This is an email-only edition of our weekly mailbag. Thank you as always for doing half the work for me.
Question from Peter: Can you look at the eight starters who didn't make the Pro Bowl or weren't named Pro Bowl alternates, and analyze what kind of seasons they are having?
I had been meaning to put together a visual of the Eagles' starters and their Pro Bowl statuses. And well, here you go.
• Green = Pro Bowl
• Blue = Alternate
• Red = No Pro Bowl
The eight players who were not voted to the Pro Bowl or named as alternates:
• TE Dallas Goedert: When Goedert got hurt in the Eagles' ninth game, he had 43 catches for 544 yards and 3 TDs. He was on pace for 81 catches for 1027 yards and 6 TDs. Travis Kelce leads all tight ends with 1144 receiving yards, and then there's a huge gap between him and the Vikings' T.J. Hockenson, who has 730 receiving yards. Even though Goedert missed five games, he is still eighth in the NFL among tight ends in receiving yards. He would have easily gotten in if he didn't get hurt and maintained a production level anywhere near the pace of his first nine games.
• S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson: CJGJ still leads the league with six interceptions. It really shouldn't matter that he got hurt. He should have gotten in regardless, but you can't be voted in if you're on injured reserve.
• LB T.J. Edwards: Edwards is ninth in the NFL in tackles, with 124. To my surprise, he is also tied for fifth among linebackers with 7 pass breakups. He's just a really solid, instinctive, physical linebacker.
• CB Avonte Maddox: Maddox missed four games with a hamstring injury, but otherwise I think he is having his best season. Early in his career, the Eagles probably asked him to do too much as an outside corner and as a safety in addition to the slot, but he is playing really well having settled in as a full-time slot corner.
• S Marcus Epps: In past seasons, you can probably rattle off a half dozen plays off the top of your head in which an Eagles safety was either out of position or got toasted deep down the field. Not this year, at least with Epps. He doesn't have the splash plays in bulk like many of his teammates, but he has been really solid just doing his job both in coverage and against the run.
• LB Kyzir White: Again, like Epps above, White has been more of a "do your job" type of player than in impact player. He has 85 tackles playing a little under 75 percent of the snaps.
• WR Quez Watkins: Watkins has speed that opposing defenses are forced to respect and I like his skill set, but my sense is that he is sometimes frustrating the coaching staff behind the scenes. I recall in training camp he got chewed out for not playing fast on a deep ball that should have been a TD. On Sunday against the Bears, he was probably responsible for one of Jalen Hurts' interceptions because he wasn't playing fast. So, I think that Watkins maybe is falling a bit short of his potential.
In other words, the Eagles have plenty of very good starters who didn't make the Pro Bowl (or named as alternates), without even making mention of their impressive depth at most positions. There are no obvious holes.
Question from Liam: Which of the Eagles' Pro Bowlers do you think will also make the All-Pro team?
Jason Kelce will be a first-team All-Pro. He has become a nationally-recognized player. Lane Johnson should be as well, but I imagine enough writers will vote for Tristan Wirfs because PFF has Wirfs graded slightly higher. Of course, PFF doesn't account for the far more difficult things the Eagles ask Johnson to do vs. what other teams around the league ask their right tackles to do, and the average All-Pro voter isn't grinding OL tape in their free time. My bet is that Johnson is unjustly underrated (as always) and is named second-team.
- MORE EAGLES
- Week 16 NFL picks: Rounding up the experts' predictions for Eagles-Cowboys
- Eight Eagles named to 2023 Pro Bowl team
- Eagles at Cowboys: Five matchups to watch
Jalen Hurts' shoulder injury is probably going to cost him the MVP and first-team All-Pro honors, fair or not, which will instead go to Patrick Mahomes. There's no good argument for anyone else to be named second-team All-Pro ahead of Hurts otherwise.
A.J. Brown will be an All-Pro. It's just a matter of whether he's first-team or second-team.
Darius Slay and Haason Reddick will both have a chance, but they both have a lot of competition at their respective positions.
Javon Hargrave somehow didn't make the Pro Bowl 🤯. He is an easy choice for All-Pro. To be determined if he gets snubbed for that, too.
And then as mentioned above, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Dallas Goedert didn't make the Pro Bowl because they were on IR during the voting, which for some dipshit reason disqualified them. They have a chance as well, but are probably longshots.
Last year the Packers, Colts, Ravens, Rams, and Cowboys tied for the league lead with three All-Pros apiece. The Eagles are easily going to beat that this year. I'll venture an over-under of 5.5.
Question from Joe: I'm a little disappointed that I have not seen an article about BG or Fletch going against Jason Peters in a real game after thousands of practice reps. That should be wonderful viewing.
I think it'll be interesting to see how much Peters plays. He and Tyron Smith both got snaps at RT for the Cowboys last Sunday in Jacksonville. Smith started and got 54 snaps; JP got 21 snaps. But that was also Smith's first game back from a torn hamstring that he suffered in August. To be determined if they'll platoon those guys again, or if Smith will just play the whole game.
If Peters were a starter, I think you probably would have seen a few of those articles pop up this week. But it's possible that he won't play at all, and if he does, it'll likely be a low number of snaps, barring an injury to one of the Cowboys' other linemen.
Question from Kathy: You mentioned that you are sick. Please tell me we are getting our Cowboys food review.
I regret to inform those of you who like my press box food spread reviews that I canceled my trip to Dallas, and will be covering the Eagles-Cowboys game from my living room. I'm very bummed out that I will not get to enjoy their mac and cheese this year.
I have an absolutely awful flu, and while I'm feeling better and probably could have traveled today, I figured it'd be best not to infect those that I may come into contact with, whether that be people on my flight, other reporters in the press box, or, you know, the players in the locker room. So, while the absence of the Dallas spread will be a gaping hole in my press box food spread coverage that will wreak havoc on my OCD tendencies, it's probably for the best.
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