Game Review – PHI 15, ATL 10

The Eagles played in their first playoff game in four years. Was the wait worth it? Yes. Heck yes.

No one knew exactly what to expect. Most of that was due to the fact Nick Foles was starting at QB, but there was also some question about how Doug Pederson would handle his first playoff game. This is also the first playoff game for “this team”. A lot of guys had experience, some even as Eagles. But not running these schemes for these coaches and with these teammates.

The Falcons were defending NFC champs. They were coming off a big win in the Wild Card round had been hot down the stretch. There were plenty of reasons to think the Falcons should win the game.

The bottom line is that the Falcons aren’t as talented as the Eagles and they aren’t as good a team, this year. The Eagles outplayed them, despite making mistakes. Philly had the two turnovers. They still won. The Eagles missed the extra point and had a kickoff go out of bounds. Still won. The Eagles dropped a couple of INTs. They fumbled the ball four times. Still won. The Eagles were just better.

The game didn’t get off to a promising start. Nick Foles threw a duck, but the pass was so bad the Eagles got a PI penalty out of it. Jay Ajayi fumbled on his first carry of the game to kill that drive. Atlanta marched right down the field and kicked a FG. Sloppy tackling was an issue for the Eagles on that drive. Doug Pederson mentioned after the game that he thought that was rust from not playing for a couple of weeks.

Once the Eagles settled down, they were fine.

This team has been clutch all year long and they played like that on Saturday evening. They came up with a crazy FG right at the end of the 1st half. The defense didn’t give up any points in the 2nd half. The Eagles offense went on a long FG drive in the 4th Qtr to extend the lead from 2 to 5 points, which proved huge at the end. The Eagles offense was 6 for 13 on 3rd downs, which was huge. That kept the offense on the field and the Falcons off it. Atlanta came into the game as the #1 3rd down team in the league, but they were only 4 for 13. They struggled to sustain drives. The Falcons had 9 drives and punted 6 times.

Foles did his part.

Pederson did his part.

The Eagles looked like veteran winners, not a team making their first trip to the postseason in 4 years.

COACHING

Doug Pederson set the tone for the game on the opening play. He had Foles throw deep to Smith. It didn’t work as designed, but I think it sent a message to the team to be aggressive and go win this game. I think that was important, especially with Foles at the helm. It would have been easy to stay conservative and play “not to lose”. Pederson has been aggressive all year and wanted to keep that style of play, as much as he could with a backup QB and January weather.

Pederson went for it on 4th/goal when the Eagles were down 3-0. It would have been easy to settle for the FG, but he wanted the TD. That was a good call. He sent the right message to his team there. The Eagles have gone for it in similar situations all year. You want them keeping that mentality. Pederson wasn’t afraid to try for points late in the half. He could have gone conservative there, but rolled the dice and the Eagles got lucky with the Torrey Smith catch.

Pederson had a tough decision late. The Eagles were up 12-10 and had 4th/1 from Atlanta’s 3-yard line. He kicked the FG, which I think was the smart move. ATL’s Matt Bryant is a great kicker. You don’t want to give him a chance to beat you. Pederson had faith that his defense could keep ATL from scoring a TD. 

Late in the game Pederson challenged a catch and got the call overturned. That was the only replay situation of note.

The offensive gameplan was excellent. Pederson, Frank Reich and John DeFelippo mixed runs, short passes and RPOs to keep the ball moving. The Eagles finished with 334 yards and were good on 3rd down. The coaches had some special plays in the game and did a great job with using them at the right moments.

Two favorite clips from today's piece (https://t.co/myxmfTQD4q) with @Coach_Flinn and @geoffschwartz. 1. How badly they fooled 45 on the fake toss/give to Agholor. pic.twitter.com/H2Kygd0FIP

— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) January 17, 2018

I have been watching the NFL since the 1970s and have never seen that play. I can’t stress to you what a brilliant call that was. It got the Eagles down close to the GL and set up their TD.

