The Philadelphia Eagles have no choice but to put their trust in Mark Sanchez for Week 11 as the team prepares to play Tampa Bay who now has a lot of confidence growing in them. The Eagles need their role players to step up and help the backup quarterback in the wake of Sam Bradford's injury, something that has not been as consistent as Philadelphia would like. With injuries hitting the roster hard, who will make the biggest difference on Sunday?
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ryan Mathews was not at practice on Tuesday as he continues to deal with a concussion suffered in the win over the Miami Dolphins. The running back has not been cleared from the injury and might not be heading into Sunday's game. That would be a big hit for Philadelphia. While the team does have DeMarco Murray as their starting rusher, it has been Mathews making the biggest difference for the team. In his absence, Darren Sproles is going to have to start playing a bigger role.
Sproles has been the forgotten man in the Eagles running back rotation. He did see extra work against the Dolphins when Mathews went out, but overall head coach Chip Kelly has kept him on the sidelines. The Eagles need more from Sproles. The only way they can actually get that is by putting him on the field. With Sproles' dynamic abilities, he is the ideal replacement for Mathews and Kelly needs to give him more opportunities to make a difference.
The passing game is not what the Eagles need right now which is why getting Sproles more involved is ideal. In Week 10, Jordan Matthews barely made an impact. Miles Austin and Riley Cooper were held without a catch. Nelson Agholor is struggling with injuries. The team relied on Brent Celek and Zach Ertz to make the biggest difference. Ertz has quickly taken over as the favored player with 10 targets in Week 10. With Sanchez under center, either Ertz has to continue the success or someone needs to step up and help out.
"I think we do [have good enough receivers]," Kelly said, via ESPN.com. "But in that game [against Miami], the matchups that we thought that we were going to exploit were against their linebackers. Their best cover linebacker actually ... got hurt, so now we've got to match up against the linebackers and the safeties, and again, we felt like we did a good job exploiting that."
Kelly made it clear that he has confidence in Sanchez. He told ESPN.com that he believed the backup quarterback would do just fine on the field. Right now there is no news with Bradford's health after the quarterback suffered a shoulder sprain. According to ESPN, Bradford is not working out with the team right now and no real timetable has been determined. Initially, the Eagles said the quarterback would be out two games, but it is anyone's guess if that is really true.