It’s been just over a week since the Eagles’ embarrassing 37-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night football Oct. 20. Coming into this past Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, the media, and even the fans, acted as if the season were al- ready lost, even with nine games left.
Then came Oct. 25, which seemed to change everything about the Ea- gles’ season. Fox Sports 1’s hit sports show “Undisputed” featuring Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless had on Orlando Scandrick. Scandrick, who spent a majority of his career with the Cowboys, had an up-and-down season in the Eagles organization this year. After fighting for a roster spot in training camp and preseason, Scandrink was cut right before the season, brought back week five, and then cut again Oct. 20, the day after the Eagles were blown out by his former team.
When he appeared on “Undisputed,” he didn’t hold back in response to the questions asked by Skip Bayless, an admitted Cowboys fan. Scandrick had no problem adding fuel to where there was already fire, particularly regarding the reported issues within the Eagles locker room. Whether it was Lane Johnson saying guys have been late to meetings, Josina Anderson’s anonymous source (allegedly Alshon Jeffrey) criticizing Carson Wentz and General Manager Howie Roseman or the team failing to ad- dress the poor cornerback play, there has been no shortage of headlines this season. Scandrick’s criticism was targeted at Eagles star safety Malcolm Jenkins and General Manager Howie Roseman.
“I don’t believe anything Howie says,” Scandrick said. “Howie is one of the people that if you told me it was raining outside, I’d probably get some shorts just in case. [The release was because] he wanted to play some younger players and they’re a mess on defense and they needed to get some defensive linemen, so we’ll see how that works out for them this weekend up in Buffalo.”
Scandrick also went on to say that Malcom Jenkins was “selfish” and did not take responsibility for his own mistakes. In response, Jenkins said, “Anybody that we have here, we want to make sure that we have each other’s back. It’s a family. This team is very, very close. If you look around, I think everybody here can trust one another. We feel like we have what it takes.”
After all the talk and defending themselves, the Eagles had to fo- cus on one thing: the Buffalo Bills. This was a make-or-break game for a team on the verge of flaming out. They had to prove to the whole league that they won the Super Bowl in 2017 for a reason and weren’t about to go into “rebuild” mode. The team showed a lot of grit in the Oct. 2 victory over the (then 5-1) Buffalo Bills who were at home. The Eagles won by finally getting “serviceable” play from their corner- backs, especially Jalen Mills who was only playing his second game this season after dealing with a foot in- jury he suffered last year against the Jaguars in London on Oct. 28. While Mill’s play was a big boost, it was the running backs who led the way in the 31-13 victory. Jordan Howard and rookie Miles Sanders combined to put up 229 yards of offense, some- thing the Eagles have been lacking most of the season.
With the defense having a good game and the running backs dominating, it’s clear that the Eagles were motivated by the comments made by Orlando Scandrick. Maybe that’s all the Eagles needed to have success for the rest of the season. They had better hope so, because Roseman did not make any notable trades before the Oct. 29 tradeline besides trad- ing for situational pass rusher Gerald Avery. The (4-4) Eagles next game takes place on Nov. 3 as they host the Chicago Bears (3-4).