The Eagles did struggle in the Red Zone, going just 1 for 3. I did not like the 3 goal line plays before Blount’s TD. First was a rollout pass, which I’m never a big fan of. The next play was a run, but required lateral blocking rather than attacking off the LOS. The Falcons fired off the ball and blew up the play. On 3rd down, the Eagles tried a trick play. The timing was off and it resulted in a fumble. On 4th down, the Eagles got back to basics and ran Blount on a downhill play. TD.

Jim Schwartz didn’t do anything too elaborate. He played more Nickel than anything. He didn’t blitz much, since that hadn’t worked well in the 2016 game. Schwartz only had 3 DTs to work with so that changed his rotation a bit. He mixed and matched his DL differently. The players were well-prepared. They knew what was coming on the final play and had that covered tightly. 

PLAYERS

Nick Foles played pretty well, going 23-30-246. No TDs or INTs. Most of the throws were short. The Eagles gave him some simple reads. This wasn’t a great performance. At the same time, Foles was accurate. He protected the ball and did enough to keep the chains moving. He must get better for the Eagles to continue winning, but this was a game he can build off.

He started slow. The opening pass was a duck, coming up way short. The next pass was over the head of Ertz. Things didn’t look good. Foles got the short passing game going in 2nd Qtr. Hit Smith and Clement to the left side and then Celek to the right. Those plays, mixed with some runs, helped the Eagles score their only TD of the game. Stepped up in the pocket and then moved to his right on the throw to Celek. Important play because it gave the Eagles a makeable 3rd down and allowed Doug to call the amazing run to Agholor.

Foles highlight moment was recovering a fumble near the goal line. Tried to hand the ball to Clement, but Clement bumped into the motion man and the timing of the play was awful. The ball hit the ground and Foles pounced on it. Tried to get in for the TD, but replay showed he was down inside the 1.

Had a chance for a huge play late in the half. Burton was wide open on a corner route. Would have been a gain of at least 25 yards. Ball was just a bit too far out front. Ugh. Even worse, this happened on 3rd down. Eagles would have been near the RZ, but instead had to punt. Got lucky late in the half. Wanted to hit Ertz down the middle. As he got ready to release the ball, was hit low by a looping DT and that caused Foles to move and the ball with it. Pass went right to the SS. Somehow the ball bounced off his knee and went back to Torrey Smith. That went from disaster to a gain of 20. Helps to have some luck on your side.

Made a huge play when he hit Jeffery on the final play of the half. Foles made a good throw to AJ for 15 yards to set up the FG.

Things were better in the 2nd half. The Eagles were backed up inside the 10. Foles hit Jeffery with consecutive throws to move the ball 25 yards. Later on that drive he hit AJ on 3rd/8 for a gain of 21. Those were huge plays. The Eagles went down and kicked the go-ahead FG on that drive.

Tried to hit Smith with downfield throw in the early 4th, but he was tightly covered. He then hit Ajayi on a couple of screen passes and that moved the ball across midfield. Foles hit Ertz over the middle for a key 3rd down conversion. That was another FG drive.

Foles got the Falcons to jump offside on the final series. That moved the ball off the GL and helped the Eagles seal the game.

RB

Jay Ajayi started off 8-50 and finished 15-54. He was 3-44 as a receiver.

Ajayi fumbled on his opening carry. Ugh. He’s got to work on ball security in the offseason. Ajayi had an excellent pass block on opening 3rd down. Gave Foles a clean pocket. Ran hard in the 1st Qtr and had some success. Best run of the game might have come in the early 2nd Qtr. Got hit in the backfield, and got away from that tackler. Had to fight past other defenders just to gain a yard on the play.

