Starting off, everything looked bright for the Eagles, heading into the 2013-14 NFL season. New coach, meaning new offense, 4th overall pick, Lane Johnson, shoring up the shaky offensive line and just a fresh start from last season's disastrous performance.
Unfortunately, during the early part of training camp, during one of the Eagles non-contact practices, Jeremy Maclin tore his ACL. In the 7-7 drills, Maclin tore it and was on the ground for several minutes, while the medical staff attended to his right leg. Shortly after, he needed to be assisted to a motorized cart.
On Twitter, mounds of tweets in support of Maclin were showered by Eagles fans and from other players. In response, Maclin tweeted:
As it is quite obvious, Jeremy Maclin's 2013-14 campaign is over and the best thing for him to do is to fully recover and prepare to try and have his 1st 1,000 yard season of his short career or an Adrian Peterson-esque comeback season for 2014-15. Hopefully he can regain his old 2010 form, where he hauled in 70 receptions for 964 yards and 10 TD's, all of them being career highs, even after the ACL tear.
Expectations for Maclin in Chip Kelly's high octane offense were at least 70 receptions, 1,000 yards receiving and 7 or so TD's for the 2013-14 season but after this serious knee injury, is expectations for the following season are closer to his career averages of 65 catches, 863 yards and 6 or 7 TD's.
The Eagles were predicted to challenge for the NFC East title as top team by many this season with the Dallas Cowboys knack for losing leads, the New York Giants tendency to be inconsistent and the Washington Redskins franchise QB, RGlll starting the season on the disabled list and a possible sophomore slump for Griffin and Alfred Morris. However, with Maclin out for the upcoming season, the Eagles expectations go down, not drastically but not slightly either. Maclin being out for the 2013-14 season, causes Desean Jackson to be focused on, hindering his expectations as well. Also, the running game isn't going to be as well as advertised, even with the improved O-Line, as more attention is going to be focused on Lesean McCoy. As the O-Line has improved for the Eagles with the addition of 1st-Round selection, Lane Johnson, and the return of Jason Peters from a torn Achilles, the receiving corpse has suffered a huge blow Jeremy Maclin's torn ACL.
Whoever wins the QB competition in Philadelphia, Michael Vick, Nick Foles or even Matt Barkley, is going to have a tough time advancing the ball.
Good Luck, Philadelphia Eagles and best wishes for Jeremy Maclin's recovery from a torn ACL.
