Eagles say Sproles' MCL sprain relatively mild

CHIP KELLY said he wasn't relieved yesterday when he heard Darren Sproles had suffered a relatively mild left MCL sprain, which might or might not keep Sproles out of the lineup for a week or 2 after the Eagles come back from the bye. Kelly said he'd talked to his change-of-pace runner, receiver and punt returner after Sunday night's trouncing of the Giants, and Sproles "didn't seem like it was anything big . . . he was walking fine and there was really no swelling . . . so I wasn't as concerned as maybe some other people were."

Kelly might have shared those observations Sunday night and kept a few million Eagles fans from 14 hours or so of fretting about their team's most dynamic offensive performer this season, but at least he didn't make us wait until after the bye.

"He'll get treatment and we'll assess him when we get back next Tuesday," Kelly said.

The 2014 Eagles haven't had last season's amazing, downright eerie luck with injuries, but they really can't complain. Even if Sproles misses a few games, hey, the team is 5-1 and it figures to get Sproles, linebacker Mychal Kendricks (calf), left guard Evan Mathis (MCL) and center Jason Kelce (abdominal surgery) back in plenty of time for the stretch drive.

How different would the season look if these had been season-ending injuries, had Sproles left Lincoln Financial Field on a cart, the way Giants wideout Victor Cruz did after tearing his right patellar tendon? The Patriots apparently lost running back Stevan Ridley and linebacker Jerod Mayo for the season with knee injuries Sunday, souring the taste of their win over the Bills.

Kelly spoke glowingly yesterday of how his backups have stepped it up - Casey Matthews and Emmanuel Acho have been much better in place of Kendricks the past few weeks, David Molk easily played his best game Sunday night since Kelce went down against Washington - but nobody is under the illusion that these guys are as good as the injured starters. Kelly acknowledged as much.

"I think David has done a good job, but David just hasn't been Jason. Jason is truly the quarterback up there," Kelly said.

And the Eagles do not have another Darren Sproles.

* Didn't notice until I rewatched the game that it was Nick Foles who dived and knocked Zack Bowman out of bounds, possibly preventing a touchdown after Foles' second interception. Chris Baker no doubt was wondering why Foles didn't get blindsided.

* Only three targets (and two catches) Sunday night for Jeremy Maclin, targeted 27 times in the previous two games. Pro Football Focus says Maclin has been thrown to 58 times so far this season, tying him for fifth in the NFL, but his 46.6 percent catch rate ranks 102nd. Much more Nick Foles' problem than Maclin's.

* The Eagles really went after ex-Birds safety Quintin Demps, who gave up a lot of catches over the middle, reacting late. On the replay of James Casey's 26-yard touchdown, Prince Amukamara is pointing Casey out to Demps, who then takes off after him, far too late to stop the TD.

* On Darren Sproles' 43-yard punt return, he was a Malcolm Jenkins block on Larry Donnell short of taking it all the way. Early in the return, Trey Burton upended Zak DeOssie and Marcus Smith took out Daniel Fells.

That the people who made that Eagles website cartoon last week — in which the Birds' defense turned Eli Manning into a scared, confused little kid — actually would be guilty of understatement?

Going into last night's 49ers-Rams game, Pro Football Focus ranked Brandon Graham 10th in the NFL among 3-4 outside linebackers, just ahead of Dwight Freeney, Aaron Lynch and Julius Peppers. Pretty much where you'd expect to see him.

With 9 minutues, 35 seconds remaining in the third quarter of Sunday night's rout, a colleague turned to me and said, "There's only one man who can win this game now for the Giants. That's Nick Foles."

Foles was settling under center at the Eagles' 3, in the aftermath of the Giants' disastrous fourth-down touchdown attempt, on which Victor Cruz tore his patellar tendon. We had just watched Foles, with a 20-0 lead, throw two interceptions in three possessions. Both were just awful decisions, the kind Foles never made last year, but seems unable to keep himself from making this year.

Some of you are saying, "Why are you on Foles again? The Eagles won 27-0."

Well, two reasons. One, because you don't blunder your way into the Super Bowl. You throw two picks like that in a playoff game, you lose. Two, because the backdrop to this season is the decision the Eagles are facing about giving Foles a starter's contract, or looking elsewhere for a long-term answer. I would love to know what Chip Kelly really thought Sunday night — that these missteps were things that can be fixed, and that there is still a Pro Bowl-quality QB inside that No. 9 jersey, once he works through the growing pains? Or is Kelly thinking that he'd better start looking hard at the 2015 QB draft class?

There is no stat the coach values more than turnover differential. Last season the Eagles were plus-12. It was one of the big reasons for their turnaround. Right now, Kelly's team is minus-5. Their 14 giveaways led the league yesterday.

I'd also love to know what Foles was thinking. The first pick, he didn't look to his right until the last moment, maybe he just assumed his safety valve was going to be open. The second, a ball flung on a dead run into traffic, was just absurd. Does Foles think that in order to stay here he has to show he can make like Russell Wilson or Colin Kaepernick? That is not Foles' game. He used to know that.