Struggled in the 3rd Qtr. ATL played the run well and there just wasn’t room to run. Slipped on a screen pass and Foles had to throw the ball away. Foles tried to hit him with a dump-off on 3rd/10, but Ajayi couldn’t make the grab. Looked more like he was trying to break it up. Things changed in the 4th. Caught a screen to the left and got 3 yards. Eagles ran a screen again on the next play. This one also went left, but turned into a gain of 32. Great blocking, good running. Huge play.

LeGarrette Blount was 9-19-1. Dropped a hand-off from Foles on 1st down run on promising drive. Lost 7 yards and killed the drive. Sloppy. Got the ball to open the 2nd Qtr and ran up the middle for 8 yards. Tough, physical run. Highlight for Blount was his 1-yard TD run. Ran hard to the right side. Had good blocking and then used a stiff-arm on the DT in pursuit to get in for the TD. Huge play. Had some key runs in the 4th Qtr to help the Eagles go kick a FG.

Corey Clement was excellent as a receiver, finishing 5-31. Had a chance for a goal line run in the 2nd Qtr. Hit Agholor, who was in motion, and that killed the timing. Falcon DE hit Clement and the ball was on the ground. Got lucky that Foles recovered it. Caught short pass on 3rd/3 and fought through ATL’s biggest hitter (Neal) to get the 1st down. Excellent effort. Made a dumb decision late in the half. Ball was snapped with :46 left and he caught a short pass. Didn’t have much room to work with. Should have headed for the sideline to get out of bounds and save time. Gained an extra 4 or 5 yards by going inside, but ate up time. Next snap came with :22 left. Those couple of yards weren’t worth the time. Only had one carry, but got 5 yards and sealed the game.

WR

Alshon Jeffery didn’t post huge numbers, but he was absolutely an impact player. His catches mattered in a big way. Made an impact play when he caught pass on final play of the half. That was his only catch of the half, but it covered 15 yards and set up a FG with just :01 left. Caught pass on RPO in the mid-3rd. Helped move the Eagles from inside the 10 out to the 21-yd line. That one play jump-started the drive. Caught a pass on the next play and moved the ball another 13 yards. That was huge for getting the ball away from the goal line in case the team had to punt. The Eagles faced 3rd/8 in the late 3rd. Jeffery lined up to the left and fought through some contact to get open. Caught the pass and got 21 yards on the play. Drew a flag as well. Falcons thought AJ got away with a shove. That kept alive the go-ahead drive. Finished 4-61.

Torrey Smith started the game off with a bang. Went deep and got behind the defense. Foles pass got eaten alive by the wind and was woefully short. Smith adjusted and the CB ran into him, giving the Eagles a long PI penalty. Lined up in the box on opening play of the 2nd Qtr and helped block on a run play. Was between the TE and RT. Blocked the SS. You never see that alignment. Made the craziest play in the game late in the 1st half. Caught a pass that deflected off the DB’s knee. Went from pick to gain of 20. Caught a short pass in the late 3rd. Stumbled, but still got 13 on the play. Had a chance for more if he kept his balance. Was 3-39 for the game.

Nelson Agholor didn’t get a lot of touches, but made them count. 3-24 as a receiver and 2-20 as a runner. Highlight play of the game was his run in the 2nd Qtr. Great design and execution. Loved Agholor’s effort. Went full speed and fought for every inch. Got a “pass” on a jet sweep in the early 4th. Took this to the right side for a gain of 10. Another key play on a scoring drive. Eagles handed the ball to Agholor again on the trick run. Got stuffed this time. Had some good blocks in the run game.

Shot 11 – Same drive, Pederson calls a Jet Sweep to Agholor for another first down run. Great execution by #Eagles here as Nelson gets blocks on the outside from Ertz and Mack Hollins to move the chains on a critical drive #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/t3MZA6Z2uQ

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) January 17, 2018

Mack Hollins got involved early. Played on the 2nd series. Had pass come his way on 3rd/10. Couldn’t make the grab. Did draw a generous PI call. Caught a pass in the early 4th. Fought his way for 9-yd gain.

TE

Zach Ertz was 3-32. Got blown up on 1st Qtr run and DE got Ajayi for no gain. Hauled in a pass for 11 yards in the late 3rd. Had to extend for the ball, absorb a hit, go to the ground and still hold on. Managed to do all that. Earned his paycheck on a 4th Qtr play. Eagles faced 3rd/8 from about midfield. Ertz lined up wide left. Agholor motioned from left to right, clearing out the side. That also told Foles this was man coverage. Ertz got a good release and the DB fell, leaving him wide open. Foles hit him in stride for a gain of 11. Blocking was up and down.

Brent Celek came up big on the only TD drive of the game. Caught a 6-yard pass. Had a key block on the TD run. Sealed the DE and let Blount get outside. Blocking was inconsistent overall, which surprised me.

Trey Burton had a good game, even though he didn’t catch a pass. Had good block of NT on inside run. Came inside on a wham block and got enough of Poe to let Ajayi get up the field cleanly. Lined up at FB on 4th/GL. Was the lead blocker for Blount and made a perfect cut block of the LB to help Blount score.

OL

Lane Johnson had another strong outing. Blocked 3 Falcons on a run late in the 1st Qtr. Ajayi went for 8 yards. Love that kind of effort from Johnson.  Pulled on early run to Ajayi and had good block of Jones. Pulled left and acted as the lead blocker for Agholor on the run play. Couldn’t get to 34 before he was in full sprint mode. If Johnson gets him, would have given Agholor more room to work with. Slammed DL to the ground on Blount’s TD run. Had a good downblock on the run where Clement put the game away. Gave him room to run. Kept Vic Beasley under control in pass pro.

Halapoulivaati Vaitai played pretty well. Had a good seal block of DE on 11-yd run to his side by Ajayi. Good block of LB in late 1st Qtr helped Ajayi get 10 yards. Did a nice job on the Agholor run. Let the DE come at him and then used a hand to help with his momentum and drive the player further into the backfield. Took the DE completely out of the play. Had a false start penalty late in the half. Cost the team 5 yards and forced them to burn a timeout. Ugh. Was mostly good in pass pro, but had a few sloppy blocks.

Jason Kelce had a good game. Pulled to the left and had an excellent block of MLB, giving Ajayi a cutback lane. He got 7 yards on the play. Kelce really popped Jones there and took him out of the play. Got out wide on screen in the early 4th. Tried to jump and block a LB. Hit Ajayi as much as he did the LB. Had key block of the MLB on Ajayi screen that went for huge gain.

Stefen Wisniewski might have played his best game of the year. Had a good seal block of DL in late 1st. That let Ajayi get to the 2nd level and gain 10 yards. Had an excellent block of Deion Jones on 1st Qtr screen. Gave Ajayi space and he went for 9 yards. Had a great seal block of the DT on Agholor’s run. Missed blitzing DB and Blount was taken down for a loss in the mid-2nd. Had an OL’s dream when he blocked 3 guys on a screen in the early 4th. Blocked DT at the LOS and then released into space. Threw the DT to the ground. Then knocked a DB to the ground and finally blocked another DB. Wow. Helped spring Ajayi for a gain of 32. Eagles tried the trick run to Agholor again in the 4th. Wiz hit the NT, then released him. The NT made the stop. If Wiz holds that block, the play has a chance to be a solid gain. Not sure why Wiz let the NT go. Pulled right and blocked LB on Blount run up the middle for 7.

