Eagles-Texans: What Did We Learn?

HOUSTON – Despite losing their starting quarterback and defensive leader to injuries, and despite having four turnovers and various defensive breakdowns, the Eagles beat the Texans, 31-21, to move to 6-2 at the halfway pole of the season and a ½-game ahead of the 6-3 Cowboys in the NFC East. Here's what it all means:

1. Mark Sanchez is good enough to guide this offense during Nick Foles' absence. Chip Kelly said he "had total confidence" in Sanchez after the game, but his actions spoke louder. On Sanchez' first offensive play in 22 months, with the score knotted, 7-7, Kelly had his backup quarterback come out guns a-blazin'. The Eagles coach didn't have Sanchez hand off or toss an easy screen, as the Texans likely expected. He had him drop back off play-action with Jeremy Maclin running a deep post as option No. 1 and Sanchez nailed it.  "He banged a post," Kelly said. Sanchez connected with Maclin for 52 yards and several plays later floated an 11-yard touch pass to Jordan Matthews in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. He was by no means abundantly better at executing Kelly's offense than Foles. Sanchez tossed two interceptions – one clearly not his fault, the other arguably his – and was errant on a few other tosses. But considering the circumstances – he hadn't played in the regular season in 22 months and he was coming in cold off the bench – Sanchez was excellent. He has the opportunity to be better with a full week of practice as the starter, but he looked comfortable in Kelly's up-tempo, spread offense. He gets the ball out quicker than Foles. He appears to make quicker decisions. Maclin said Foles "throws with a little more touch" than Sanchez, but said that Sanchez can zip his passes. Sanchez is more athletic than Foles. He's not a runner, but he presents more of a threat to keep on zone read plays and could have Kelly dialing up more option plays. The offense is at its best with a dual threat quarterback.

2. We should now find out how good Foles really is in Kelly's offense. With Foles out for at least the next month with a broken collarbone, Sanchez will have four games at a minimum to show that he is as good or better than Foles in Kelly's offense. There is no guarantee that will happen. Sanchez looked effective in the preseason and in three quarters on Sunday, but there isn't enough evidence yet to suggest he will be better. His track record with the Jets says he'll be inconsistent. But the game and the players have changed. Sanchez is free from the pressure of being a "franchise quarterback," he's out of the New York spotlight, and he has an offensive mastermind pushing the buttons. He's set up to succeed and you can be certain he wants to capitalize on this opportunity and force the Eagles to consider keeping him next offseason. If he's significantly better than Foles has been this season and the Eagles keep winning, Kelly may have no other choice but to stick with Sanchez. But it should be clear as day. Sanchez is on a one-year deal. The Eagles have Foles under contract for another season. He's younger than Sanchez. He could have a greater ceiling. So if Sanchez is as good as Foles, Kelly will have an easy choice to go back to Foles when he's healthy. But if the offense hums as it did for most of 2013 with Sanchez running the show, Kelly will have a difficult, but welcomed, decision to make.

3. Todd Herremans may have to take a seat, but reinforcements are coming to the o-line. Sanchez should benefit as the offensive line gets healthy. Center Jason Kelce returned on Sunday and left guard Evan Mathis is slated to be back for Monday night's game against the Panthers. But Herremans could be done for the season. He played through a torn biceps against the Texans, but it was clear he was nowhere near 100 percent. You salute his toughness, but there comes a point when playing through injury harms more than it helps. When Herremans finally stepped aside with an additional ankle injury, and Andrew Gardner replaced him at right guard, the running game seemed to get moving. Herremans may want to continue to play through pain. Kelly appears intent on letting his veteran decide on whether to keep playing, but he called him "a one-armed, one-legged man" and those players don't usually make for good blockers.

4. Is there anything Jeremy Maclin can't do this season? Count me among those that were skeptical of Maclin being a true No. 1 receiver and staying healthy the entire season, but he has been everything Kelly and the Eagles thought he would be when they signed him to a one-year, "show me" deal in February. He hasn't made it through an entire season yet, but there's no reason to think he won't get even more explosive as he continues his return from last year's ACL injury. Maclin has done it all through eight games and is arguably the team's MVP up until this point. He's caught deep passes, throws to the sidelines, screen passes, contested balls, clutch grabs and touchdowns – eight of them already. "I think he's an explosive player," Kelly said. The price tag for Maclin climbs with each game.

