Mixed Bag

The Eagles offense was bad. The Eagles defense was good, just not good enough to win a game when the offense could only score 10 points.

We knew the offense would have some issues with Jordan Howard and Alshon Jeffery out. When Lane Johnson got hurt in the second quarter, things just fell apart. The Eagles didn’t do anything until the final, desperate drives of the game.

Everyone deserves some blame for the struggles. We’ll start with Carson Wentz. He did not play well. There were some really good moments, but there were other times when he made curious decisions and some poor throws. There were some times when he held the ball too long and took bad sacks. Those were drive killers and one resulted in a fumble that gave the Patriots three points.

Wentz was outstanding on the Eagles long TD drive and I took that as a good sign. For a variety of reasons, he didn’t stay at that level.

One of the big reasons was the play of the OL. They committed several penalties, all of which proved to be costly. There were missed blocks, in the run and pass game. Losing Johnson really hurt. Big V struggled as his replacement.

The receivers certainly didn’t help matters. They struggled to get open and there were also some costly drops. Instead of coming up big in a tough situation, it was more of the same. You saw Patriots receivers make some tough grabs. Only Zach Ertz stood out for the Eagles.

Doug Pederson and the offensive coaches came up with a very creative gameplan against the Bears. We didn’t see much of that against the Patriots. They showed some creativity on the long TD drive, but aside from that there were more questions than answers.

This game would have been a blowout if the defense didn’t play as well as they did. Tom Brady was just 26 for 47 passing. Wind was a factor, but the Eagles defenses deserves a ton of credit.

The DL got regular pressure in the game. Brady did a great job of throwing the ball away to avoid sacks.

The real surprise was the play of the back seven. The Eagles LBs and DBs covered well. They were credited with five pass break-ups. There were multiple plays where Brady had to throw the ball away because no one was open. You haven’t been able to say that about the opposing QB very often this season. Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby were the guys who really stood out.

There was one big breakdown that gave the Pats their TD. They used a trick play and had Julian Edelman throwing a pass. His WR was wide open in the end zone. It sure looked like Darby just gave up on the play and let the receiver run free. One huge mistake. A missed tackle by Nate Gerry on a screen pass put NE down in scoring position. A couple of very costly mistakes.

Tony Romo said several times in the game that he thinks the Eagles are going to be tough down the stretch because the defense is finally healthy (although still missing Nigel Bradham). Romo thinks the defense will play like they did in 2017. We’ll have to wait and see, but today was very encouraging in regard to the defense.

The loss drops the Eagles to 5-5, a full game behind Dallas.

I do think there is a big positive takeaway from this game. The Eagles were bad in losses to the Vikings and Cowboys. Today was very different. The Eagles were right in that game until the final seconds. They played hard and never let things get out of hand.

If you put Jordan Howard, Alshon Jeffery and Lane Johnson back on the field, the offense will instantly get better. We’ll have to wait and see the timetable for those guys, but they shouldn’t have extended absences.

A frustrating loss no doubt, but if the defense can sustain that level of play, it bodes well for the stretch run.

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