Brandon Brooks had a good game. Had a strong block of DT that gave room to Blount on run up the middle. Pulled and had a picture-perfect seal block of LB on Blount’s TD. Doubled with Lane to move DL off the ball on 3rd/2 run by Blount in the 4th. Got 4 yards on the play. Always good in pass pro.

https://twitter.com/VeteranScout/status/953027126319464449

*****

DL

Vinny Curry had a good game. Drove TE into the backfield on an early run play and forced the RB to change his path. Got a shot on Ryan on 2nd Qtr play where he tried to go deep. Ryan couldn’t step into the throw. Because of Curry and the wind, the ball came up short. Made one crucial mistake. Bit hard inside on play late in the half and let Coleman get free to the outside for a gain of 23. Didn’t end up hurting the Eagles, but can’t do that. Must control the edges. Got a good shot on Ryan to open the 3rd. Was unblocked on quick screen and Ryan barely had time to get the ball out. Exploded up the field in the early 3rd, driving the TE backward. This forced the RB to go deep and created a TFL for Nigel. Great effort on the final play. Got cut blocked by RB, but got up and kept going after Ryan. Got in on 3 tackles.

Fletcher Cox was the biggest star of any DL in the game. And he played like it. Dominant performance. Split a double team on the opening drive to get a TFL. Slot receiver dropped short pass in late 1st Qtr. Probably a good thing since Cox was there to blow him up. Good awareness and hustle on that. Stuffed a 3rd/4 run against Eagles Dime D. They ran at Graham and Fletch came over to make the tackle. Should have doubled him. Stuff RZ run play. Beat the RG and tackled the RB for only short gain. Made a huge play late in the half when he got a sack. That threw the drive off schedule and helped to force a punt. Pushed the RG back and got his hands on Ryan. Hustled out wide to tackle WR on screen play on final drive. Got his pads high on play after that and OL moved him off the ball, giving RB room for good gain up the middle. Cox hustled in pursuit throughout the game. ATL did slow him down on pass plays by using plenty of double-teams. Finished with 7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL.

Shot 2 – Those last shots were from JUST the opening drive. Here were some other huge plays from No. 91 from the rest of the game. It was maybe his best overall game on Saturday night, he was excellent. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/sRW4S6spB8

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) January 15, 2018

Brandon Graham played the run really well. Eagles went with the Dime on early 3rd/4. Falcons ran at him and used a double-team. BG fought it and that allowed Cox, Jenkins to get there and make the stop. Drove the RT back on RZ run and blew up the play, creating TFL for Jenkins. Used a good rip move to beat the RT and hit Ryan. Forced an errant throw with the pressure. Got a shot on Ryan in the early 4th. Got a TFL late in the game when he jumped to the inside of the RT and hit the RB in the backfield. Used a spin move to get off a block and tackle Freeman from behind on the final drive. Moved around a lot. Played LDE, LDT and RDT.

Tim Jernigan had a solid game. Only got in on one tackle, but was stout vs the run and disruptive at times. Used a swim move to go around a double-team and blow up a 2nd Qtr run play. Played 29 snaps.

Derek Barnett was only in for 16 snaps, but did a good job of rushing the passer. Got his first hit on Ryan in late 1st Qtr. Atlanta went for it on 4th/2, but didn’t get the play off in time. No one blocked Barnett, who got a clean shot on Ryan. No one heard the whistle so there was no penalty. Got a hit on Ryan late in the half. Got there just after ball was released. Got late pressure on play-action pass and forced Ryan to get rid of the ball. Looped to the inside and got good pressure on Ryan on 3rd down late in the game.

Chris Long had somewhat of a quiet game. Played 20 snaps. Was in on one tackle and got one hit on Ryan.

Beau Allen had a solid showing. Played 26 snaps. Got good push on 1st Qtr pass play. Drove the LG straight back to Ryan. Came up big late in the game. Used a club move to knock the crap out of the LG. Got by him and hit Ryan just after the ball was out. Pass was off-target and incomplete. Falcons tried to run a delayed screen after that and Allen read. Blew that play up to force 3rd/long.

LB

Mychal Kendricks played well, especially in the 2nd half. Had 4 solo tackles for the game. Jumped into a passing lane in the early 3rd. Made a good read and was right there. Just couldn’t make the grab. Slid off a block and tackled Freeman on inside run. Only gave up 2 yds on the play. Tackled Sanu after a catch over the middle on the final drive.