5. Casey Matthews has some big shoes to fill. He can't possibly be expected to seamlessly replace DeMeco Ryans, but Matthews has a second chance to show that his first turn as a starter three seasons ago wasn't indicative of his talents as an inside linebacker. He's already proved that he belongs on the roster with his part-time performance in place of Mychal Kendricks. Matthews hasn't been given the nod as Ryans' replacement, but he'll likely begin as the No. 1 with Emmanuel Acho still getting snaps on various downs. Ryans' injury could also signal the return of Marcus Smith to active duty. The Eagles' top draft pick was inactive again. With Ryans' future in doubt following a season-ending Achilles tendon rupture, the Eagles will likely keep Smith inside and start grooming him for a starting spot next season. Until then, Matthews will play alongside Kendricks and call the plays and set the front on most downs. He's a solid run defender, but struggles in space and could exit on passing downs for Acho. For more on why the loss of Ryans and his leadership will be particularly devastating, here's my column for the newspaper.

6. The Eagles offense hums when the run game gets going. The Eagles put up over 500 yards of total offense last week against the Cardinals, but scored only 20 points and had three turnovers on pass plays. The run-pass play-calling was grossly in favor of the latter (72-28 percent) and Kelly had Foles dropping back to throw far too often (63 times). He said after last week's game that he didn't care about balance, but you could be certain he wants run-pass balance over the course of a full season. There were opportunities to exploit the Texans through the air with a suspect secondary and then injuries to both starting cornerbacks. But Kelly started to rely too often on the pass and by the midpoint of the third quarter the run-pass disparity was 19-33 (37-63). But Herremans sat before the next series and Kelly called four straight runs that gained 14, 26, 22 and 8 yards with Chris Polk running the final carry for a touchdown. And then on the Eagles' longest drive of the season, Kelly ran the ball 9 of 15 plays and drained eight minutes off the clock before scoring the game-sealing touchdown. The return of Kelce certainly aided the ground game, but Kelly's commitment to it and insertion of Polk were instrumental in the victory.

7. Big plays are killing the Eagles defense. You have to take the bad with the good, but if the Eagles would just eliminate a few breakdowns a game, they could have a defense strong enough to reach the Super Bowl. But the hiccups have become a trend. Last week, the Cardinals burned the Eagles for 80- and 75-yard touchdown passes. Two games prior, the Rams hit on big plays. The same happened against the Redskins, 49ers and Jaguars. On Sunday, the Texans scored a 56-yard touchdown when Arian Foster got behind Connor Barwin on a wheel route and they completed a 45-yard pass when De'Andre Hopkins took a short crosser and zoomed through the defense. The Eagles held after Hopkins' catch and forced a field goal, which tells you something about the their tenacity. They endured three offensive turnovers and Ryans' fumble after an interception. They kept the Texans to a 38-percent success rate on third down. And they held Texans running backs to 3.1 yards a carry. There's plenty to commend coordinator Bill Davis for, but the defense needs to eliminate the big plays.

8. Chris Polk could be a second half weapon. After just 14 snaps and four carries last week, it felt as if Polk would return to watching the offense with Darren Sproles' return. But Kelly used Polk even more than he had when he was the No. 2 running back behind LeSean McCoy vs. the Cards and had him carry the ball eight times. Polk responded with 50 yards and a touchdown and converted three one-yard downs. He said he benefited from the additional touches. "It's hard for me because I am not an electric, one-play type of running back," Polk said. "I am more of someone who is going to keep on grinding it." With eight games left, and already so many offensive weapons, Kelly has given opposing defenses one more player to think about and added a north-to-south element to his running game.

9. Earl Wolff should have fans clamoring for Nate Allen. It didn't cost the Eagles, but Wolff had a number of bungles in the secondary in his first start in nearly a year. He got beat on the touchdown pass to Hopkins, but the Eagles blitzed and couldn't get pressure and there aren't many safeties that would have won that matchup. But there were a handful of other plays when Wolff made the wrong read and found himself out of position and had to scramble into coverage. For the most part, Texans quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick didn't make the Eagles pay. Allen has had his problems this season, but he's more reliable than Wolff. He was sat out with a hamstring injury, but the expectation is that he will be back next week. Eagles fans may groan, but he's better than the alternative.

10. A few quickie notes …  Sproles, despite missing last week with a knee sprain, was back to his old self. He caught four passes for 46 yards and converted two long third downs with yards after the catch, he rushed three times for 17 yards and averaged 13.5 yards on two punt returns. … Josh Huff's struggles continued. He looked like he had hands of brick on the Sanchez pass that caromed off him for an interception. Catching the ball was a training camp problem and doesn't appear to have gone away. It wasn't all bad. Huff caught three passes for 26 yards and had some effective run blocks. … Cody Parkey is making a strong argument that he's the Eagles kicker for good. He booted a 45-yard field goal – after having to re-kick following a timeout – and had three touchbacks on five kickoffs.