The Day After

Yesterday’s game was frustrating for a variety of reasons.

Officiating – The Cowboys were charged with 10 penalties, but somehow the Eagles still came up with the short end of the stick. How often can you say that?

The primary fiasco came on the opening kickoff, when the Eagles forced a fumble and recovered it. The officials didn’t rule it a fumble so Doug Pederson challenged. Replay agreed there was a fumble, but no clear recovery, despite visual evidence to the contrary.

There’s no clear evidence that any of the Eagles players recovered this fumble? How about four players? Come on refs! #flyeaglesfly pic.twitter.com/8lu9Cn2Z2S

— Mark Stevanus (@MarkStevanus) December 9, 2018

The ball was under a pile of Eagles. Kamu Grugier-Hill walked away with it. But somehow that wasn’t enough. Ugh.

If the Eagles get that ball, they are in scoring position. They are likely to go up 3-0 or 7-0. And that could have changed the game entirely. The Eagles never got the lead on Sunday. Having that early lead would have given the team some momentum and energy.

That wasn’t the only issue. One moment that drove me nuts came on a third down with Dallas backed up deep. Fletcher Cox got into the backfield, but couldn’t get Prescott. Cox was clearly being held. He was borderline-tackled. No call.

Go on to the second half. This time it wasn’t a no-call, but rather a terrible call.

After the refs screwed the Eagles out of an obvious fumble recovery to start the game, they just called this offensive pass interference on Goedert, taking away a TD. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/o2t7jOEeaD

— Patrick (@pmc1423) December 10, 2018

The Eagles still scored on that drive, but the penalty cost the Eagles a minute of game time. That could have completely changed the end of the game.

There is no guarantee the Eagles win even if they do get these calls, but overcoming them proved to be too much.

One Half of Offense – Carson Wentz played poorly in the first half. He had Dallas Goedert open down the right sideline and just overthrew him. On the next series, Wentz had Golden Tate open for a good gain and overthrew him. Wentz was strip-sacked late in the half with the Eagles in FG range. He held the ball just a beat too long and it cost the Eagles a shot at points. Even worse, Dallas went down and hit a 62-yard FG to end the half.

The offense started slow in the second half as well. It wasn’t until an INT set them up at the 2-yard line that the offense finally came alive.

It was great to see Wentz and the offense come through in the final twenty minutes of game action. Wentz made big thr0ws. The O-line gave him time to throw. Skill players made big plays. That was the offense we expected to see all game long.

Give Dallas their share of credit, but this was more on the Eagles. Wentz didn’t play well. The OL was sloppy on some plays. Pederson had some calls that were less than ideal. Skill players weren’t making plays. You’d have to dissect it play by play to know who to blame for that particular moment.

It is starting to feel like the offense won’t get solved this year and will be more of an offseason project.

Coaching – The biggest controversy is whether Pederson should have gone for two when the game was 23-22 after a late TD. I didn’t see this as a mistake. A lot of other people did.

If the Eagles go for two and make it, they do have the lead, 24-23. But there is still 1:39 left and Dallas had two timeouts. They could have driven down and kicked the winning FG. The Eagles did end up stopping Dallas on their final drive in regulation, but that might have gone differently if Dallas was trailing and more desperate.

If the Eagles go for two and miss it, they have to onside kick. The Eagles didn’t have the timeouts to kickoff and play defense.

People are bringing up Pederson’s comments about going for two from last year, when he said it was a no-brainer when a penalty moved the ball to the 1-yard line. But as Pederson pointed out, that comment was in regard to a situation in the third quarter, not the end of the game.

People weren’t happy with some plays. There was a Red Zone hand-off to Wendell Smallwood that bugged a lot of people. The Eagles use certain players for certain situations or plays. That was a Corey Clement play, but he had been knocked out of the game so Smallwood took his place. I don’t see this as coaching malpractice, the way that some do.

The next play was a third down pass to Zach Ertz. I don’t know if the blame for that lies more with Pederson or Wentz. Pederson’s explanation made sense (hit Ertz on the move and get RAC yards). But the play wasn’t open. Wentz shouldn’t have made the throw. I still have a question about throwing to Ertz at the 5-yard line on third and goal. Counting on him getting five yards seems a bit excessive.

The big question on defense involved the use of Sidney Jones. He played fine early, but then got hurt. Jones returned to the game and Dallas threw at him over and over. Jones couldn’t run. I give him credit for trying, but the coaches should have stopped that experiment sooner. It might not have made much of a difference. Amari Cooper lit up everyone that tried to cover him.

Bad Moments – Jake Elliott hadn’t missed an extra point all year. He chose the worst game to change that. If the Eagles had ever gotten the lead on Dallas, that might have changed things. You never know how teams will react to something like that.

Malcolm Jenkins had a chance to stuff Zeke Elliott on the fourth down play in overtime. Jenkins couldn’t stop him and Elliott fought his way just far enough to move the chains.

Corey Graham, who drives me nuts, took a terrible angle on a pass play to Cooper. De’Vante Bausby got beat and Graham should have been there to make the tackle. Instead, that turned into a long TD.

Alshon Jeffery dropped a third down pass. That would have kept a drive going near midfield.

Zach Ertz was called for blocking in the back (legit call) on a run play inside the 10. The Eagles ended up settling for a FG on that drive.

Corey Graham was called for holding (legit call) on a third and two play in the final minute. With no penalty, Dallas would have been punting.

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