Nigel Bradham had an outstanding game. Helped to break up a 3rd down pass to WR over the middle. Hit him as the ball got there and the WR couldn’t hang on. That ended a drive in the Red Zone and forced ATL to settle for a FG. Broke up a potential TD pass, but got very lucky on the play. Slipped and was late in coverage. For some reason, Matt Ryan hesitated and it gave Nigel time to recover. Got a TFL in the early 3rd. Penetration blew up a run and Nigel was there to clean up. Blitzed in the mid-3rd. Fought past the RB and sacked Ryan when he tried to move in the pocket. Looked like a madman on the final play. Saw the TE and RB block so he blitzed. Came around the edge, arms flailing. Got close to Ryan, but didn’t want a penalty so he never hit him. Great effort. Finished with 4 tackles, sack, TFL and PD.

Dannell Ellerbe played MLB. Tackled RB on run up the middle, but gave up 6 yards. Would prefer him to be more aggressive there and not let the RB come to him. Had to fight off a TE, so it wasn’t a gimme play. Tackled Freeman after 5-yd catch over the middle. The weakest player on the defense. Looks surprisingly lost for a veteran LB. Needs to be better.

Najee Goode played in some jumbo sets.

S

Malcolm Jenkins was up and down. Mostly good, but had some mistakes as well. Missed tackle of Coleman after short pass over the middle. Cost the Eagles at least an extra 5 yards. Helped stuff a 3rd down run by attacking an OL and clogging the running lanes so the RB had nowhere to go. Made a strong, clean tackle of Jones after short pass over the middle on 3rd/long. Got a TFL in the mid-2nd when BG blew up a run and Jenkins was able to get the RB cleanly. Made a terrible decision in the mid-2nd on 3rd/GL. Covered the RB until he saw Ryan start to run. Left the RB and Ryan was able to dump the ball to him for the score. No idea why Malcolm would do that. Sloppy in the early 3rd. Let an OL pull and seal him, giving a free lane to the edge for 18 yards. Can’t let them get outside like that. Tried to cover Jones on 4th/6 late in the game. Wasn’t in bad position, but Ryan made a good throw for a gain of 20. Hugged up on Sanu on the final play and wouldn’t let him get open. Ryan had to force the ball to Jones. Led the team with 8 total tackles.

Rodney McLeod spent most of the game playing centerfield. Called for bogus penalty after hit on Sanu in the Red Zone. Wasn’t a dirty hit and didn’t hit him in the head or all that close to it. Still got the flag. Moved around more in the 2nd half. Made the tackle in inside run on 3rd/2. ATL got 3, but good stop by McLeod. Sacked Ryan to close out the 3rd Qtr. Blitzed off the edge and timed it perfectly. Went right by the RB and got Ryan down for a loss of 10. That was huge since a poor KO had given them great field position. McLeod’s play changed everything. Seemed to me that McLeod stayed too deep on 4th/6 late in the game. Didn’t want to let anything behind him, but gave the WRs a big cushion there. Was a tad late getting to Jones and that moved the chains. Schwartz may  have wanted him that deep on the play, though, so I could be wrong on this. Finished with 7 solo tackles and a sack.

Corey Graham made a key tackle late in the half. Got Freeman on a screen pass where he started outside and came back across the field. Graham got him down well short of the sticks. Mostly crucial because it limited how much time went off the clock. A miss there burns a few extra seconds and the Eagles might not get their FG off at the very end of the half.

