The 2012 season has proven to be one to forget for Philadelphia Eagles fans, who have seen their team lose eight games in a row en route to a 3-9 record. That said, in Sunday night's 38-33 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Eagles fans at least saw impressive performances from rookies Nick Foles and Bryce Brown, who may end up playing larger roles with the team next season and beyond.
Eagles vs. Cowboys 2012: Nick Foles, Bryce Brown stand out despite loss
Young players thrust into important roles were impressive on Sunday night despite Philadelphia’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
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That was the positive spin on the loss from JasonB of SB Nation’s Eagles blog Bleeding Green Nation, who decided to focus on the glimmer of potential shown by those young players.
I’m going to be positive. Because actually, tonight was a pretty good result for the Eagles. Some young players flashed some ability, we saw some good things from guys who will be here next year, but ultimately they lost and the team is still in line for a top 3-5 pick.
Among those players was kicker Alex Henery, who has quietly had a very solid season in Philadelphia.
Alex Henery has hit 21 straight FGs, a team record. He now has more FGs made in his first 50 NFL attempts than any kicker in the NFL history. Kickers don’t often get drafted, but when they do they better be really good. So far, Alex Henery has been really good. A clear bright spot this season.
Then there’s Foles, who may have had his best game of the season on Sunday night.
More than just the stats though, he clearly looked more comfortable than in his first two starts and his fundamentals were strong as a result. The jury is obviously still out on Foles, but it was nice to see some real progress from him.
The star of the night, though, was Brown, the seventh-round pick who rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns on the night.
Brown is still incredibly raw. He’s played basically one year of football post high school and that was about 3 years ago. That his fundamentals aren’t great should hardly be a surprise. But the fact that there’s a pretty great base of talent to work from isn’t a bad problem to have.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, those performances didn’t add up to a victory. But as the team inches closer and closer to one of the top picks in the draft, it’s possible to envision a young core in Philadelphia that could rejuvenate the franchise. It remains to be seen how big of a role guys like Foles and Brown may play in that, but they made their cases on Sunday night.
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