Game Review – PHI 24, WAS 8

Posted: September 28th, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 5 Comments »

Carson Wentz helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl in 2017. He’s still friendly with Fletcher Cox, Jason Kelce and Brandon Graham. There are probably others as well. But on Sunday, Wentz was the enemy. The Eagles wanted to kick his butt, literally and figuratively. It makes me think of this scene from The Hunt For Red October.

Sometimes you’ve got a job to do.

And the Eagles did that job very well, sacking Wentz 9 times and hitting him 17 times. He took a pounding. The DL was relentless in getting upfield and going after Wentz until the whistle blew. Watching the game live on Sunday, you had to be impressed with the performance of the DL.

After watching the All-22, I came away equally as impressed by the back seven. They were masterful in coverage. It was beautiful. Wentz had to hold the ball because DBs and LBs were plastered on his receivers. The week before Kirk Cousins was under heavy pressure and threw the ball up for grabs. The Eagles had 3 INTs and could have had a few more. Wentz decided to hold the ball and take sacks. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. That’s good defense.

The Eagles offense started slow, but then scored 24 points in the second quarter. That proved to be enough for the team to win comfortably. It never felt like Washington was going to get going. They had to fight for every yard, let alone points.

Washington really battled on defense, but the Eagles just had too many weapons and too many answers. They had five plays of 30 or more yards. We know Nick Sirianni loves explosive plays. He must have been in heaven watching his offense moving the ball like that. Chunk plays all over the place.

Five years ago it was Wentz leading the explosive Eagles offense. That must seem like a lifetime ago to him. It had to be incredibly frustrating to be so helpless on offense while the guy drafted to be your backup marched his team up and down the field. The Eagles were a dysfunctional mess when Wentz left. Now they might be the best team in the NFL.

Was it fun to watch Wentz struggle? I’d be lying if I said no. He created some of the drama in Philly and then forced his way out. That worked out well for the Eagles. Not so much for him. Maybe things will work out for Wentz in D.C. Or maybe he’ll have better luck as a Carolina Panther next year.

COACHING

Sirianni didn’t have a lot of critical decisions in the game. He went for it on 4th/1 from the WAS 8. They handed the ball to Zach Pascal on a jet sweep and it didn’t work. Smart to go for it. I didn’t like the play on Sunday. I felt different watching the All-22. The play was designed to go wide. He had Brown and Goedert blocking out there. Pascal cut up the field early and got stuffed. I still don’t love the play, but it wasn’t clearly wrong.

I was shocked that Sirianni ran the ball on 3rd down with 20 seconds left in the half and no timeouts. I thought for sure he would throw and if it didn’t work, would then kick the FG. Sirianni said he was going for the TD no matter what. It worked, but it is easy to wonder if that was the right call. Were the four extra points worth the risk?

The running game struggled a bit so the coaches leaned on the passing game. That’s logical, but how often do we see coaches do things that aren’t logical? Give them credit when they do the smart thing, even if it was obvious.

They used empty sets very effectively. There was pistol, shotgun and under-center. They stayed creative with the plays. We saw the shovel pass for the first time in a long time. Really good job by Sirianni, Shane Steichen and the offensive staff.

Jonathan Gannon had another good gameplan. He didn’t blitz as much, but he didn’t have to. The Eagles had to adjust from shutting down one WR to dealing with a talented trio. I thought that might give them issues, but the back seven was great in coverage.

Gannon’s defense was erratic in the opener, but they’ve been lights out since. Let’s hope they can keep that up.

OFFENSE

400 yards
5.9 yards per play
3rd down – 5 of 15
4th down – 2 for 3
red zone – 2 for 4
9 plays of 20 or more yards

For the second week in a row, the Eagles didn’t score in the second half. They were plenty aggressive, but not successful. I’m sure this is driving Sirianni crazy.

QB

Jalen Hurts is playing at a very high level right now. He played the best game of his career against Minnesota and then followed that up with another outstanding performance. Hurts was 22-35-340. He threw 3 TDs and didn’t turn the ball over. He ran for just 20 yards. Give Washington credit for shutting down that part of his game. Fortunately, they couldn’t contain him as a passer.

