Eagles-Pats Showdown

I can say without hyperbole that Tuesday’s Eagles-Patriots joint practice was the most important event ever involving those two teams. The Eagles got the better of the Pats, proving once again that Philadelphia is vastly superior to Boston in every way possible. At least that’s what I got from it.

NOTES

Jimmy Bama

Jeff McLane

Fran Duffy

Dave Zangaro

Brooks Kubena

EJ Smith

Brandon Lee Gowton 

Tuesday was all about defense. Check out this nugget from McLane.

I focused most of my attention on the offense, but I was able to catch some of the Eagles defense. It seemed like every time I glanced at the next field over, someone was either getting a sack or forcing a turnover. Greg Bedard of bostonsportsjournal.com told me that he credited the Eagles with 14 sacks on 42 Patriots drops in team drills. That’s a ridiculously high rate which suggests that the Eagles either have the greatest pass rush of all time or the Patriots have the worst pass protection ever. It’s probably somewhere in the middle, but the Eagles still took care of business.

14 sacks on 42 pass plays? That is nuts.

Jimmy offered his take on the pass rush.

The Eagles’ defense dominated the Patriots’ offense, and it was a sack party all day. There was one stretch in which the Eagles had sacks on five consecutive plays, by Moro Ojomo, Bryce Huff, Nolan Smith, Nakobe Dean, and then Dean again. I asked a few Patriots reporters if sacks allowed has been common theme for their offense throughout camp, and the consensus was that it was, but not to the degree that we saw today.

Looking through my notes, I wrote “sack” over and over. Josh Sweat, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Brandon Graham, Zack Baun, and Ben VanSumeren all also had sacks. It would probably be easier to list the linemen and linebackers who didn’t get a sack.

The Patriots did not block well, but we have to give a lot of credit to the Eagles. That is one heckuva day.

***

Here is BLG on the return of Cooper DeJean.

The big news is that Cooper DeJean was officially activated from the active/NFI list. The rookie was a limited participant, so, he got some position work in but didn’t take part in team drills. Speaking after practice, DeJean said playing in next week’s preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings is a realistic goal. (He won’t be playing this Thursday night.) DeJean missing at least 12 practices worth of team drills certainly isn’t ideal but there’s still some time for him to make a positive impression before Week 1.

A good secondary just got even better. DeJean could start working at nickel. Right now Quinyon Mitchell is the leader at that spot, but DeJean would give them good depth. He can also play safety. We’ll see how things go with him.

***

I loved this note from Fran on Saquon.

• Saquon Barkley looked fast and fluid. In the first team period, Barkley ran the ball left and made a nifty nice cutback inside thanks to a great block by Cam Jurgens. In the second team period, Barkley toasted linebacker Matthew Judon for a touchdown on a wheel route. DeVonta Smith went in motion before the snap to draw the defender away from the area where Hurts went with the ball.

Saquon vs a pass rusher is a mismatch. I love the fact the coaches designed this play and motion helped get the matchup that they wanted. And you can feel good throwing the ball down the field to Saquon. He’s a really good receiver.

Fran also had good stuff on Jalen Carter.

• Jalen Carter set the tone from the first snap of the team period, shedding the offensive lineman and knocking the running back to the ground. Two plays later, Carter looped around Jordan Davis to sack Jacoby Brissett. Later in the session, Carter used a swim move to go right past the guard and into the backfield to stop the run play. He then split a double team at the line of scrimmage to disrupt the running play.

It really helps when your stars play like stars.

***

Dave Z liked what he saw from John Ross.

John Ross might have had his best day of training camp. In 7-on-7s, Kenny Pickett hit him for a deep ball over the coverage of Alex Austin. We haven’t seen that enough from Ross. In team drills, he had a great catch working his way back to the football in front of the defender. He also caught a pass in the middle of the field.

After all that, though, he had a bad drop later in practice. There were some bodies around him but it would have been a 20-yard gain on the left side of the field and he just dropped it.

It would be good if Ross picked things up and started playing at a higher level. He’s still a long shot to make the roster, but might be practice squad material if he plays well enough.

***

Here is Jimmy on the LBs.

 The biggest play of the day came via Jeremiah Trotter, who jumped a route over the middle, plucked the ball out of the air, and had open field ahead of him.

Zack Baun also had an INT during a red zone session. Pats TE Austin Hooper had the ball in his hands for a hot second, but Nakobe Dean got his hand in and jarred it loose. The ball popped up and Baun dove for the pick. Good day for Nakobe.

Fran was impressed with Nakobe.

• Nakobe Dean did it all at linebacker on Tuesday for the Eagles. He came up on a blitz in the red zone period and Brissett was stuck with the ball, not knowing where things went so wrong so fast. Dean played a role in two turnovers. First, Dean broke up the pass out of the hands of tight end Austin Hooper and Zack Baun came away with the pick in the end zone. In a later session, Dean blitzed, allowing Jeremiah Trotter Jur. to undercut the receiver and cash in on a pick-six.

None of the ILBs is going to be Dick Butkus, but these guys are making plays. The coaches are getting the most out of them. It is really encouraging to see the LBs making plays and not mistakes. None of them are great, but they could be an interesting set of players for the coaches to mix and match.

***

Fran offered notes on Jalen Hurts

• Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown showed great timing and chemistry on several intermediate crossing routes, as the quarterback laid the ball only where the receiver could get it. And when Hurts was in a pinch, under siege, and needed to throw up the ball to Brown, as it happened in the final team period, the All-Pro receiver muscled the ball away from the defensive back. Another pinpoint throw from Hurts to Brown came for a gain of more than 20 yards on a corner route to the right side.

And

• Hurts showed tremendous poise and patience in the pocket even when under pressure. There was a snap in the first team session where the Patriots mugged the line of scrimmage and the Eagles didn’t know who was rushing or dropping into coverage. Hurts waited and found his man in DeVonta Smith for the completion. On one play, Hurts had to beat the free rusher in Judon and did so with a throw to Brown’s outside shoulder.

It helps when you have a stud like AJ to throw to. Here is Jimmy on AJ’s day.

A.J. Brown easily had double-digit catches today. Beast. He’s been unstoppable in the middle of the field all camp. His slant game with Hurts has been especially precise and crisp.

Someone else said Brown was the best player on the field today. That’s high praise for the star receiver. This offense has a chance to be special.

***

This was an important day. The starters aren’t likely to play on Thursday night. This could be their only chance to face another team before the season starts. Maybe Nick Sirianni will mix things up, but this was still a really important day.

It is very encouraging for the Eagles to have played so well. Of course, that meant it was a rough day for the Pats. The head line on the bostonsportsjournal is one word…BRUTAL.

Yikes.

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