Game Review – PHI 34, GB 27

Big win.

A loss would have dropped the Eagles to 1-3 and led to all kinds of scrutiny. Instead, the team climbed up to 2-2 and now can feel good about themselves. Winning at Lambeau is never easy, especially when Aaron Rodgers is healthy and plays well against you. This was a big win.

I think one of the keys is that the Eagles didn’t play some perfect game. No player put up an epic performance. They didn’t use some genius wrinkle the Packers weren’t expecting. The Eagles came out and dominated the line of scrimmage. The O-line was lights out and the team ran for 176 yards. Carson Wentz wasn’t sacked. The Packers had no running game, except for Rodgers scrambles. RB Aaron Jones had 13 carries for 21 yards. The Eagles DL got some pressure on Rodgers and came up with a huge strip sack.

Coaching also made a big difference in this game. Doug Pederson had his players well-rested and pushed all the right buttons. Matt LaFleur made some questionable decisions and play-calls. Pederson embraced the run game and really stuck with it. I loved the way he mixed in screens to TEs and RBs. Pederson made one call that some questioned. The Eagles went up 27-20 after scoring a TD. Pederson decided to go for 2, hoping to build a two-possession lead. The play didn’t work. If they kick the extra point, they lead by 8 and that puts extra pressure on GB. I agreed with the call to go for it. The two-possession lead is worth the risk. It didn’t work this time, but I liked the aggression.

There are issues for Pederson and the Eagles to work on.

The pass defense was bad for much of the game. Part of this is due to injuries at CB, but the DBs who did play simply need to do a better job. It would help if the pass rush really got going as well.

This game featured another slow start. Before you could blink, the Eagles were down 10-0. This has to stop.

The defense committed some bad penalties. The Eagles aren’t good enough to play undisciplined football and win on a regular basis. They must clean this up. They gave Rodgers too much help with late hits and other bad penalties.

QB

Wentz played pretty well, going 16-27-160. He threw for 3 TDs and didn’t have any INTs. Wentz was sloppy early on, with several throws being high. Wentz settled down and played better after that. He was especially good in the Red Zone, helping the Eagles to go 4 for 4 (GB was only 3 for 7). Wentz had one impressive play as a runner. This was actually a QB sneak that got stopped initially. He had to use spin move to get free and secure the 1st down. Smart.

Wentz made some clutch throws in the game, but was erratic late. He made a poor throw to Howard that led to a big hit and an incompletion. He made a poor throw to AJ on 3rd down, right after that. Eagles had to punt the ball away.

RB

Best game of the year.

Jordan Howard was great. He was 15-87 on the ground and 3-28 as a receiver. He ran for 2 TDs and caught one as well. Heckuva game. Howard ran hard. There were a couple of plays where he had big lanes and you could see Howard’s major deficiency…speed. He just doesn’t show much burst. Still, you love his physicality. He gets the ball and goes N-S. Good blitz pickup on early pass play. 2 catches on key drive in early 3rd…screen and then swing for TD.

Miles Sanders had a good showing as well. He was 11-72 on the ground.  Sanders broke off a 30-yard run in the late 3rd. GB had just tied the game. Sanders run gave a big boost to the Eagles and put them right back in attack mode. He is still erratic at times, as he adjusts to the pro game. I did think he ran harder and more decisively in this game. Trending in the right direction.

Darren Sproles had a quiet game, going 1-4 on the ground.

WR

Alshon Jeffery was the leading WR with 3 catches for 38 yards and a TD. He caught a crucial 3rd down pass on the go-ahead TD drive. Used his size and strength to get open. Jeffery could have had more catches, but CB Kevin King had 3 PDs. King is one of the longest CBs in the league and that helped him make some plays.

Nelson Agholor was only targeted once and didn’t have any catches. I don’t think he was being ignored. I just think the Eagles focused on throwing to TEs and RBs (12 of 16 completions went to them).

Mack Hollins caught pass over the middle in the early 3rd. Nice grab. Had to reach up and snatch the ball. Might have gotten away with OPI on Howard’s TD catch. Ran a rub route and did make contact with the LB. Needs to do a better job of selling that he’s just running a route in the future. Packer DB also hit the LB and I think that led to the no-call.

TE

Zach Ertz led the team with 7-65. He made some key catches that kept drives going. Ertz also had multiple good run blocks in the game. That was impressive.

Dallas Goedert was outstanding as a blocker. He was 2-16 as a receiver. One of those was a screen that went for 13 yards. The other was a short TD catch. Goedert didn’t have a lot of touches, but he made impact plays.

OL

Outstanding game by the big guys up front.

