Can Eagles offer a repeat of last year's spectacular opener?

NONE OF US knew what to expect in last season's Eagles opener, the dawn of the Chip Kelly era, on a Monday night at FedEx Field. Washington went in favored by 3 1/2 points, down from six initially, not because of some dramatic uptick in respect for the Birds, but because there was uncertainty over whether Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III would be ready to play, having sat out the preseason as he recovered from ACL surgery. After all, the Redskins were 10-6, defending NFC East champs, the Eagles were coming off a 4-12 season.

What followed was shock and awe.

Kelly sometimes lined rookie right tackle Lane Johnson outside with the wideouts in an unbalanced formation, ran his offense at a dizzying pace, and introduced himself to the NFL to the tune of a 33-7 lead, 1 minute, 34 seconds into the third quarter. The Eagles ran 19 of the game's first 20 plays, blazed to a 196-30 edge in yardage before Washington defensive coordinator Jim Haslett could get his headset adjusted. Haslett's defense was on the field for 53 snaps in the first half.

So, Sunday, another opener, Kelly's second, his first in front of the home crowd. While it's true that Kelly can never again spring his scheme on an unsuspecting world for the first time, players have hinted all week about looks we haven't seen, things they intentionally didn't unveil in the preseason.

Can the Chipper still shock us? Is something like last year's opener even possible now? And how much can an opener - one game out of 16, and the game you go into knowing the least about your opposition - really tell you about the season?

This time, the Eagles are 10-point favorites, because they are now the 10-6 defending NFC East champs. Jacksonville is the team coming off a 4-12 year. So, it's hard to see what the Birds possibly could do that would match that night in Landover.

"Nah. I don't think so. That's not going to happen," said cornerback Brandon Boykin, whose interception of a rusty RGIII a year ago presaged his breakthrough six-pick season, tying him for second in the league.

"I was shocked," recalled LeSean McCoy, whose 184 yards on 31 carries that night were an excellent springboard to the NFL rushing title he would go on to win. "I remember how tired we were" by the end, "and how tired they were."

Center Jason Kelce said the Eagles expected their offense to succeed, but "expectations are one thing - when you actually go out there and do it, it's a different feeling . . . We were executing on all cylinders. The Redskins had no idea what to do. It was a thing of beauty, for sure."

Can this opener be like that?

"Oh, yeah," McCoy said. "Even better. We got a lot of packages. You'll see something."

Sooo . . . What can we expect? Will Kelce snap the ball to himself this time?

"If I was, I wouldn't tell you," Kelce said.

Kelce said he does not expect anything like the 2013 opener.

"It was like a perfect storm," he said. "Not only were we executing, but the Redskins were doing a really poor job of executing, and that really is what gave us the ability to make that game so out-of-control."

The Jags figure to be better than they were last season after adding to their defense with end Red Bryant and outside linebacker Chris Clemons (who was once an Eagle) both players coming to Jacksonville from Seattle, where head coach Gus Bradley once ran the defense. Every year there are surprise teams in the NFL, like the 2013 Eagles; what if Jacksonville turns out to be one of those teams this season?

"You never know what's going to happen, in an opener or any game," said quarterback Nick Foles, who watched Michael Vick preside over last year's Week 1 carnage.

Left guard Evan Mathis said he isn't worried about any surprises.

"You block what you see," Mathis said. "You can adjust on the run, when it comes to playcalling or technique, or anything like that."

Indeed, one of the things Kelly showed us last season is that it's hard for an opponent to do anything he can't make adjustments to counter.

Like Boykin, corner Cary Williams intercepted RGIII that magical night a year ago at Fed Ex, added in a sack.

"I knew we had players in the locker room who could get something like that done, but I didn't think [it would happen so soon]," Williams said. "We had a first-year coach. We had a new offense. We didn't know how that was going to transfer into the NFL, how it was going to work . . . It worked perfectly that night, and everything went well . . . We ran 53 plays in the first half. That was different, for me and everybody else, I think."

Williams noted that the Eagles then lost their next three games, primarily because a defense that started to melt down in the fourth quarter against the Redskins really did have some issues to work out, under new coordinator Bill Davis.

But even so, the opener did point us in the right direction in several respects. McCoy was indeed off to the races, in Kelly's offense, which did set records. It certainly told us the truth about where RGIII was in his comeback, and where the Redskins were headed (3-13 and a new coach.)

Even if the Eagles' offense can't quite unleash the lightning and thunder of last year's opener on the Jags, Williams said he thinks the defense is much better prepared to open a season now.

"This game's really going to set the tone for the season," Williams said. "Teams are going to look at that first game. People are going to have a pretty good impression of who we're trying to be, or what we're trying to establish, in that first game. I think it's pivotal for us to come out and go full throttle."

It seems to me that huge point spreads in season openers must be based on what happened last season, which quite often is not a reliable basis for anything.

I think Gus Bradley is a good coach, and I think Jacksonville's defense ought to be pretty decent this year.

I'll be surprised if the Eagles don't play well — they are healthy and the starters have been getting ready for the Jags for a few weeks now — but I very seldom look at an Eagles game and envision a rout, even though those sometimes occur.

Openers tend to be a little ragged. I expect a struggle.

Prediction: Eagles 23, Jaguars 17.

On Twitter: @LesBowen

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian