Game Review – PS #3 – CLE 5, PHI 0

The third preseason game is supposed to be a dress rehearsal for the regular season, but that is tough to do when you have a backup LT blocking for the backup QB, #4 and #5 RBs and only one of the top four WRs. The Eagles were sloppy, again.

While the offense was a mess, the defense was outstanding. Cleveland was limited to 258 yards. They started three drives in Eagles territory and only got points from one of them. There was an impressive goal line stand by the Eagles. The Eagles defense had most of their starters and played like it.

While the result wasn’t pretty, there were plenty of things to be encouraged by.

QB

Nick Foles – Another poor performance. Stats look good, but they don’t tell the whole story. Foles seemed to let pressure get to him. Poor pocket presence. Threw a pair of bad INTs. On one, put the ball up for grabs along the sideline. The FS read it the whole way and made the pick. The other INT came in the Red Zone. Foles moved away from pressure and forced the ball to Ertz. There was a defender just to the left of him and the guy stepped in front of Ertz to make the pick. Terrible read and throw by Foles. He did make a couple of nice throws in the game, but still too sloppy of a performance. Tripped in the end zone and gave CLE a safety. Fumbled the ball away when pressured on a pass play.

Nate Sudfeld – His worst game of the preseason. Some of it was due to pressure, but just seemed off. Young players struggle with trying to play consistently well. Decision-making was an issue. Took a sack instead of throwing the ball away. Came close to hitting Davis for a beautiful TD, but his foot was out by inches. Still a terrific throw (accuracy and touch 40 yards downfield). Finished 11-21-72.

RB

Wendell Smallwood – Took a big step forward. Best game so far. 12-53 on the ground, 2-14 as a receiver. Ran hard. Showed some elusiveness. That performance has probably given him the lead in the battle for the #4 RB spot. Not a lock, though. Doesn’t show much speed. Had a chance for big gain on a toss play, but got tripped up by the MLB. While he did run hard, Smallwood isn’t going to break a lot of tackles. Not a powerful runner. Effective in pass protection.

Josh Adams – Good game. 4-33 on the ground. Showed speed to the outside, which we had seen before. Ran hard between the tackles. Took one run straight up the gut and just kept fighting for more. Great effort. Didn’t stop on contact. Forced the defense to get him down. Really fired up the O-linemen. Has good potential. We need to see more of him.

Matt Jones – Just a body at this point. Can’t make guys miss. No speed. Tough to tackle, but that’s about it. Fumbled after a short catch and run.

TE

Dallas Goedert – Another strong performance. 2-26 as a receiver. Blocked pretty well. Good effort. Still needs a lot of work, but seems to take it seriously. Had a chance to make an impressive TD catch, but couldn’t find the ball when he looked back for it.

Billy Brown – Didn’t play on offense. Not a great sign for him.

WR

Shelton Gibson – No deep balls, but solid showing. 2-28. Drew a penalty when he fought through contact as he was trying to run a route. Showed good toughness and focus. Made one big mistake in the game. Foles tried to hit him by the sideline. Gibson waited for the ball and it was almost picked off. Needed to work back to get the ball so the DB wouldn’t have had a chance at it without committing a penalty.

DeAndre Carter – Good game. 4-73 as a receiver. Ran good routes. Made tough catches. Showed some elusivness after the catch. Lacks top speed. Blocking needs work. Returned a punt 29 yards. Used as PR and KOR. Caught the ball smoothly on those. 

Rashard Davis – Almost made one great catch. Could not quite get his feet in at the back of the end zone. Impressive effort, though.

Greg Ward – Just hasn’t done anything to stand out.

OL

Big V – Another poor performance. Really struggled vs Myles Garrett, the 2017 #1 overall pick. Had some good moments in the run game and pass protection, but Garrett really ate him up, especially on obvious passing situations. Vaitai was getting back and “catching” Garrett. The problem is that Garrett generated so much force that he just ran over V a few times.

Chance Warmack – Up and down. Gave up a sack in the 4th Qtr. Beaten on another play where the DL pressured Sudfeld. A player with Warmack’s experience and potential shouldn’t be giving up sacks in the 4th Qtr of preseason games. At his best as a run blocker, but didn’t even stand out in the run game. I think his days as an Eagle are numbered.

Isaac Seumalo – Good game. Played C, LG and even LT. This is a big reason the Eagles are so high on Seumalo. Not many O-linemen can play all those positions effectively. Seumalo was good at LT. He has better feet than people realize. I sometimes think OT might be the spot he’s most comfortable. While at C, snapped the ball well. Blocked well in the run game and in pass pro. This is the best I’ve seen Seumalo in a while.

Shot 7 – Isaac Seumalo had a good game on Thursday night….at 4 different spots. Saw him at C, LG, LT and at TE. Strong and confident in pass pro. Athletic. Versatile. He offers a lot to this #Eagles OL pic.twitter.com/sf9RA4JqqY

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) August 24, 2018

Matt Pryor – Up and down game. Such a stud in Training Camp, but has been very uneven in the games. Looked very good in pass pro at times. Just needs to be more consistent.

Jordan Mailata – Outstanding performance. Played LT and looked the part. Exploded at the snap and got into his kick-slide. Looked fluid and natural. The thing that blew me away is that he played under control. If the DE went from outside path to the inside, Mailata could stop, be balanced and re-direct. He extended those long arms and got his hands on the rusher. Most guys fire off the ball and have to work hard to kick-slide. They can’t stop, let alone do it under control. Mailata fired off the ball in the run game and got good movement. I am shocked at the progress he’s made in a few weeks. This is the equivalent of teaching some guy to read and coming back to him a couple of weeks later to see him reading James Joyce novels and Samuel Beckett plays. Jeff Stoutland is one hell of a teacher and Mailata is a special student.

The 3rd string OL didn’t play.

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DEFENSE

DL

Destiny Vaeao – Played a lot in the 1st Qtr. Didn’t really stand out. Struggled to hold ground vs double-teams. Got limited push on pass plays. Highlight was creating TFL on screen pass. Shed LG and stuffed a RB at the LOS on run play. A flash here and there, but looks like backup material.

Haloti Ngata – Best game for him. Disruptive force. Had a sack and just missed another. Used a spin move to get the sack. Was able to push guys around when single-blocked. Able to shed blocks and get into the backfield. Looked like a starting DT and a good one at that. One thing that stood out is that he was very active. Some veteran players will take it easy in preseason games. Ngata seemed to be playing hard.

Josh Sweat – Another uneven performance. The physical ability is there, but doesn’t get off the ball well. That makes him a marginal pass rusher. Needs a lot of work. Had one highlight play. Used inside move and beat the RT. Hit RB right at the LOS. Solid run defender. Used his strength and length to stand up blockers without giving any ground. Can shed and chase. No question of effort.

Michael Bennett – Good game. Disruptive at DE and DT. Had a TFL and a couple of good hits on the QB.

Bruce Hector – Good showing. Relentless effort. Used his hands well. Really battled to hold his ground against double-teams. Played with good pad level. Has a knack for getting off blocks. Drove the RG back to the QB and just missed a sack.

Azziz Shittu – Solid showing. Active player. Worked hard to get off blocks and pursue the ball. At his best when shooting gaps. Can still be very quick off the ball.

Joe Ostman – Played LDE. Struggled to get off block of TE on run to his side. Got TFL when he was unblocked. Only played 3 snaps. Not sure what to make of that fact.

Steven Means – Another terrific preseason performance from Mr. Means.

Winston Craig – Relentless. Will give you everything he’s got. The problem is that he doesn’t have that much. Tremendous effort on every snap, but marginal talent.

Ezechukwu – Played RDE. Had a real highlight moment. Fired off the ball and literally ran over the LT. Extended his arm into the guy and just floored him. Then hit the QB half a second after the ball was out. That was the pass that got picked off. Ezechukwu’s pressure helped create the takeaway. Reminds me a bit of Steven Means in terms of build and effort, but is raw and needs a lot of work.

LB

Jordan Hicks – Good game. Looked good on the move. Still excellent in coverage. Tackled well on inside runs. Had a sack when he blitzed up the middle and nobody was there to block him. Broke up a pass in the end zone. Looked really good.

Nigel Bradham – Stud. Looks to be in midseason form.

Kamu Grugier-Hill – Got the start at WLB and played well. Played in base and Nickel. Played 45 snaps, most of any defender. Showed good speed in coverage and run plays to the outside. I thought he was much improved vs inside runs. Was involved in a couple of stops right at the LOS. Better at taking on blockers and shedding. Almost made a couple of big plays. Athleticism allowed him to cover a lot of ground and be disruptive. Missed one tackle of RB in space, but only cost Eagles a couple of yards. Still has a bad habit of taking false steps. Didn’t hurt him in these games, but needs to be cleaned up in the regular season.

Nate Gerry – Played with backup D. Solid showing. Fought through block and stuffed a run at the LOS. Made impact play in coverage. Hit receiver on shallow cross, knocking him off his route. The ball missed him and went right to Maddox. Legal play because receiver was within 5 yards of the LOS. Smart LB play. Solid in coverage. Made good tackle in space late in the 1st half.

Joe Walker – Tackled well. Was in on 4 stops. Didn’t see him in coverage a lot. Only played 9 snaps. Hasn’t done anything to make FO think they have to keep him as backup MLB, but hasn’t played poorly and made them want to get rid of him.

Kyle Wilson – Played late. Good motor. Didn’t show much in terms of instincts.

LaRoy Reynolds – Good on STs.

S

Corey Graham – Looked good. Was in on 6 tackles and had TFL.

Tre Sullivan – Played a lot. Good box player. Not afraid to play in traffic. Active vs the run. Was in on 4 tackles, but around the ball a lot. Excellent in pursuit. Didn’t stand out in coverage. Had a RB get loose up the middle and come right at him. Sullivan missed that tackle last week, but made it this time around. Improving. Still out of control at times.

Jeremy Reaves – Played in the box and back deep. More at home in the box. 2 tackles and TFL. Has gotten better in coverage, but still not his strength.

CB

Jalen Mills – Missed a couple of tackles early, but then settled in and played well.

Sidney Jones – Good game. CLE used a lot of rub routes and Jones showed good awareness on them. Went with the right guy. Some young DBs will get confused and leave a receiver wide open. Jones was good against the run on a couple of plays. Didn’t get enough depth in zone coverage early on and let 3rd down pass get completed behind him.

Rasul Douglas – Played 25 snaps. Called for PI. Had good coverage, but got careless and put his hands on the receiver. Legit call. Didn’t make any stand out plays.

De’Vante Bausby – Solid game. Had lots of short passes thrown his way. Had 5 solo tackles. Looked good vs the run.

Avonte Maddox – Good game. Highlight was when he picked off a pass and took off down the sideline. WR was able to barely trip him up or that goes for a TD. Covered well, but didn’t have many passes thrown his way.

Chandon Sullivan – Good game. I like this kid and think he should be on the practice squad. Gave up one good completion, but just missed the ball by inches. Tackled well and was in on 4 stops. Aggressive player.

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STs

Cameron Johnston – Best game yet. Averaged 48.3 yards on four punts. Long one went for 60. Pinned CLE inside the 10 with one punt. Put one ball right alongside the sideline on another. That’s the kind of accuracy and ball control the coaches have been waiting for. Had free kick after the safety and put the ball all the way back to the 15.

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