Some Positives

Posted: October 1st, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

The loss to Tennessee is going to sting for a while. Rather than only obsess on everything that went wrong (and there was plenty), let’s also point out some things that went right.

Carson Wentz was terrific for parts of this game. He made some absolutely great throws. He put great touch on a ball to Alshon Jeffery to move the Eagles away from their own goal line. Great throw. His TD pass to Jeffery was a bullet. Wentz gave his guy a chance to make a play (and AJ did). Maybe the most impressive throw of the day was a pass to Nelson Agholor on 3rd and 21. Wentz threw an absolute strike that should have moved the chains, but Agholor dropped the ball. Ugh.

Wentz wasn’t perfect to be sure, but we saw his A-game at times and it was a reminder of just how good he can be.

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Alshon Jeffery was the very definition of an impact player. Eagles WRs had struggled all year long. He steps back into the lineup and goes 8-105-1. This was his first action since the friggin’ Super Bowl. Oh yeah, he also had to battle some type of virus/illness during the week so he wasn’t 100 percent.

Jeffery’s size, speed, skill and physicality made a major difference. He got open in a variety of ways and opened up the passing game in a big way.

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Sidney Jones was called for a penalty on 4th down in OT and that hurt. I really hated that because Jones had played so well up to that point. He’s developing into a really good DB. He’s talented, smart and willing to tackle. Jones had little experience in the slot, but he’s really grown into that role.

Many of you want him starting on the outside. We’ll get into that in a later post. For now, focus on the fact that Jones is good in the slot. Not every corner can move in there and play. DRC tried it back in 2011 and was an absolute mess.

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Michael Bennett looked like he played well. He got his first sack as an Eagle and was disruptive on several other plays, both run and pass.

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The pass defense struggled mightily on Sunday, but the run defense was outstanding. TEN ran 22 times for 70 yards. Two of the runs accounted for 31 yards. That tells you that the other 20 carries totaled just 39 yards. That really is impressive against a creative, productive TEN running attack.

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DeAndre Carter had a 42-yard punt return late in the game. I know he’s got a limited ceiling, but it is hard not to want this guy to stick around.

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Jake Elliott had a perfect day. He was 3 for 3 on FGs and 2 for 2 on PATs. Those were critical kicks in this game, where every point was huge. There was definitely a part of me that held my breath on those medium-distance FGs. We’ve seen Elliott miss those before. He did his job today.

*****

If you’re a Penn State fan, as I am, this was truly a miserable weekend. Two games and two double-digit leads blown. Ugh.

There is a lot of joy in sports. Not just with winning, but also with following a team and seeing the ups and downs of a season.

Then there are times like this weekend. They make me question why I do this. I woke up at 3:07 on Sunday morning…thinking about the PSU loss. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Forget about “no joy in Mudville”. This time Mudville needed some therapy.

Or new hobbies. If you take up stamp collecting, does it ever reach into your chest and pull out your still-beating heart and show it to you while laughing at you?

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One Comment on “Some Positives”

  1. 1 罗拉 said at 3:21 AM on October 1st, 2018:

    呵呵。学习了。感触良多!