile-as-he-used-to-be Dak Prescott. Sean Payton is looming, and that won’t make for a calm Mike McCarthy. Turnover luck won’t be the same. The Cowboys could be a tire fire.

Look at the schedule

According to Warren Sharp’s strength of schedule based on forecasted 2022 win totals, the Eagles have the second easiest schedule in the NFL. Much like in 2017, it’s set up to get off to a big start in September, October and early November. By my count, the Eagles are only slated to be underdogs three times (at Arizona, at Indianapolis, at Dallas) all year. Games are played on the field, but that’s a pretty good indication of the schedule. And go through the opposing quarterbacks on the schedule this year. How many games will the Eagles be at a disadvantage at the sport’s most important position? I count four (Arizona, Dallas 2x, and Green Bay), with Jalen Hurts better or close to even with every other signal caller the Eagles will face. It’s huge.

A sense of urgency is (smartly) hovering over offseason moves

Roseman has (likely) built the best, strongest and deepest roster he ever will around Jalen Hurts. If that seems hyperbolic or a premature statement, consider the landscape of the salary cap. Hurts counts for just over $1M this season on the cap, making him close to $40M less than the highest paid at the position. If the Eagles win big, Hurts is set to cash in with a contract extension after this season. Even if the Eagles have uncertainty at the position in 2023, future quarterback salaries will hover over cap decisions. Much like with the early Russell Wilson Seahawks, the stars have aligned now for the best team Hurts will have around him here.

Vegas (usually) knows, and the bar has been set high for this group

We like to think of underdogs coming out of nowhere to win it all, but that’s actually pretty rare in the NFL. Currently, the Eagles sit at 20-1 to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel. Over the last 20 years, 17 of the 20 eventual Super Bowl champions sat at 20-1-or-less when the season opened (with the 2017 Eagles, 2011 and 2007 Giants as the exceptions). Some level of preseason Super Bowl hype is almost always justified. The Eagles are one of about 12 teams (along with the Bills, Bucs, Chiefs, Rams, Packers, Chargers, 49ers, Broncos, Ravens, Bengals, and Colts) that can win it all this year.

https://www.audacy.com/94wip/sports/eagles/5-reasons-why-eagles-can-win-the-super-bowl

[UK_EaglesFan89]

If Hurts takes a step forwards this team can absolutely go far. If he stays where he was last year then I think we can win a play off game but that'll be all. So a lot really comes down to Hurts and to Gannon I think. This roster has the talent to go far.

[Procus]

Eagles haven't played a game yet, let alone put together a winning record or division title.  Time to slam the brakes on all this SB talk.  We have no clue how cohesive or effective the players will be once they hit the field.

[pgcd3]

1 minute ago, Procus said:

Eagles haven't played a game yet, let alone put together a winning record or division title.  Time to slam the brakes on all this SB talk.  We have no clue how cohesive or effective the players will be once they hit the field.

I have no problem with people enjoying preseason expectations but sure the reality isn't quite what they are saying.  Somehow guys like Epps have gone from meh to high quality starters without taking a snap.  If you honestly assess how any starter on this team played in their last 6 NFL games say then you aren't talking about a roster of All Pros like some are making it out to be. In fact there are only a few.  They do seem solid across the board and it could come together but we've all seen the opposite happen.

[time2rock]

1 hour ago, Procus said:

Eagles haven't played a game yet, let alone put together a winning record or division title.  Time to slam the brakes on all this SB talk.  We have no clue how cohesive or effective the players will be once they hit the field.

Nothing that has happened since last season ended has changed my position.  I remain cautiously optimistic.  I know our success is largely going to depend on how much improvement Hurts makes in his passing game and the ability of Gannon to call a defense that can slow down opposing QBs.  At least Howie has put them both in a decent position to succeed with all the additions.    We shall see.  I likely wouldn’t be any less shocked if we won only 7 games than if we won 12.  

[pgcd3]

1 hour ago, time2rock said:

Nothing that has happened since last season ended has changed my position.  I remain cautiously optimistic.  I know our success is largely going to depend on how much improvement Hurts makes in his passing game and the ability of Gannon to call a defense that can slow down opposing QBs.  At least Howie has put them both in a decent position to succeed with all the additions.    We shall see.  I likely wouldn’t be any less shocked if we won only 7 games than if we won 12.  

