Why the Eagles are good again and why they aren't

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Hidden beneath the scar tissue, the Eagles are a good team. They showed that much last Thursday.

Sure, the Giants aren’t exactly a mighty foe. If the NFL draft were held today, they would pick second. Their locker room is reportedly in turmoil, and it looked suspiciously like they quit on the field.

Yet, for the first time since the Super Bowl, the Eagles won in convincing fashion. The offense was scoring almost at will. The defense would bend, but only once would it break.

The Eagles were downright formidable.

Is a win over the Giants really that impressive? Are people supposed to believe the Eagles are for real again, just like that? Or are they a flawed team that caught the right opponent at the right time?

Are the Eagles good or not? It’s a difficult question to answer, mainly because the issue that’s ailed the team most through the first six weeks of the season still lingers.

So much of the Eagles’ 3-3 start can be traced back to injuries, many of which date back to before OTAs began in April. Carson Wentz, Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Graham and Jason Peters are playing, but after being limited for large portions of the offseason programs, including preseason in its entirety. Peters, Jason Kelce, Derek Barnett and Corey Clement are banged up currently and trying to work through the pain. Darren Sproles, Mike Wallace and Tim Jernigan have been on the shelf for a while now. Role players are constantly cycling in and out of the lineup.

In theory, the Eagles should improve as the roster progresses toward 100 percent. Players who missed camp and preseason are finding a rhythm. Guys who are battling various bumps and bruises have 10 days between games to recover, then a bye on the other side of next week’s trip to London.

The Giants’ season may be circling the drain, but the Eagles could be on the cusp of turning theirs around.

The only trouble with forecasting clear skies ahead for the Eagles is injuries continue to mount. Jay Ajayi and Rodney McLeod are finished for the year. Add Sidney Jones to the list of defensive backs who will be missing for a stretch. The offensive line might be in flux as well while Peters deals with multiple dings and Lane Johnson joins the walking wounded. And this is football, which means the list of names will inevitably grow. Plenty are already out indefinitely.

True, the Eagles experienced injuries in 2017, too, and managed to win a championship without key players like Wentz, Peters, Sproles and Jordan Hicks. The difference is the team had continuity going into the season and were able to remain largely intact with few notable exceptions.

The 2018 Eagles weren’t whole in September or August or even April, which was evident early on. It’s October, and the weekly injury report reads like a novel.

If they can put the pieces back together in time, the Eagles have shown glimpses of how high they can fly. This is a good team, with the potential to be great — they just need to get healthy.

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