Just Enough

Posted: January 7th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

Style points don’t matter in the postseason, only real points. The Eagles beat the Bears 16-15 on Sunday evening, overcoming some key mistakes and sloppy play. It was anything but beautiful. Still, this is January and all that matters is advancing.

The Eagles are still alive.

Where do you start with a game like this? Nick Foles is the man everyone talks about so let’s begin with him. He threw two TD passes. He also threw two interceptions, with one of them being an absolutely terrible decision. You can argue that both picks cost the Eagles points. This wasn’t Hall of Fame Foles.

To be fair, the Bears were the best defense he’s played in a long time, maybe ever. They made life tough on Foles.

But when the Eagles got the ball back with 4:48 left in the game, down 15-10, I don’t think anyone doubted that a TD was coming. Foles has inspired that kind of confidence in his coaches, teammates and certainly Eagles fans. Sure enough, Foles marched the Eagles 60 yards in 12 plays. On fourth and goal, Foles rolled to his right and hit Golden Tate for the winning score.

Amazing.

The Eagles then made things more complicated than anyone would have wanted. Tarik Cohen got out of a tackle by Daeshon Hall and returned the kickoff 35 yards. Bears QB Mitchll Trubisky completed two passes for 33 yards to get the Bears into FG range. And then this happened.

That is great radio, by the way.

As it turns out, Parkey missed the kick for a reason.

Backup DT Treyvon Hester got a hand on it and that pushed the ball off-target.

Amazing.

This was a game with a lot of heroes. Nigel Bradham played his best game of the year. He had 7 solo tackles, 2 TFLs and 2 pass deflections. The entire defense tackled really well. The Bears didn’t have short throws or runs turning into big plays. Cre’Von LeBlanc made a few key plays. He might be earning the nickel spot for 2019 with the way he’s playing.

The O-line shut down Khalil Mack. He had a TFL, but no sacks and no big plays. Alshon Jeffery had 6 catches for 82 yards and made some clutch grabs. Dallas Goedert caught a TD pass in the third quarter and had a critical catch and run on the go-ahead drive. Jordan Matthews drew a long PI call that set up Goedert’s TD.

The Eagles beat the Falcons 15-10 in the playoffs a year ago. They downed the Bears 16-15. The Eagles can win tough, defensive battles. This team can look pedestrian at times, but they keep games close and then make enough key plays to win.

They’ll obviously need to play a lot better to beat the Saints next Sunday (4:40 pm kickoff).

For now the Eagles can feel good about themselves. They went on the road to play a 12-4 team with the best defense in the league.

And they won.

*****

Field position was a major issue in the game. The Eagles had five drives start at their own 17-yard line or worse. You aren’t going to put a lot of 80-yard drives against a team like the Bears.

The Eagles had some blame in the field position, but give the Bears punter a lot of credit. Pat O’Donnell was putting balls in tough spots. Thankfully he did have one bad punt. That came at the end of the game and helped the Eagles start the winning drive from near midfield.

*****

I’ll do a separate post on the mistakes from the game. There are plenty to analyze and dig into. For now, let’s enjoy the win.

*****

Jason Peters got his first ever playoff win. So did Jordan Hicks.

Darren Sproles won his first playoff game as an Eagle.

And the legend of Nick Foles continues to grow.

*****

Let’s make sure to give Jim Schwartz plenty of credit. He caught a lot of flak early in the year when things weren’t going well.

His defense, with a patchwork secondary, gave up 15 points tonight.

The man can coach.

_

One Comment on “Just Enough”

  1. 1 Eagles News: Jason Peters says Philly’s rematch with Saints is “definitely not going to be the same outcome” - Football News Latest said at 8:09 AM on January 7th, 2019:

    […] Just Enough – Iggles BlitzThis was a game with a lot of heroes. Nigel Bradham played his best game of the year. He had 7 solo tackles, 2 TFLs and 2 pass deflections. The entire defense tackled really well. The Bears didn’t have short throws or runs turning into big plays. Cre’Von LeBlanc made a few key plays. He might be earning the nickel spot for 2019 with the way he’s playing. The O-line shut down Khalil Mack. He had a TFL, but no sacks and no big plays. Alshon Jeffery had 6 catches for 82 yards and made some clutch grabs. Dallas Goedert caught a TD pass in the third quarter and had a critical catch and run on the go-ahead drive. Jordan Matthews drew a long PI call that set up Goedert’s TD. […]