Dissecting Foles' rough start for Eagles

CHIP KELLY said yesterday he hasn't talked to Nick Foles yet about the film from Sunday's herky-jerky season opener. Kelly didn't want to share any insights into why his starting quarterback spent the first half of the game against Jacksonville lurching around the pocket with the dazed expression of a household pet abandoned on I-95.

I watched the game again yesterday, and wasn't visited by any blinding insights. The only thing I noticed that I didn't really consider as it was happening was that a lot of the awkwardness had to do with Riley Cooper and Jeremy Maclin. Not that they were to blame, but they were targeted 17 times cumulatively, resulting in only eight catches. Cooper caught four balls on seven targets for 29 yards. Maclin caught four on 10 targets, his total of 97 yards inflated by the 68-yard, blown-coverage touchdown.

There was talk in the preseason of how maybe the running backs, with Darren Sproles added, and the tight ends, with Zach Ertz maybe becoming a star, might add an element that would make up for the departure of DeSean Jackson. Sure enough, backs and tight ends caught 16 of the 27 balls Foles was able to complete.

But none of those passes went over the top and made Jacksonville think about dropping back a safety, which is one reason LeSean McCoy averaged 3.5 yards per carry.

Foles seemed to be looking for separation that maybe wasn't there from Maclin, who played 80 snaps, and Cooper, who played 78. It's worth noting that this group did not get a lot of preseason work together, because of injuries to Maclin and Cooper.

Watching it again, the injury chaos along the Eagles' offensive line was a bigger factor than I'd initially thought in the final few drives of the second quarter, and earlier, Foles' first of two fumbles really wasn't his fault. (The second fumble definitely was Foles' fault.) Even after the line settled down, Foles made some really shaky throws.

Foles also didn't provide much in the way of explanation afterward: He's lucky that his teammates stuck with him and kept fighting and the team stuck together and played Eagles football and did he mention that they stuck together?

Kelly said yesterday he spoke repeatedly with Foles during the game, in which Foles turned the ball over three times in the first 20 minutes.

"He was pretty straight-on in terms of [answering], 'What was your decision here?' And 'Where were you going with the ball?' " Kelly said. He said Foles told him, for example, that "the linebacker was taking away the end, and as I got to my next progression, I got moved a little bit in the pocket."

"He was giving you the information . . . I think he was on point with what he was saying," Kelly said.

* The Eagles' defensive line was excellent, but it got help here and there from Jaguars backup center Jacques McClendon. His bad snap on third-and-1 was the initial problem in a sequence that led to Brandon Bair stuffing Toby Gerhart on third-and-1 with 11:09 left in the second quarter, the play before Josh Scobee's missed 50-yard field goal.

* The Eagles were going to be able to get DeMeco Ryans more rest this year, with Malcolm Jenkins and Nolan Carroll adding defensive flexibility. So Ryans was off the field for two snaps Sunday. In fairness, the Jags had only four healthy wideouts, Eagles didn't play much dime.

* Pro Football Focus noted that Brandon Graham was on for four Jacksonville running plays, made four stops. That's solid.

* Chris Maragos, as promised, really seemed to spearhead the coverage units. He made two big special-teams tackles.

* It's a shame Brandon Boykin's artful downing of a Donnie Jones punt at the 1 was overshadowed by the 46-yard catch Cary Williams gave up on the next play, Williams flummoxed by a double move.

* As Malcolm Jenkins noted afterward, he had "bad eyes" on the Jags' second touchdown. Jenkins thought he was seeing a bubble screen, something the Eagles blew up a couple times. But when Jenkins broke toward the line, Chad Henne threw to wide-open rookie Allen Hurns.

* Henne completed 12 of his first 16 passes for 171 yards, then 12 of his final 27, for 95 yards.

Jeremy Maclin surpassed Ben Hawkins on the Eagles' all-time reception list Sunday. Maclin now has 262 catches, 17th overall. Hawkins wore Maclin's No. 18 throughout his 8-year Eagles career, and led the NFL with 1,265 receiving yards (in a 14-game season), on 59 catches, in 1967.

That it would take Cody Parkey, shown kicking off against the Jags, one game to match Alex Henery's career-long field goal (51 yards)? Or that Parkey would become the fourth Eagles kicker to record five touchbacks in a game, along with Henery (three times), David Akers and Roger Ruzek (once apiece)?

Brandon Boykin, the guy who tied for second in the NFL in interceptions last season, with six, played just 23 defensive snaps Sunday. Neither he nor any other Eagle came close to intercepting Chad Henne.

Boykin's situation has been in the back of observers' minds ever since defensive coordinator Bill Davis outlined how he hoped the versatility of Malcolm Jenkins would allow him to stay in his base defense more, that teams wouldn't be able to get the Eagles in nickel and run on them, the way New Orleans did in the playoffs.

Boykin, the nickel corner, is the best athlete in the Birds' secondary. He's also generously listed at 5-10, weighs 185 pounds. Chip Kelly and Davis want length on the outside. Sunday, Davis was willing to sub in Nolan Carroll for Bradley Fletcher here and there (Carroll got 13 snaps), but Boykin only played slot.

Asked about this yesterday, Chip Kelly said Boykin only practices in the slot, doesn't practice outside. Kelly reiterated that he considers the nickel corner a starter. Other opponents will require more nickel from the Eagles, etc.

You've heard this before, but Boykin, in the third season of a 4-year deal, is going to want real outside-corner money eventually, and maybe even a real outside-corner starting role somewhere. It's something to keep an eye on.