The Philadelphia Eagles could very well have found a stud cornerback in rookie Eric Rowe.

It seems like yesterday that Philadelphia Eagles rookie cornerback Eric Rowe was being embarrassed on Thanksgiving Day by Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson. In the 45-14 beat-down, Nolan Carroll was lost for the rest of the season with a broken ankle, throwing the rookie into the fire against one of the best receivers in the league.

Naturally, it wasn’t a pretty performance from Rowe.

Despite the awful game still giving Eagles fans nightmares, Rowe has already omitted that disastrous performance from his short memory. His struggles against Detroit were a blessing in disguise and that is starting to look evident.

In the last two weeks, Rowe has been playing like a franchise cornerback. In his first career start against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, Rowe allowed only four receptions for 42 yards on 12 targets. It can also be argued that he recorded his second career interception against the Pats, but the play was ruled out of bounds when the refs did not believe he was able to drag his second foot before stepping out of play (even though he totally did).

Against the Buffalo Bills, Rowe played just as well as he was able to shut down Bills wideout Sammy Watkins whenever he was on Rowe’s side of the field. In the running game, Rowe was effective as well, minimizing the second-level yardage from LeSean McCoy when he bounced runs to the outside.

Eric Rowe against Sammy Watkins. This is textbook. #Eagles pic.twitter.com/9TBewR1tUn — Tyler Steege (@EaglesFanTalk) December 13, 2015

Rowe was the next man up when Carroll went down and, since taking over, he’s been very good. He is only a rookie and still has a lot of work to do to round out his game, but the things he’s doing as a first-year player are not normal. He’s shown phenomenal instincts and physical ability since stepping in for Carroll and, if he continues to develop at this pace, he will make all of Philadelphia’s terrible cornerback projects totally worth it.