Game Review – PHI 33, SF 10

The Eagles were up 3-0 at the 2-minute warning.

They won the game 33-10.

The team started slow, but once things broke open late in the half, it was all over. They were clearly the better team, even though the Eagles did not play great football. I think it says something that they can be a bit sloppy and still win by 23. Also take into account that this was a short week. Plus, there was no Jason Peters. There was no Jordan Hicks. The Eagles still won convincingly. That’s a good sign.

SF came into the week with a banged up OL. They lost both OTs during the game and had no chance at that point. There was one play in the 3rd quarter that showed how overwhelmed they were. CJ Beathard faked a hand-off and the RB had a pair of Eagles all over him. Beathard ran a bootleg and had a pair of Eagles on him. He got rid of the ball just before being planted. The guy who caught the ball had a pair of defenders on him as he caught the ball. There was no gain on the play.

The defense had their best game of the year, limiting SF to just 238 yards. The lone TD was scored after an INT gave the Niners the ball deep in Eagles territory. The Eagles sacked Beathard 4 times and pounded him all game long. They came up with 2 INTs.

Another play that can give you an idea of the futility of the SF offense came on a QB sneak. The Eagles came up with one of the best stuffs of a sneak I’ve ever seen. Beau Allen went low and pushed up the A-gap, getting Beathard low. Vinny Curry came over the LG and got Beathard up high. Mychal Kendricks flew off the edge and slung Beathard down. With forward progress, no gain. Beathard ended up several yards back with multiple Eagles on him. Zero chance of success.

The Eagles offense was hardly a smooth machine, but made enough big plays for the team to stay out in front and win the game. The Eagles got the ball with 5:20 left in the game and, just like in the Chargers game, never gave it back. This wasn’t as dramatic because the game wasn’t on the line, but you still love seeing the offense be able to just methodically seal the game. You know you’ve had a good day when Nick Foles is the one kneeling the ball at the end.

COACHING

Doug Pederson had a lot of things to deal with to get the team ready. Short week. Bad weather. Key injuries. Inferior opponent. The Eagles didn’t come out and play clean, crisp football, but there was no letdown. Sloppy play kept the game close for most of the first half, but that changed in a hurry. Once the Eagles created some separation, they didn’t let up. Pederson really is pushing the right buttons with this team.

There was only one management decision of any real significance. The Eagles missed the extra point after going up 9-0. When they scored a few minutes later, Pederson had the team go for two. That made the lead 17-0, three possessions. There is a huge difference in being up two vs three possessions. Smart gamble by Pederson.

The offensive gameplan made sense. Come out and play power football, trying to run on the Niners. It worked initially, but then their D got real aggressive for a while and shut down the run game. SF also caused problems with blitzing and stunting on pass plays. It took a bit, but the Eagles countered and got a quick passing game going late in the half and that woke up the offense.

The defense did what they seem to every week…stuff the run and dare the QB to win. With that OL and a rookie QB, the Niners had no chance.

PLAYERS

Carson Wentz did not have his A-game. He finished 18-32-211 with 2 TDs and an INT.

The weather wasn’t ideal, but Wentz said that didn’t have much of an effect on the offense. SF did some new and creative things that threw off the protection early and Wentz was under a lot of pressure for a while. He didn’t always handle that well. There were some sloppy throws. Some due to pressure and some when he did have time.

Wentz missed Jeffery for TD in the 1st Qtr. Just overthrew him. There was a DL closing in on him, but Wentz needs to make a better throw there. Jeffery didn’t have a chance to even play the ball. Wentz missed a wide open Ertz in the 4th. Wentz had rolled to his left and had time to throw. He just rushed and the ball was behind Ertz. Wentz overthrew Celek in the 4th. That would have put the Eagles near the goal line. Just a bad throw.

There were some highlights. Wentz found Ertz for a short TD late in the half. Ertz was wide open, but sometimes those can be the hardest throws. They made it look like pitch and catch. Wentz hit Jeffery down the right sideline for a big play in the 3rd Qtr. Jeffery turned that into a 53-yard TD. Wentz made impressive throws to Burton, Agholor and Hollins over the middle on various plays. 

The INT wasn’t Wentz’s fault. He wouldn’t come out and say it, but Hollins stopped running and Wentz threw it out in front of him on a dig route. I love the fact he wouldn’t throw the rookie under the bus. That’s good leadership.

Wentz did make one key throw that wasn’t caught. The Eagles had 3rd/15 late in the half. Wentz fired the ball downfield toward Torrey Smith in the end zone. Smith was able to draw a flag for PI. Wentz was willing to take a chance and made a good enough throw that the DB had to do something. That led to the first TD of the game.

Wentz picked a good week to have a mediocre performance. He was still good enough for the Eagles to be a bad team.

RB

LeGarrette Blount finished 16-48-1. He started well and finished well, but didn’t have room to run in between that. You could see where his lack of burst hurt on some of those plays. There were holes to hit, but they closed as he got there or before. SF has a fast defense and that showed on some of those plays. Blount was at his best late. Carried the ball 4 times for 26 yards and a TD on a drive in the 4th.

Wendell Smallwood was darn near invisible. You have to wonder if he’s hurt and the coaches were protecting him or he’s done something to get on their bad side. One run for 5 yards and one catch for 9 yards.

Corey Clement had his best game, going 10-54 on the ground. Most of those carries came in the 2nd half. Showed good speed and ran hard. Had best run of his young career when he went for 22 yards in the mid-3rd Qtr. Made a good cut and burst up the middle. Had good blocking on the play. Ran hard on the final drive and helped the offense eat up the clock.

Kenjon Barner was 2-11 as a receiver.

WR

Alshon Jeffery was 2-62-1. Limited stats, but made impact plays. Hauled in a pass on the sideline in the 3rd Qtr. Was a 50-50 ball that he won and then outmuscled a couple of DBs and turned that into a 53-yard TD. Made the catch on the 2-point conversion late in the 1st half. Played some defense and batted down a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the 1st half. Had a good block on Blount’s TD run.

Torrey Smith did not have a catch, but still made a key play. Drew PI call late in the half. Ran full speed toward the end zone and forced the CB into a tough position. Guy panicked, made contact and drew the flag. That play only happens because Smith ran his route as well as he did.

Nelson Agholor was 3-26. No real highlight plays.

Mack Hollins was 2-30. Highlight was a 24-yard catch on a scoring drive. Ran a great route to get open for the big gain. Blocked well on run plays. Big error came in the 3rd when he ran a dig route and stopped. Wentz threw the ball to a spot, anticipating Hollins would keep running. Went right to DB for the pick.

TE

Zach Ertz had somewhat of a quiet game, finishing 4-34-1. SF is very good against TEs so it isn’t a surprise that they slowed him down a bit. Had a poor block on early QB run. Allowed LB to make the tackle. Had good block of DE on Clement’s long run in the 3rd Qtr. The TD was simple, but ran a good route to get wide open.

Brent Celek caught one pass for 14 yards. Up and down game as a blocker. Badly beaten by OLB on 3rd/1. Led to TFL. Blocked LB for 10 yards on Blount’s TD run. Was on the backside, but kept LB from getting in on the play.

Trey Burton caught pass on 3rd/5 and delivered a gain of 15. Good catch and RAC yards. Finished 2-21.

OL

Blitzes were a problem. So were stunts and loops.They did some things that caught the Eagles off guard. There were too many missed assignments and too much confusion. The OL was better in the 2nd half.

Halapoulivaati Vaitai made his first ever start at LT. Good game. Not perfect to be sure, but played well. Gave up a sack late in the half. Wentz didn’t help by holding the ball, but Vaitai can’t let big DL beat him to the inside. Make that guy beat you around the edge. Called for holding on 3rd Qtr run play. Looked questionable to me. Good block initially, but then DL went to ground and Big V on top of him. That drew the flag. Good block of DT created good hole for Clement on his long run.

Looked good as a pass protector. Played with good pad level and moved his feet well. Looked comfortable. Needs to anchor better. Got moved backward more than you would ideally prefer. Run blocking was very up and down. Did better than I expected. Overall, showed a lot of promise.

Shot 1 – Nice completion from Wentz to Agholor on a simple high-low concept for 1st down. Keep an eye on Vaitai vs Solomon Thomas #Eagles pic.twitter.com/b7Ni3DMWjw

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) October 30, 2017

Lane Johnson had a bad sequence early on. False start turned 3rd/6 into 3rd/11 and then got beaten on that play, which led to a sack. Played well overall. Great block on Blount run in the 4th. Caved in DE and then got LB, giving Blount huge hole. Also had an excellent block on Blount’s TD run.

Jason Kelce had some struggles with NT Earl Mitchell, a powerful veteran who plays with good leverage. Kelce did a good job on ILB on Clement’s long run. Terrific reach block of Mitchell on Blount’s TD. Rode him wide and gave Blount a lane.

Stefen Wisniewski played LG and moved to C on the final drive. Didn’t have many highlight blocks. He and Kelce both let an interior rusher go on 3rd down play. Guy pressured Wentz. Miscommunication between the two.

Brandon Brooks had an excellent block on early 3rd down. LB lined up in the A-gap and Brooks caved him in to the left. Gave Wentz clean pocket with no traffic in front of him. Overall, played well.

Isaac Seumalo was the jumbo TE. Got manhandled by Douzable on run play and Blount was stuffed. Did not look good early. Had a couple of good blocks on the final drive.

*****

DL

Vinny Curry is just a monster against the run this year. Had a TFL early in the game. Seems to live in the backfield on run plays. Played really well. Had 5 solo tackles, TFL and a sack. Got held on multiple plays or could have posted even better numbers. Just missed sacks a few times. Finally got loose in the 4th and sacked Beathard.

