Checking In At the Halfway Mark

Well allrightythen.  This sure looks a lot better than it did a few weeks ago:

Tampa Bay is going to be an issue, because they play a Big Ten schedule from here on out.  You can get to three more losses from that schedule, but it's hard to predict any more than that -- if Garcia stays healthy.  Obviously the division's still in play too, but a loss on Sunday pretty much kills that idea. 

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Let's take a look at some stats.  Offense first (2008 numbers are doubled for comparison's sake):

Yardagewise, it's kind of a wash.  The rushing attack is worse and the passing attack has been better.  But if you look down to the bottom of that table, you can see that the scoring problems that so plagued last year's team aren't cropping up as much this year.  Yes, we still have short-yardage issues, but one reason it seems like the Eagles are kicking so many field goals ... is that they're kicking so many field goals.  They're scoring touchdowns at a better rate than last year, it's just that they're spinning up so many scoring chances that the field goal blizzard just feels wrong.

As for those sack statistics, don't be confused, those are actually sacks by the Eagles defense.  NFL.com lumps them in over here and I didn't change it.  Turnovers are also a big change.

Defense now:

If the offense has treaded water on the yardage stats, the defense has shown a marked improvement.  Everything's better, rushing, passing, the whole shebang -- except for touchdowns allowed.  That number hasn't budged.  Odd.

Field goal attempts are way down, although opposing kickers continue to not miss.  Turnover margin is (obviously) the same and remember that those numbers are for sacks allowed.