Almost

Posted: October 18th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Almost

The Eagles almost beat the Ravens. John Hightower almost caught a big pass on the opening drive. Miles Sanders almost caught a TD in the first half. Jake Elliott almost hit a field goal at the end of the half.

Almost.

The Eagles came up short in all of those areas and fell to 1-4-1. You can be frustrated with another tough loss or disappointed in another sloppy performance. That wasn’t my takeaway.

I came away impressed with Carson Wentz and the Eagles. I am not ignoring the fact they got down 17-0 and looked terrible. You do have to look at what happened closely. Jamon Brown made his first start with the team and he was awful. Jack Dricoll was the RT. If you’re the coaches, who do you help? And then you’ve got Jordan Mailata on his own.

The Eagles offense was a mess in the first half. The pass protection was terrible. Wentz took a beating. He made one terrific throw to Hightower for what should have been a huge play, but it was dropped. Wentz and Sanders weren’t on the same page and a TD turned into a frustrating incompletion. The Ravens shut down the Eagles ground game.

The Eagles defense played very up and down. They would shut down Baltimore and get them into third and long, only to give up a play that moved the chains. You could see potential, but the players didn’t execute in critical moments.

The Eagles trailed 17-0 at the half.

They did get some life late in the half when Jalen Hurts got mixed in. The Ravens had to figure out if he was a decoy or part of the play and that momentary hesitation helped the offense have some success. Once they got going, they were able to get in a rhythm.

The Eagles dominated the second half, outscoring Baltimore 28-13. There weren’t any fluky turnovers. The Eagles outgained them 270-195. And this was a very banged up version of the Eagles. More guys got hurt in the game so you had Brett Toth playing RT. You had Elijah Riley playing safety. Someone named Jason Croom played TE and caught a TD.

It would have been easy for the coaches to pull the key guys and just play the backups. The Eagles have a game this Thursday. Why not protect Wentz and key starters? Instead the coaches left Wentz in the game and kept trying to win this week. There were times when I questioned this, but as I saw the Eagles claw their way back into the game, it made some sense.

They wanted to see Wentz and his teammates wake up and get going. If you have an abysmal showing and then play on a short week, that can be tough mentally/emotionally. Wentz and his young teammates can feel good about the way they played in the second half.

Vince Lombardi used to preach to his teams that they didn’t lose, they just ran out of time. That is kind of the way today felt. The Eagles ran out of time.

There are plenty of mistakes to discuss, but I’m more interested in the fact that Wentz and his teammates never gave up.

Travis Fulgham had another big game, going 6-75-1. He is the first Eagles receiver to catch a TD in three straight games since Terrell Owens back in 2004. That’s something to build on.

Wentz was sloppy early, but that was for a reason.

He made some terrific throws and had some great moments. Wentz had a 40-yard run in the game. He kept competing, despite taking a major beating. I’m sure that had to inspire his teammates.

Hightower bounced back from his awful drop to haul in a 50-yard bomb.

Sanders had a 74-yard run that resulted in a TD. He fumbled at the end of the run and JJAW fell on it for the score. Great run by Sanders and great hustle by JJ to be there to get the ball.

The DL did a lot of good things today. They kept Lamar Jackson under pressure. He overcame it a few times. That’s what special players do.

Alex Singleton led the team in tackles and seemed to play well. That was encouraging.

If the Eagles can bottle up what they did in the second half, they will win on Thursday night. If the Eagles make the kinds of mistakes they did in the first half, the Giants are going to get the win.

In the last two weeks we’ve seen this team show a lot of heart. They faced a pair of elite defenses and put up 57 combined points. They just need to quit making the key mistakes that have cost them all season long.

It also might help to get some good news on the injury front. Let’s hope that guys who left the game today aren’t seriously hurt and that some guys who have been missing can make it back into the lineup.

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