Fletcher Cox dominated the middle of the line. Just overwhelmed the C and came up with a sack in the mid-2nd Qtr. Almost picked off pass in the early 4th. Got his hand on a screen pass, but just couldn’t quite get hold of the ball.

Brandon Graham was disruptive at LDE and RDT. Exploded off the edge and got a sack late in the half. Flew into the backfield in the 4th and had a chance for a sack, but was called for a penalty. Bogus call.

Tim Jernigan had a couple of tackles, including a TFL. Dominated on 3rd Qtr run. Drove the C backward and then tackled the RB. Great series in the 4th. Flew into the backfield and crushed Beathard just after he threw the ball. On the next play, threw the RG aside and stuffed the RB.

Beau Allen had a good showing. Wasn’t credited with any plays, but was in on stuffing the QB sneak. Got pressure on a couple of plays and hustled in pursuit.

Destiny Vaeao had a couple of tackles. Best play came when he shed a blocker and stuffed a RB.

Derek Barnett lined up offside on early 3rd/11. Luckily that didn’t burn the defense. Had a TFL in the 2nd Qtr. Had a couple of solo tackles and got a couple of big hits on Beathard.

Chris Long didn’t show up much on the stat sheet, but the tape showed different. Got some big hits on the QB. Ate up the RT in passing situations. Got robbed of a sack when officials ruled a timeout had been called prior to the snap.

LB

Mychal Kendricks had another strong game. He is really flying around the field and making plays. There was a play early in the game when Beathard tried to roll right so he could throw. Kendricks flew up the field and forced him to throw the ball away. Showed big time closing speed on that play. On the next play, used his speed to create TFL vs run. Made a great pass break-up in the 4th. Came from around the RB and knocked the ball away without interfering with him. Great play inside the 5-yard line. Amazing how well Kendricks is playing this year. Finished with 7 tackles, sack and PD.

Nigel Bradham had a 5 tackles and played well, but there weren’t any real highlights. Had a chance for an INT, but McLeod got to the ball first.

Joe Walker started slow, but got better as the game went along. Can be over-aggressive at times and get himself out of position. Stuffed running play in the 3rd Qtr. Hit TE as he tried to catch a pass over the middle and broke up the play. Played faster as the game went along. Got better in coverage. Had 3 tackles and PD.

S

Malcolm Jenkins had 5 solo stops and a PD. Blew up 2nd Qtr run by driving blocker back at LOS and creating TFL for Robinson.

Rodney McLeod was in on 4 tackles. He also had a TFL and picked off a pass. SF didn’t challenge him deep very much, but he came downhill to get involved as much as he could.

Corey Graham blitzed up the A-gap in the early 4th and forced Beathard to throw the ball away inside the 10-yard line. Lined up like a CB on a RZ pass play. Gave up completion on slant, but made the tackle.

CB

Patrick Robinson had a good game, but got hurt and missed more than half the game. Finished with 2 tackles, TFL and PD. Played the run well. Very physical, whether making tackles or taking on blockers. Broke up a pass and the deflection was picked off by McLeod.

Jalen Mills had a terrific game. Had 3 tackles, TFL and a pick-six. Covered well throughout. Made a huge play late in the half when he read the play, jumped the route and picked off Beathard. Ran that back for a TD. Good break on ball in the 3rd and broke up the pass.

Shot 5 – The INT wasn't the only great play by @greengoblin – disciplined in coverage all day long on Sunday. Don't see these on TV copy. pic.twitter.com/ZbPYyU1P4P

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 1, 2017

Rasul Douglas played some on the outside. Highlight came when he broke up deep ball in the 4th. Was in good position and extended to deflect the ball.

Jaylen Watkins split time with Douglas outside. Watkins stopped early 3rd down play by knocking receiver out of bounds short of the sticks. Amazing that he’s become a physical player and solid tackler.

Dexter McDougle took over for Robinson in the slot. Looked good in coverage. Was in on one tackle.

*****

ST

KOR – All were touchbacks.

PR – Kenjon Barner 2-14.

Donnie Jones – Averaged 46 yards per punt. Had two downed inside the 20.

Jake Elliott – All 7 of his KOs were touchbacks. 2 for 2 on FGs. Only went 1 for 3 on extra points. First miss was due to a bad hold (weather). Second miss also looked like there could have been an issue with the hold.

MISC –

McDougle downed a punt inside the 5. I loved the fact he didn’t try to get it as close to the GL as possible. Too many guys get greedy and the ball somehow goes into the end zone.

Barnett blocked FG in the 4th. Got the best of DL who had taken the place of OL in the FG protection team. Barnett then shoved aside the kicker and scooped the ball. Wanted to run it back a long way, but couldn’t break free of traffic.

Shot 9 – Derek Barnett's blocked kick; great getoff by Vinny Curry threatening B gap. Helps widen lane for DB to fly thru. Finishes for blk pic.twitter.com/vHw3AKyvUE

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 1, 2017

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GAMEBOOK

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