The Philadelphia Eagles have lost three consecutive games, the past two by a combined score of 90-31.
Chip Kelly's squad has been a tire fire the past several weeks, but apparently you wouldn't know that if you work inside the New England Patriots facility.
Despite the Eagles giving up 10 touchdowns in the past two weeks, Patriots receiver Brandon LaFell said Thursday he hasn't seen any bad plays from Philly's defensive backfield -- which are numerous -- because Bill Belichick highlights only the opponent's positive traits.
"The crazy thing about it is we haven't seen none of those touchdown passes on film," LaFell said, via CSN New England. "Bill don't show all that. We're just seeing all them causing turnovers, these guys making plays, the defensive line led by (Fletcher) Cox getting to the quarterback and stuff like that. We haven't seen all the touchdown passes they're giving up. We're just seeing all the takeaways they've been having."
Those plays must have been from early in the season. The Eagles have caused just one interception in their last four games and given up 5.2 yards per carry since Week 7 (after allowing 3.5 YPC in the first six weeks).
On Friday morning, Belichick dismissed the notion that he only shows an opponent's good plays.
"I wouldn't agree with that statement," he told reporters. "You should ask Brandon LaFell if I've ever shown any of our opponents missing a tackle. Just ask him that. We show plays that are relevant, whatever they are. There's good plays and there's things that we think we could take advantage of. Whoever we play, each team has strengths and weaknesses, each player has strengths and weaknesses, and we try to identify those and give examples of how they could come up in the game or will come up in the game. Some of them are absolutely going to come up. Other things are situational and maybe they'll happen, maybe they won't. But you have to be prepared for them."
We'll choose to believe that Belichick finds Philadelphia's positive defensive plays more "relevant" to his offense's preparation for Sunday's contest, which is why that's all LaFell and the other receivers feel like they've seen this week.
It's not a surprise that Belichick would prepare for the best version of the opponent, even if that opponent hasn't been seen in weeks. That's how you win seven consecutive division titles.
