Nothing!

Posted: December 31st, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »

When I watched the Skins offense from the previous week, I could see they had real issues. They were down three points with four minutes left in the game. They opened that drive with three straight runs by Adrian Peterson. That told you they had zero faith in Josh Johnson. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but he just doesn’t belong in the NFL.

The Eagles facing Johnson and the Skins had me a little nervous. I remember the Eagles losing to Bruce Gradkowski when he was a rookie. We all remember losing to Joe Webb. There was a costly loss to John Skelton in 2011. You get the point. Just because the other QB is a scrub doesn’t mean he can’t beat the Eagles.

Not on Sunday.

The Eagles were bullies. They limited the Skins to 89 yards for the whole game. Zero third down conversions. Zero points. That was some beautiful defense. There was plenty of bad offense as well, but the Eagles did their job.

When you face an inferior opponent, you want to dominate them. That’s what the Eagles did. They got pressure on Johnson. They shut down the run game. They tackled well in space. Nobody caught a short pass and turned it into a big gain. Didn’t happen.

If you go to the official Gamebook, they always list a team’s longest 10 plays. I’ve never seen anything like this.

20-yard pass
14-yard pass
13-yard pass
9-yard run
8-yard pass
8-yard pass
7-yard pass
7-yard pass
7-yard pass (on a fake punt)
7-yard pass

Think about that. Seven of their longest plays were 9 yards or less. Wow. All 10 of the Eagles plays were 12 yards or longer.

Washington had 12 runs for a total of 21 yards. I know they had backup OGs in the game and a fourth string QB, but that’s still crazy.

The Eagles offense helped the defense out. They put together long, methodical drives.

There was 12:19 left in the second quarter. The Eagles led 3-0. I thought to myself, this would be a great time for a 12-minute TD drive. Go eat up the clock, score and just drain the life from Washington. The Eagles then went on a 19-play, 87-yard drive that lasted 11:49 and resulted in a TD.

Wow.

Why the hell didn’t I ask to be trapped on Lingerie Island with Megan Fox? My priorities need serious review heading into the new year.

Anyway, I digress. The Eagles then led 10-0 and the game was over. There were only two questions at that point. Would the Vikings lose and would the Eagles get a shutout?

The Eagles had a 4:36 drive to open the second half and then had a 7:23 TD drive that really put the game away. Good Guys 17, Skins 0. I thought the Skins might completely give up at that point.

Jay Gruden had other ideas.

Washington had a 4th & 2 situation. They ran a fake punt. It worked and moved the chains. That scared the heck out of me. First, it kept the drive alive. But it also showed Gruden wasn’t interested in just running out the clock.

After three incomplete passes, Gruden had to punt.

The Eagles then went 3 & out. Little time went off the clock and Washington suddenly had the ball near midfield after a decent punt return. Gulp.

A 13-yard pass play put them in Eagles territory. Offside on Michael Bennett got them down to the 36-yard line. I was more nervous at that moment than during the Super Bowl. Thankfully Josh Johnson remembered he was Josh Johnson. Incomplete. Short completion. Big sack. They were now out of FG range.

Gruden then shocked me by going for it on 4th & 12. What the hell is wrong with that man? Thankfully Fletcher Cox remembered he was Fletcher Cox and sacked Johnson to save the day.

The Eagles scored to go up 24-0. The Skins then had their best drive of the game. They ate up a lot of time, but got the ball down to the Eagles 32. An incomplete pass on third down made it 4th & 6. Gruden could have kicked the FG, but instead opted to go for it. Cox blew up the OL and sacked Johnson to save the shutout and bring joy to all humanity.

The Eagles just had to get one first down to finish the game. Wendell Smallwood got the ball on 3rd & 2. He ran for about 1.8 yards, but the official very generously marked it a 2-yard gain. The Eagles could now just kneel down.

24-0.

I don’t care that the shutout came vs a woeful Skins offense. That group almost beat the Titans last week and did beat the Jags the week before that. A shutout is a shutout.

Just a few minutes later, the Bears sealed their victory over the Vikings. That put the Eagles back into the playoffs. What a glorious way to wrap up a weird, wild regular season.

*****

Hopefully we’ll find out a bit more from Doug today, but this is good news.

_


2 Comments on “Nothing!”

  1. 1 Eagles News: NFL evaluators rank Philadelphia as worst playoff team – Bleeding Green Nation | Som2ny Post said at 10:06 AM on January 1st, 2019:

    […] Nothing! – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles facing Johnson and the Skins had me a little nervous. I remember the Eagles losing to Bruce Gradkowski when he was a rookie. We all remember losing to Joe Webb. There was a costly loss to John Skelton in 2011. You get the point. Just because the other QB is a scrub doesn’t mean he can’t beat the Eagles. Not on Sunday. The Eagles were bullies. They limited the Skins to 89 yards for the whole game. Zero third down conversions. Zero points. That was some beautiful defense. There was plenty of bad offense as well, but the Eagles did their job. When you face an inferior opponent, you want to dominate them. That’s what the Eagles did. They got pressure on Johnson. They shut down the run game. They tackled well in space. Nobody caught a short pass and turned it into a big gain. Didn’t happen. […]

  2. 2 Eagles News: NFL evaluators rank Philadelphia as worst playoff team – SportsNewsNow said at 3:43 PM on January 6th, 2019:

    […] Nothing! – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles facing Johnson and the Skins had me a little nervous. I remember the Eagles losing to Bruce Gradkowski when he was a rookie. We all remember losing to Joe Webb. There was a costly loss to John Skelton in 2011. You get the point. Just because the other QB is a scrub doesn’t mean he can’t beat the Eagles. Not on Sunday. The Eagles were bullies. They limited the Skins to 89 yards for the whole game. Zero third down conversions. Zero points. That was some beautiful defense. There was plenty of bad offense as well, but the Eagles did their job. When you face an inferior opponent, you want to dominate them. That’s what the Eagles did. They got pressure on Johnson. They shut down the run game. They tackled well in space. Nobody caught a short pass and turned it into a big gain. Didn’t happen. […]