Hurts went deep a lot in this game. He hit DeVonta for gains of 44 and 45 yards. Brown hauled in a 38-yard pass down the left sideline. Hurts threw a pair of deep balls to Quez Watkins. Both were incomplete, but drew PI calls of 23 and 17 yards. It was great to see the long completions, but Hurts needs to be more accurate. Smith went up to make a highlight catch on the gain of 44. He underthrew Brown on the deep ball, but AJ fought through contact and made the catch. That might have been a TD with a better throw. Hurts was off target on throws to DeVonta and Brown in the 2nd half. Both should have been TDs.

The highlight play came on 4th down just before the half. The clock was running. Hurts had to call the play on his own, get everyone lined up correctly and get the ball snapped. That’s a lot of pressure in a critical situation. Hurts called a good play and then made an excellent throw. He put the ball up where DeVonta could go get it, which he did.

Hurts also did a really good job on an earlier TD to Brown. Hurts made an adjustment before the snap after seeing the defense. Steichen said as soon as he saw the adjustment, he knew the play was going to be a TD. Brown ran a slant and Hurts put the ball a bit behind him, but did so to keep it away from the DB. Brown caught it and got in for the TD.

Hurts generally made good decisions and accurate throws. He led the Eagles down the field for points just before the half for the third week in a row. I think they said on MNF that the Giants haven’t scored in the final two minutes of a half in 20 straight games. Those can be critical points. Hurts is calm and smart when he leads those drives.

We did find one thing that Hurts can’t do. His shovel pass was ugly. Yikes. It looked less like a pass and more like a person trying to get rid of something radioactive that got into their hands. If we’re going to keep that in the playbook, we need to work on that throw.

RB

Miles Sanders has been good this year. He’s been more decisive with his runs. That wasn’t always the case on Sunday. He picked the wrong game to go back to his old ways. The Washington DTs are too good for that. Sanders finished the game 15-46. His best run went for 13 yards. That was up the middle and Sanders hit the hole hard on that.

Boston Scott and Kenny Gainwell combined for 5 carries for 6 yards. Quiet day for all the RBs.

WR

DeVonta had the best game of his career by going 8-169-1. He beat his previous high for yards in a game by almost 50. Smith made plays about every way possible. He hauled in a 45-yd catch down the right sideline and showed great body control in making the catch and trying to get his feet in. He might not have gotten his left foot down, but WAS didn’t throw the challenge flag in time so this goes down as a great catch.

He caught a 44-yd bomb before the half. That involved him going up and fighting for the ball. And doing that after having run 40 plus yards. Smith came down hard on his back, but held onto the ball. Great catch. He caught a short pass on a 3rd down play and turned that into a gain of 31. His TD grab was the final play of the first half. Hurts threw him a jump ball in the back of the end zone. DeVonta went up and got it.

Smith might be Skinny Batman, but he plays big. He plays strong. He will fight for the ball and win his share of battles. Great day for him.

AJ Brown did his part, going 5-85. He caught a 38-yd deep ball. He also had a key catch for a TD and a key 3rd down grab. Every week we see what a stud receiver he is. I mean, he’s no Dorial Green-Beckham, but he’s pretty good.

Watkins didn’t catch any passes but did draw the two PI calls. The coaches will count them as explosive plays.

Pascal had a good day, going 3-18. I’ve been incredibly impressed with him. Pascal does a great job at being a role player. He makes some key plays. He is a good blocker. I think he screwed up on the 4th down jet sweep, but I understand what his thinking was. He only needed a yard. Going wide was risky. Why not turn upfield right away to secure the first? Unfortunately WAS played it well.

TE

Good day for the TEs. Dallas Goedert led the way, going 3-26-1. His highlight was a 23-yd TD play. Hurts hit him on a quick screen. Goedert got a couple of good blocks and then bounced off a tackler. He then flew upfield for the TD. His blocking was mostly good. Goedert did get blown up on the safety play. He was asked to reach block a DT and that didn’t go well.

