Phil Sheridan, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

One of Eagles' 'Missing Pieces' is a QB

PHILADELPHIA -- The collaboration between Pro Football Focus and ESPN’s NFL Nation provided some interesting insight into the league by identifying how many above-average players each team was from competing in the Super Bowl this year.

The Philadelphia Eagles were two players away, according to the formula devised by PFF. Look a little deeper, though, and it seems clear the Eagles would be helped enormously if one of those two players could be a quarterback.

Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez, who each played half the season, were ranked as Average players based on PFF’s grades. Obtaining an Elite or Good quarterback would be one way to address the issue. Having Foles return and play at a higher level -- as he did in 2013 -- would be another way.

The Dallas Cowboys finished at the top of the list, in need of exactly zero above-average players to reach Super Bowl levels. The Cowboys had four players rated as Elite and eight more rated as Good. Quarterback Tony Romo was among the Good players. The Elite group included a running back, a wide receiver, a tight end, and a center.

That makes almost half of a starting offense if you include Romo. Having one unit play at that level seems to be a formula for success. The Green Bay Packers had six Elite players. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was one. The others: two wide receivers, two offensive linemen and a running back.

When you get to the Eagles, with their three Elite players, you see the contrast. Left tackle Jason Peters and left guard Evan Mathis were rated as Elite. So was outside linebacker Brandon Graham. That gives the Eagles one heck of a left side of an offensive line and a pretty darn good part-time pass-rusher. But the Eagles lacked the concentration of offensive talent that the Cowboys and Packers had.

Clearly, the quarterback helps. It is very likely that Dez Bryant and Jason Witten were Elite at least partly because Romo was so adept at getting them the football. And it’s no accident that two of Rodgers’ receivers, Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, earned Elite grades along with their Elite quarterback.

Baltimore and Denver were also listed as being two players away from the Super Bowl. Their quarterbacks, Joe Flacco and Peyton Manning, graded out as Average players, according to PFF’s metrics. It’s safe to say, though, that whatever their particular flaws in any given game or season, Flacco and Manning are proven quarterbacks able to raise the level of teammates’ play.

Foles was able to do that in 2013. Playing behind a banged-up offensive line in 2014, Foles was not able to perform at that level. Eventually, Foles was injured playing behind that line. That gave Sanchez a chance to play, and he proved to be the same guy he had been with the New York Jets for the past few years.

Can Foles get back to his 2013 level of play? Can the Eagles find a way to get Marcus Mariota or some other superior talent to replace him? Either way, above-average quarterback play would go a long way toward closing that gap between the Eagles and a Super Bowl.

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