Peters beaten inside early in the game, but generally controlled his side. Just caved in his DL on Howard’s short TD run in the 4th. Created a hole.

Isaac Seumalo has come a long way since Atlanta. He’s still the weakest starter, but is heading in the right direction.

Big V played as a 6th OL in some sets. Had a pair of outstanding blocks on runs in the 4th when the Eagles were backed up near the GL.

DL

Fletcher Cox flashed. Lined up over the C and just shoved him out of the way on a pass play. He had multiple good moments in the game, but still isn’t back to his old self. He was in on 3 tackles, including one of the RB inside the 5.

Derek Barnett had some memorable plays in the game. He knocked RB out of game with hustle hit early on. Barnett was flagged for a hit to the head and many thought he should have been ejected. You love the motor, but he does have to be careful about when/where he hits guys. His highlight moment came later. He had a strip sack late in the half. Critical play. That allowed the Eagles to build their lead and take control of the game. Barnett just missed another strip sack later in the game. Chased WR downfield on pass play and got in on the tackle. Was in coverage, but still showed great hustle to chase that far.

Brandon Graham had a chance for a sack in the mid-3rd, but Rodgers spun away. A couple of plays later, BG shot to the inside and stuffed the RB. Blew up a bootleg play at the GL with quick pressure. Forced Rodgers to throw the ball away.

Josh Sweat stuffed a run in the early 3rd. Good burst on that play. Hustled downfield to tackle RB after catch and run.

Hasaan Ridgeway used a quick inside move to flush Rodgers in the 3rd, but nobody could make the tackle. Good effort when chasing plays.

LB

Nigel Bradham…dropped a sure pick-6 in the mid-3rd. Dropped into passing lane and ball came right to him. Drop. Would have put the Eagles up 34-20 and really changed the game. Was a hair late when blitzing in the late 3rd. Rodgers got the pass off for a TD. Bradham made up for his drop late in the game when he did catch a tipped pass in the end zone. That sealed the win. Ran the ball out, which I didn’t like. Just go down.

Zach Brown called for facemask penalty in the 1st half. Had another penalty when he slammed a player to the ground. Wasn’t vicious at all, but refs call that in today’s game. Gotta be smarter than that. Active vs the run in the early 3rd. Had great coverage on Graham on 4th/GL in the early 4th.

Kamu Grugier-Hill played his first game of the year and it wasn’t ideal. Had costly offside penalty. Blitzed in the mid-3rd and RB blocked him with ease, allowing Rodgers to get off the throw for a good gain. Missed tackle of TE in space. Rusty and it showed.

DB

Sidney Jones burned on early play. Had tight coverage, just didn’t get his hand up quick enough. Got hurt and left the game.

Avonte Maddox replaced Jones when he got hurt. Rough night for Maddox. No confidence. Struggled with tackling. Let guys get outside on several plays. Can’t do that. Got away with PI on downfield throw in the 3rd. Hands on the receiver’s face, but no call, even when challenged. Broke up an end zone pass to Adams in the 4th. Called for PI later in the drive. Created 1st/GL. Covered better as the game went along. Got more confident and played more aggressively. Got knocked out of the game by friendly fire on the final series.

Rasul Douglas played well. He was called for PI in the early 3rd. Too handsy. Was in on 5 tackles.

Craig James came in to play late. Knew the Packers would come after him and they did. James jumped the route. He made early contact, but not enough to draw a flag. James hit put the ball in the air and Bradham snagged it.

Rodney McLeod played well, but did have one key mistake. Missed goal line tackle of RB. Jones had slowed the RB and McLeod should have made the play, but overran it when the RB cut back inside. Play before that was a good hustle tackle inside the 10. Broke up an end zone pass to Graham (1-on-1). Blew up a 3rd/GL play where Rodgers started to run and then threw into the end zone. Immediate pressure by McLeod forced him to throw the ball away. Led the team with 9 total tackles and had an impressive game.

Malcolm Jenkins was in on 4 tackles. No big plays.

Andrew Sendejo deflected a third down pass inside the 10. Way to get in the passing lane. Big hit on RB on outside run play. Beaten by Graham for TD in the late 3rd. Terrific throw and good catch, but the coverage should have been better than it was. Made a good tackle of Graham in the RZ in the early 4th. Credited with 8 tackles. Several involved big hits. Sendejo did hit teammate Maddox at the end of the game and knocked him out.

STs

Cameron Johnston only averaged 41.8 yards per punt. 3 of them were downed inside the 20.

Rudy Ford had a good tackle on early punt and generally covered kicks well.

Long KOR by Sanders really jump started the offense. Sanders returned a KO 67 yards and that really woke up the team.

_