RADIO
Needless to say, this has been a rough season for fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. Because of a lack of success out on the open field, generally speaking, any words of detest are often directed at Chip Kelly or Sam Bradford. After all, it was Chip Kelly who voluntarily rid his squad of talented players like LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson , Jeremy Maclin and Nick Foles to make room for the likes of, you guessed it, Sam Bradford.
It’s a story that’s been told all too many times—team struggles, head coach is on the proverbial hot seat and the quarterback is labeled as incompetent. While the debate as to whether how true any of that might actually be, as far as the Eagle’s Week 7 loss to the Carolina Panthers is concerned, two other names must stand out to disgruntled fans and fantasy owners more than any others: Darren Sproles and Zach Ertz.
Why? Well, both players had more than ample opportunity to turn in standout performances, yet failed to live up to the promising situations given them. For example, take Sproles’ night. According to yahoo.com, “Darren Sproles rushed three times for nine yards and caught 5-of-10 targets for 21 yards in the Eagles’ Week 7 loss to the Panthers.” Bradford’s decision to target Sproles 10 times was a team-leading one.
Now, giving damning credit where credit is due, Bradford was forced to check down to Sproles on 10 different occasions because Panthers’ cornerback Josh Norman properly covered the outside and Jordan Matthews continued to drop passes all night. That said, Sproles has been held to under 40 yards in all but two games this season, so his fantasy value must be considered shaky, at best.
Unfortunately, Zach Ertz’ night wasn’t much better. Targeted eight times, he was able to successfully reel in five completions for 63 yards to become the Eagles’ leading receiver. Seems solid enough, right? Wrong. Ertz should’ve had a touchdown on a pass that was slightly underthrown by Bradford and subsequently broken up by Norman. When the Eagles come off of their bye in Week 9, Ertz will still be considered a TE2 option for fantasy owners.