I'm optimistic too but somehow I feel the need to play devil's advocate on D 

1. Neither guy playing safety has actually proven he can be an nfl starter at safety

2. Some felt Bradberry's play dropped off last year and Slay is another year older and you don't know when a failoff happens

3. Our LBs are just ok (I happen to like White but I'm playing this out)

4. Our DEs are a 34-yr old coming off an Achilles and other guys who haven't really done all that much

5. Cox has declined. Hargrave slowed after a fast start and Davis is unproven and looked better in practice than the preseason games so far

 

Listen I don't actually believe all I said but I do think people might be extolling the greatness of the D prematurely

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

I'm optimistic too but somehow I feel the need to play devil's advocate on D 

1. Neither guy playing safety has actually proven he can be an nfl starter at safety

2. Some felt Bradberry's play dropped off last year and Slay is another year older and you don't know when a failoff happens

3. Our LBs are just ok (I happen to like White but I'm playing this out)

4. Our DEs are a 34-yr old coming off an Achilles and other guys who haven't really done all that much

5. Cox has declined. Hargrave slowed after a fast start and Davis is unproven and looked better in practice than the preseason games so far

 

Listen I don't actually believe all I said but I do think people might be extolling the greatness of the D prematurely

RB group in 2017 was better, and so was the QB position

[matchew88]

2 hours ago, pgcd3 said:

I'm optimistic too but somehow I feel the need to play devil's advocate on D 

1. Neither guy playing safety has actually proven he can be an nfl starter at safety

2. Some felt Bradberry's play dropped off last year and Slay is another year older and you don't know when a failoff happens

3. Our LBs are just ok (I happen to like White but I'm playing this out)

4. Our DEs are a 34-yr old coming off an Achilles and other guys who haven't really done all that much

5. Cox has declined. Hargrave slowed after a fast start and Davis is unproven and looked better in practice than the preseason games so far

 

Listen I don't actually believe all I said but I do think people might be extolling the greatness of the D prematurely

1. Nickel projects well to Safety, CGJ played safety in college and in the NFL, and has done well at Safety in both.

2. Both have looked really good in camp.

3. Including Reddick, I think our LBers will be better than ok. I think they could be as high as Tier 2, which is really good.

4. We have a deep rotation. Milton Williams is going to take another step this year and can play both DL positions.

5. Davis will rock the lineup, allowing for plenty of rest for all DTs.

[Portyansky]

No one knew what was coming 2017. Wentz was having an MVP season, DP figured out that running the ball was key, Agholar actually was catching the ball and Foles got hot. On paper we have a real shot. But like I've stated many times. Hurts needs to be better and you can have the best tools in a trade, but if the trades person can't use them, it's worthless (Gannon). We haven't had this type of help for a QB ever in my 40+ years that I can remember. This also has to be the most complete team we've had as well. I'm cautiously optimistic. 

When we play the weaker teams we need to put them away. I wanna see that killer instinct. 

[time2rock]

19 hours ago, pgcd3 said:

I'm optimistic too but somehow I feel the need to play devil's advocate on D 

1. Neither guy playing safety has actually proven he can be an nfl starter at safety

2. Some felt Bradberry's play dropped off last year and Slay is another year older and you don't know when a failoff happens

3. Our LBs are just ok (I happen to like White but I'm playing this out)

4. Our DEs are a 34-yr old coming off an Achilles and other guys who haven't really done all that much

5. Cox has declined. Hargrave slowed after a fast start and Davis is unproven and looked better in practice than the preseason games so far

 

Listen I don't actually believe all I said but I do think people might be extolling the greatness of the D prematurely

Not arguing any of those.  I certainly think all (individually) are legit question marks and can be added below the list of concerns over Hurts and Gannon.  But I also don't think all of them will turn out to be problems (perhaps some will, some won't).  It is also hard to be completely confident that any of the new high profile additions (Reddick, Brown, etc) will play up to expectations until we see them in action.  Memories of the "Dream Team" remain (although I think there were other factors that played a role with that being a catastrophic failure).  Bottom line ... we need to see how this all comes together before getting a feel one way or the other.  Hence the earlier comment about none of the transactions/moves having changed my position ... I am in complete wait-and-see mode.