Jack Stoll caught his first pass of the year. It was a shot play that gained 4 yards. Stoll was okay as a blocker. The shovel pass at the goal line was thrown to him. Bad pass so Stoll had no chance to catch it.

Grant Calcaterra made his NFL debut. He caught his first pass of the year and it went for 40 yards. He showed good hands and great RAC ability on the play. You can see why the Eagles like him so much. He needs a lot of work as a blocker and STer.

OL

Good game from the guys up front. Lane Johnson was outstanding, as usual. Jason Kelce and Isaac Seumalo each had key blocks on Goedert’s TD play. Kelce had some really good blocks on inside runs.

Jordan Mailata played well, but did give up a sack. He was beaten by a good inside move. He did have one highlight moment.

Ouch.

Landon Dickerson is the weak spot on the OL. He’s got four outstanding teammates so the standard his high. Dickerson whiffed on at least 3 blocks vs WAS. He’s still a young guy learning to play. And he does have some great moments. He just needs to clean some things up.

DEFENSE 

240 yards
3.2 yards per play
3rd down – 6 of 17
4th down – 0 for 2
red zone – 1 for 3

DL

Brandon Graham was the star of the game and he didn’t even start. How’s that for a deep DL? Graham had 5 QB hits, 2.5 sacks, 2 TFLs, 1 PD, 1 FF. Nice day, old timer. Graham played all over. He terrorized the RT, LT and TEs. He was relentless in fighting through blocks and then chasing after Wentz. Graham got big hits even when he didn’t get a sack. He was good vs the run. For his efforts, Graham won NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Awesome performance.

Josh Sweat had 1.5 sacks and also played at a high level. He was disruptive all game long. He only had one outright bad play. Curtis Samuel got the ball on a jet sweep and ran right by Sweat. I don’t think Sweat realized he had the ball. I’m really impressed with Sweat’s ability to win with burst, strength and length. He’s developed into a complete player.

Javon Hargrave was the star DT. The stat sheet shows a sack and a fumble recovery. But Hargrave gave the OL fits. He pushed the pocket over and over. He got penetration on a regular basis. The team doesn’t rack up 9 sacks without Hargrave disrupting the middle of the line on a regular basis.

Fletcher Cox had a really strong game. He had 1.5 sacks and a couple of QB hits. When he got single-blocking, Cox won his battles and made them pay. He showed great hustle in chasing Wentz late in the game on a scramble. Cox dove and got a shot on Wentz as he went out of bounds. The game 24-0, but Cox wasn’t about to let Wentz score on that play. Love that kind of effort.

Jordan Davis had the best game of his young career. He pushed the pocket on some plays and flat out shed blockers on others. He was disruptive in his 24 snaps. Davis had multiple shots for a sack, but couldn’t finish. I guarantee you Cox and BG let him hear about those plays in the film room. BG would trash talk his own mom so you know he’s giving the star rookie an earful. Davis got in on a couple of tackles. He also deflected a pass on a play where he got into the backfield.

Tuipulotu played 34 snaps. He was credited with a pair of tackles. Good effort. He really battles.

Milton Williams got hurt early in the game and wasn’t very disruptive after that. He played (38 snaps) more than I realized.

LB

Haason Reddick had his breakthrough game. He had 1.5 sacks, 1 FF and a couple of QB hits. Reddick seemed to have most of his success rushing from a 2-point stance as the LDE. He flew into the backfield several times and just missed getting in on other sacks.

Patrick Johnson got to play 28 snaps and had some good flashes. He got a couple of hits off Wentz. And he had this awesome play. Amazing effort.

https://twitter.com/Eaglesfans9/status/1574127205369585664

TJ Edwards had another great game. He led the team with 10 tackles. He also had 2 TFLs, 1 sack and a couple of QB hits. He was a force over the middle of the field, tackling runners and receivers who came into his area. Edwards flies to the ball and he’s a sure tackler. He’s also smart so he’s almost never out of position. Edwards had a big hit on Wentz on a play where the QB took off running. Edwards made him pay on that.