CB

Ronald Darby played well overall. Gave up some completions to Julio Jones, but kept him under control. And was very close to breaking up a couple of those plays. Missed a tackle of Sanu in the early 2nd and that turned a 7-yd play into a gain of 24. Two plays later, Darby read a screen perfectly and tackled Gabriel for a loss of 3. Outstanding play. Gave up 12-yd completion to Jones on 3rd/11. Contested catch. Hate to give up the catch, but Darby played it pretty well. Missed the ball by inches. Contested a pass to Sanu late in the game. Ruled a catch initially, but was challenged and ruled incomplete. Had excellent coverage on end zone pass play at the end. They tried to get the ball to Jones. Darby used good technique and was in excellent position to play the ball. Pass was too high and too wide. Falcons threw a slant to Jones on 3rd down. Darby read it and drove on the ball. Tackled Jones at the 2 and almost knocked the ball loose. Had 7 solo stops, TFL and a PD.

Patrick Robinson got picked on an early 3rd down where Sanu was wide open. Robinson didn’t see the TE, who looked like he hit him intentionally. Covered well. Didn’t get much action coming his way.

Jalen Mills had a good game. Only one tackle. Broke up 2 passes. He whiffed on an early tackle on a run play. Made a terrific coverage play in the 2nd Qtr. Saw Ryan was going deep to Jones, who was covered by Darby. Mills retreated and got underneath the play. The pass was short and Mills was in perfect position. Only problem is that he failed to make the catch. Wasn’t going to be easy, but he needs to make plays like that. Called for holding on 2nd Qtr pass play in the RZ. Dumb move by Mills. No need to hold there. Made a huge play in the early 3rd. Ryan moved out of the pocket and saw an open receiver. Lofted the ball to him. Mills undercut that and knocked the pass away. No one was behind the WR. If the ball gets there, might have been a long TD. Guy guy open because Mills chased him from the other side of the field and was picked about halfway. Mills didn’t panic. Just hustled into position and got his hand up at the last possible second to save a big play. Falcons ran a stutter-go (double-move) on Mills in the mid-3rd. He read it perfectly and didn’t bite. Ryan just had to throw the ball away. Gave up 12-yd completion to Jones on the final drive. Came up huge on the final play. Was in perfect position. Stayed as square as he could. Jones fell down and Mills stayed right there with him. Got in front of Jones and pinned him against the sideline. Gave Ryan no room to work with. The pass was too high and if it had been caught, Jones was going to come down out of bounds. Mills didn’t panic. Used good technique and battled until the whistle blew.

*****

ST

KOR – Barner had a 26-yard KOR. Clement ran one back for 22 yards.

PR – Kenjon Barner fair caught 3 punts. There was one punt that came up way short. Barner used his arms to signal players away from the ball. Unfortunately some were blocking and didn’t see the signal. The punt hit Bryan Braman for sure. Looked like it also went off Robinson. Barner had his mouthpiece in the whole time. You wonder if he was shouting loud enough for the guys to hear that they should get away from the ball.

The players should have been more aware on their own, but when you’re in the middle of blocking someone, it can be hard to locate a punt overhead and know where it will land and then bounce. Some real tough luck on that play.

Donnie Jones – Only punted 3 times and put 2 of them inside the 20. Helped to pin the Falcons deep.

Jake Elliott – Had an up and down game. Hit a 53-yard FG to close out the 1st half. Felt like the Eagles stole those points. Huge moment in the game. Missed an extra point. Looked like he just pulled the ball. It hit the upright. Had a kickoff go out of bounds in the late 3rd. Could have been a huge mistake with the Eagles only up 2 points at the time. Did hit a pair of FGs in the 2nd half, to give the Eagles the lead and then to extend it. Clutch when it matters.

MISC –

Burton got free up the middle on punt in 1st Qtr. Extended for the ball and just missed it. Poor blocking by ATL. Burton was sloppy with his blocking on punts and FGs.

Bryan Braman made a huge play when he got loose up the middle and deflected a punt late in the half. Eagles were expecting to get the ball around the 10-yard line. Instead, they got it at their 28. That made a huge difference on the scoring drive.

Nate Gerry did a good job in KO coverage to open the 3rd Qtr.

***

GAMEBOOK

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