Bradford, offense too up-and-down

Six games into the regular season, the Eagles offense has settled into a pattern in which it is equally encouraging and frustrating, not just within the same game, but often within the same drive.

Too many times, the running game still goes nowhere, with the backs strung out to the sideline looking for holes that never appear. And then suddenly, as he did with a third-quarter touchdown run on Monday night, DeMarco Murray will burst past defenders and turn that nothing into something.

Way too often, Sam Bradford will misread the passing lanes and have his passes batted to the ground, or he will misfire badly, or his receivers will appear to run a route the quarterback didn't expect. And then, just as unexpectedly, he will step up and pick out a receiver on a deep seam route and lay in the ball perfectly.

The problem is there is way too much of the former than the latter, in both cases. It didn't matter Monday night against the Giants, who had to suffer through one of those occasional "bad Eli" games that the franchise accepts as the bargain for having quarterback Eli Manning lead the team effectively most of the time.

The Eagles defense pressured Manning consistently, got him uncomfortable, intercepted him twice and never allowed him to get into a rhythm after the first quarter. For a team that was supposed to be dangerous and high-powered on offense and hopefully improved on defense, the reality has turned out to be the opposite. The defense wins games, the offense tries to keep from losing them.

Whether this can improve despite an offensive line that is still spotty and a quarterback who has been inconsistent is a reasonable question. Fortunately for the Eagles, the answer still matters. By beating the Giants and evening their record, the season didn't come to a crashing end on Monday night.

"There's no bad wins," Bradford said. "Our goal was to go out and get a win, and that's what we did tonight."

What we know is the Eagles can score some points and do enough offensively to win a game when the other team is missing three defensive starters, allows one scoring drive to continue because of a roughing penalty, and another because of a running into the punter penalty, and still another to advance into field goal range because of another roughing penalty.

Those three drives were finished off by two touchdowns and a field goal, and the Eagles get credit for taking advantage of a helpful opponent, but those drives also represent the offense's scoring output in the 27-7 win until Caleb Sturgis kicked a field goal midway through the fourth quarter. The defense provided the other touchdown when Nolan Carroll intercepted Manning in the second quarter and returned it 17 yards.

Bradford threw three interceptions and the Eagles lost a fumble to turn what had been a plus-3 takeaway game into a minus-1 evening. That's not the way to put away a game, or to engender confidence in the offense, but that's what they have right now - an offense that clunks as often as it clicks.

"For us to be where we want to be, I've got to play much better," Bradford said. "[Tonight], I wasn't as good as I was in the last two games."

It all looked good on the scoreboard, but that was mostly because the Eagles defense kept this game from becoming a dogfight. After allowing 10 first downs to New York in the opening quarter, the Eagles gave up just eight the rest of the game. The offense was given field position and opportunity, but took advantage only sporadically.

Mark this one down as a game that looked good on the scoreboard, but was eye-searingly bad to watch at times. As a fight for first place in the division, it left a lot to be desired, even if the Eagles got the outcome they desperately needed.

"Fortunately, we did enough to win today," Chip Kelly said. "We had some miscommunication, times we weren't on the same page. There are things we have to clean up."

Moving ahead, if the offense doesn't improve - and if the defense can't keep bailing it out - this isn't going to be an ultimately satisfying season, however one chooses to measure that. Can the Eagles win this dog of a division? Sure. The Giants are capable of stinking up the joint, too. The Cowboys might not be able to hold things together until Tony Romo returns. The Redskins aren't very good, either.

Winning the division isn't going to be the measure of competence, however, no matter which team emerges as the winner. None of the teams playing as they are now seem capable of being anything other than a distraction in the postseason.

So, yes, judging by Monday night the Eagles can win the division. Only three of the 10 teams remaining on their schedule have winning records at the moment. They can finish 9-7 or 10-6 and win it.

What does that mean? Without a more reliable offense, not much.

bford@phillynews.com

@bobfordsports