Kyzir White wasn’t as much of a playmaker, but had 9 tackles and was good in coverage. He helped Edwards to shut down the middle of the field. 43 shows up all over the place when you go back to watch the tape.

SAF

There weren’t any big plays by the safeties. Wentz took his 9 sacks. When he did throw, he tended to go short and guys got tackled pretty quickly. Marcus Epps had 4 tackles and was strong in coverage.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson was in on 5 tackles and got a gift TFL. Half the team was in the backfield and the RB went to the ground in front of CGJ. Nice when you get a freebie like that. CGJ was mostly good in coverage. He was slow to get out wide on a deep ball to McLaurin. That ended being a big gain. WAS had tried the same play earlier and CGJ had that one covered well.

CB

Slay, Bradberry and Maddox all covered really well. Bradberry had a PBU and was in on 5 tackles. The PBU came on a 3rd down play and ended a drive. Maddox was outstanding. He was in on 5 tackles. Maddox was aggressive vs the run. He filled quickly and tackled well. His highlight moment came on 4th/goal when WAS tried a shovel pass. Maddox stuffed the TE for no gain. The TE had a major size advantage, but Maddox hit him hard and square. Maddox also had a PBU.

Zech McPhearson came into the game a few times in place of Slay. WAS went after him a few times, but McPhearson held up pretty well. He didn’t give up any big plays.

ST

Britain Covey had an up and down game. He had a pair of 12-yard PRs. That was good to see. He also muffed a punt and then had it go backwards, inside the 10. He did recover that but it was a scary moment.

DeVonta was put in at PR early in the game when Sirianni wanted a spark. He went for 12 yards and put the offense in good position. The coaches said they’ll mix him in from time to time.

One of the things that helped on returns was putting Zach Pascal back deep to act as a lead blocker. The guys on the outside aren’t doing a great job of blocking gunners so Pascal helped the returner stay clean for the first few yards.

Arryn Siposs had 4 of his 6 punts downed inside the 20. The other two were touchbacks. Four is good, but six would have been better.

The coverage units were good. Josh Jobe stood out on one play. He got by two blockers and flew downfield on a punt.

Jake Elliott hit his only FG.

The blocking for place-kicks needs to improve. Both Stoll and Calcaterra gave up pressure off the edges. I know it is hard to get a strong hand on the rushers (usually fast CBs), but they’ve got to work on that.

_

5 Comments on “Game Review – PHI 24, WAS 8”

  1. 1 Eagles Information: Up to date NFL quarterback scores have Jalen Hurts in moment position - tiolinguica delivery said at 11:32 AM on September 29th, 2022:

    […] Sport Evaluate – PHI 24, WAS 8 – Iggles BlitzJalen Hurts is taking part in at an overly excessive degree at the moment. He performed the most efficient recreation of his occupation in opposition to Minnesota after which adopted that up with some other remarkable efficiency. Hurts used to be 22-35-340. He threw 3 TDs and didn’t flip the ball over. He ran for simply 20 yards. Give Washington credit score for shutting down that a part of his recreation. Thankfully, they couldn’t include him as a passer. Hurts went deep so much on this recreation. He hit DeVonta for features of 44 and 45 yards. Brown hauled in a 38-yard move down the left sideline. Hurts threw a couple of deep balls to Quez Watkins. Each had been incomplete, however drew PI calls of 23 and 17 yards. It used to be nice to peer the lengthy completions, however Hurts must be extra correct. Smith went as much as make a spotlight catch at the acquire of 44. He underthrew Brown at the deep ball, however AJ fought via touch and made the catch. That would possibly had been a TD with a greater throw. Hurts used to be astray on throws to DeVonta and Brown within the second part. Each must had been TDs. […]

  2. 2 Eagles Information: Up to date NFL quarterback ratings have Jalen Hurts in moment position - noooracademy said at 11:37 AM on September 29th, 2022:

