The Philadelphia Eagles pulled off what some might deem a miracle as they handed the New England Patriots their second-straight loss of the season. That win came with a few injuries still on the roster, but the Eagles managed to make do with what they have and at 5-7, the team is still alive in the NFC East. The Eagles got a lot out of Sam Bradford in the Week 13 win and not as much from DeMarco Murray which Chip Kelly is not reading into.
With Ryan Mathews still dealing with a concussion, many expected Week 13 to be the Murray show until it was not. In the win over the Patriots, Murray spent more time on the bench than anywhere else. Darren Sproles was the lead man with 15 carries for 66 yards and another 34 yards off four catches. According to Kelly it was simply a reaction to what the defense was showing, but many wonder if it was really a benching of the star rusher. According to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, having Sproles and Kenjon Barner lead the way could be a sign of things to come. Kelly denies that.
"Every week is an evaluation. Every week is you get an opportunity to show us what you can do," Kelly said, via the Inquirer. "We brought Jonathan Krause in there for a reason. We thought he was a really good player. We brought him up for a reason, too. It wasn't just, 'Let's reward a guy.' "
With Mathew' status up in the air, it is unclear where Murray stands with the team considering his roller coaster season. Prior to his concussion, Mathews was outplaying Murray in his limited time on the field. With a key battle against the Buffalo Bills coming up, the idea that Murray has a breakout game is seeming less likely.
The big thing for the Eagles was finally getting the production out of Bradford and his receivers. The quarterback threw for 120 yards while finding Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz in the endzone. While the numbers were not gaudy by any means, they were exactly what the Eagles need to get over the Patriots who were dealing with plenty of injuries on the roster. According to Kelly, he believes this is an Eagles team that can really do something, but he is not ready to think about the postseason.
"We're just talking about playing the next game and I've said it since - we'll pick our head up after the Giants game and see if we've played well enough to get in or not, but I think that's just wasted energy to talk about the playoff picture and what happens here and who wins here because there are so many different things going on. Everybody is bottled up," Kelly said, via ESPN.com.
