WE’RE FAR ENOUGH into the Eagles’ season to draw some conclusions.

The Birds aren’t as bad as those wobbly first four games indicated. And they’re not as good as the recent demolitions of the Cowboys, Bengals, and Giants suggest.

Chalk up the unimpressive 2-2 start to new game plans on both offense and defense. The Eagles changed coordinators in the off-season, with Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio brought in to clear the rubble from last year’s collapse. But Nick Sirianni didn’t play any of his starters during the preseason, so there was no chance for either side of the ball to gain in-game experience with their overhauled schemes until Week 1 of the regular season. The rust was evident. 

Since then, things have looked a lot more cohesive. Saquon Barkley has been as good as advertised – and often better. A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert have, when healthy, shone. Jalen Hurts, like the team he quarterbacks, regained his equilibrium after those first four games and has performed reliably, if not at the elite level of a couple seasons ago. Both lines have been solid. The defensive secondary, boosted by impressive play from rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, looks better than it has in years, and DeJean has breathed new life into the punt-return game.

At the same time, even in the blowout wins, there have been signs of trouble. Hurts still has a tendency to hold onto the ball for too long, and he remains turnover-prone, though he has tightened that up. The D has gotten some lucky breaks, most notably at the end of the Jacksonville game, when a last-minute interception in the Eagles’ own end zone helped prevent an embarrassing upset at the hands of the Jaguars. And Sirianni and his coordinators can get too cute at times with their play-calling, as if seeking to demonstrate their own cleverness instead of taking the sure out.

The Chiefs are undefeated, the Bills, Steelers, and Ravens are acquitting themselves well, the Lions are the NFC’s darlings, and the Commanders are the surprise of the league. At 7-2, the Eagles feel like the NFL’s quietest first-place team. After that start, I’ll take it. | DL