    […] Sport Evaluation – PHI 24, WAS 8 – Iggles BlitzJalen Hurts is enjoying at an excessively excessive degree presently. He performed the most efficient sport of his occupation towards Minnesota after which adopted that up with every other exceptional efficiency. Hurts used to be 22-35-340. He threw 3 TDs and didn’t flip the ball over. He ran for simply 20 yards. Give Washington credit score for shutting down that a part of his sport. Thankfully, they couldn’t include him as a passer. Hurts went deep so much on this sport. He hit DeVonta for good points of 44 and 45 yards. Brown hauled in a 38-yard cross down the left sideline. Hurts threw a couple of deep balls to Quez Watkins. Each had been incomplete, however drew PI calls of 23 and 17 yards. It used to be nice to peer the lengthy completions, however Hurts must be extra correct. Smith went as much as make a spotlight catch at the acquire of 44. He underthrew Brown at the deep ball, however AJ fought via touch and made the catch. That would possibly were a TD with a greater throw. Hurts used to be off track on throws to DeVonta and Brown within the 2d part. Each will have to were TDs. […]

  3. 3 Eagles News: Updated NFL quarterback rankings have Jalen Hurts in second place - Momento geek said at 12:20 PM on September 29th, 2022:

    […] Game Review – PHI 24, WAS 8 – Iggles BlitzJalen Hurts is enjoying at an excessively excessive degree presently. He performed the most productive sport of his occupation towards Minnesota after which adopted that up with some other exceptional efficiency. Hurts used to be 22-35-340. He threw 3 TDs and didn’t flip the ball over. He ran for simply 20 yards. Give Washington credit score for shutting down that a part of his sport. Fortunately, they couldn’t include him as a passer. Hurts went deep so much in this sport. He hit DeVonta for positive aspects of 44 and 45 yards. Brown hauled in a 38-yard go down the left sideline. Hurts threw a couple of deep balls to Quez Watkins. Both have been incomplete, however drew PI calls of 23 and 17 yards. It used to be nice to peer the lengthy completions, however Hurts must be extra correct. Smith went as much as make a spotlight catch at the achieve of 44. He underthrew Brown at the deep ball, however AJ fought thru touch and made the catch. That would possibly have been a TD with a greater throw. Hurts used to be astray on throws to DeVonta and Brown in the second part. Both must have been TDs. […]

  4. 4 The Linc - Up to date NFL QB rankings have Jalen Hurts in second place - Philadelphia News Station said at 12:23 PM on September 29th, 2022:

    […] Game Review – PHI 24, WAS 8 – Iggles BlitzJalen Hurts is taking part in at a really excessive stage proper now. He performed one of the best recreation of his profession in opposition to Minnesota after which adopted that up with one other excellent efficiency. Hurts was 22-35-340. He threw 3 TDs and didn’t flip the ball over. He ran for simply 20 yards. Give Washington credit score for shutting down that a part of his recreation. Happily, they couldn’t include him as a passer. Hurts went deep loads on this recreation. He hit DeVonta for features of 44 and 45 yards. Brown hauled in a 38-yard move down the left sideline. Hurts threw a pair of deep balls to Quez Watkins. Each had been incomplete, however drew PI calls of 23 and 17 yards. It was nice to see the lengthy completions, however Hurts must be extra correct. Smith went as much as make a spotlight catch on the acquire of 44. He underthrew Brown on the deep ball, however AJ fought by way of contact and made the catch. Which may have been a TD with a greater throw. Hurts was off course on throws to DeVonta and Brown within the 2nd half. Each ought to have been TDs. […]

  5. 5 Eagles News: Updated NFL Quarterback Rankings Have Jalen Hurts In Second Place - Bleeding Green Nation said at 10:40 PM on October 2nd, 2022:

    […] Lee Gowton discuss all of the Week 3 division action, give out two new awards and preview Week 4.Game Review – PHI 24, WAS 8 – Iggles BlitzJalen Hurts is playing at a very high level right now. He played the best game of his career against […]