Gritty, Not Pretty

Posted: November 21st, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »

I have watched a lot of football over the years. I used to be fiery, living and dying on every snap. Age has mellowed me a bit, but there are certain things that set me off. Facing Patrick Mahomes is one of those things. When you play him, you’re convinced he’s a creation of the devil sent to Earth purely to torture you and your team.

For half of this game, Mahomes was torturing me and the Eagles. He would make a key throw. He’d run for a few yards. He eluded pressure time and again. The Eagles found themselves down 17-7 at halftime.

The second half was a different story. The Eagles kept the Chiefs off the scoreboard. That was a mixture of good defense and good luck. The Eagles made key plays. They also got lucky with some KC drops, including one from MVS that might have won the game. The Chiefs run game was great in the first half, but only produced 47 yards after halftime. Mahomes still had some good moments, but even he couldn’t overcome his teammates mistakes.

Give the Eagles defense a lot of credit. They did what they could to limit the Chiefs. They slowed down Kelce (7-44 for the game). The defense tackled well. They got pressure on Mahomes in key situations. KC only had one play go more than 20 yards (24-yard run by Pacheco). Their longest pass play was 17-yards. The Chiefs had to play small-ball and it didn’t work too well.

The Eagles offense only had 78 yards and 7 points at halftime. Jalen Hurts was sacked 5 times and threw an INT. It was not pretty.

Luckily the Eagles got some things sorted out in terms of protection and play-calling. The offense had 160 yards and 14 points in the second half. Hurts wasn’t great, but made enough key plays to lead his team to victory. DeVonta Smith had a big night, going 6-99. His 41-yard catch set up the go-ahead TD run by Hurts. D’Andre Swift had his best game in a while. He was 12-76-1 on the ground and 3-31 as a receiver. Beyond overall numbers, Swift delivered big plays. He had a 35-yard run and a 20-yard reception. Those chunk plays were huge.

This game was a heavyweight slugfest. Neither team was pretty. As Nick Sirianni said afterward, this was a “gritty, grimy” game. Both teams had guys make plays. DT Chris Jones was disruptive all night. CB Trent McDuffie was terrific. RB Isiah Pacheco went 19-89 for the Chiefs. He ran hard. Getting him down was a challenge on every play.

Safety Kevin Byard had his first INT as an Eagle, picking off Mahomes in the end zone. Nickelback Bradley Roby had a forced fumble in the red zone. He used the “peanut punch” to knock the ball away from Travis Kelce. Britain Covey averaged 18 yards on three punt returns. That helped with field position. Braden Mann had a 47-yard punt that pinned the Chiefs inside their 10 on the final drive.

This game was incredibly frustrating in the first half. It got a lot better in the second half, but it was still emotionally draining. This is the kind of test that can help the Eagles be ready for the postseason.

Andy Reid is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, but Sirianni might have gotten the better of him tonight. Reid punted on 4th & 4 from the Eagles 39-yard line. That led to a touchback and a gain of only 19 yards. Reid’s defense was playing great. He had Mahomes and Kelce. That wasn’t the time to be conservative. Sirianni made the better in-game adjustments and pushed the right buttons to get his team the W.

*****

The Eagles are 9-1 and have the best record in the league. That was in danger for a while. You know Lions, Niners and Cowboys fans had to be miserable when the Eagles held on to win.

*****

Sean Desai beat another good QB. His defense shut out both the Dolphins and Chiefs offenses in the second half. I’m guessing Jonathan Gannon couldn’t have pulled that off.

*****

This is mind-blowing.

That tells you how tough Hurts is mentally and emotionally. He doesn’t panic. He doesn’t give up. He just locks in and comes after you.

Think about other QBs who struggle when things go wrong. Hurts can win ugly. He doesn’t need his A-game. That says a lot about him.

Not bad for a second round pick.

*****

Need something funny?

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A Big Test

Posted: November 15th, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 4 Comments »

In case you forgot, the Chiefs beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl last year. Kansas City had a great season and won a lot of big games last year. They were a deserving champion. The Chiefs are off to a 7-2 start this year, but don’t feel the same. They will still be a big test for the Eagles.

KC had the top scoring offense in the league last year. They went 14-3 in the regular season and won five games by 14 or more points. This season the Chiefs are 11th in scoring offense and have only won a single game in a blowout. They are still really good, but they are different. They are vulnerable.

The calling card this year has been the defense. They are second in points allowed and fourth in yards allowed. Andy Reid’s guys aren’t lighting up the scoreboard, but they keep opponents from scoring as well. That’s not the worst formula in the world. Patrick Mahomes makes just enough plays to win games. And that Kelce guy they have is still a pretty good player.

The big difference this year is that the other skill players aren’t doing much. Eagles WRs have 12 TD catches this year. Chiefs WRs have 7. The whole team only has 4 rushing TDs. The Eagles have 12. Mahomes still makes the Chiefs a dangerous offense, but not in the same way they’ve been in the past.

The X-factor here is that both teams are coming off the bye week. Reid is still one of the best offensive minds in football. He has been masterful throughout his career at getting his teams to play well after the bye and down the stretch. I’m sure Big Red and his staff have some ideas on how to fix the KC offense.

The Eagles will be different as well.

NB Bradley Roby should be healthy and ready to play. That could make a big difference. Roby isn’t going to come in and be some elite defender, but if he can prove to be effective most of the time, that would be a big upgrade.

Evans probably won’t be back this week, but he’ll be returning soon. That will give the Eagles another veteran DB. They can be more creative with multiple safety looks or dime packages with Evans and Roby in the secondary.

Sean Desai has the Eagles playing the run well. He has them rushing the passer well. The next challenge is getting them to improve in pass coverage. Some of that is scheme, but a lot is on a leaky secondary. Having stability and veteran players back there could make a big difference. The numbers aren’t pretty right now.

https://twitter.com/ClayWendler/status/1724912811434725805

One of the added challenges for Desai is figuring out what to do with Travis Kelce. The Eagles have struggled against TEs this year. Kelce is the best TE in football (apologies to Jack Stoll). I’m sure Desai will throw double-teams at him, but he can’t do that on every play. It will be interesting to see who Desai chooses to use on Kelce. I would think he’ll mix things up. This might be a good match for James Bradberry. He certainly owest the Eagles a big game this year.

In the Miami game Desai proved he could put together a gameplan to slow down an elite offense. The Chiefs aren’t elite right now, but Mahomes is still a special QB and you have to be at your best to slow him down. Desai needs a strong plan this week. One or two key stops could prove to be the difference in the game. That was certainly the case last week.

The Eagles couldn’t get that stop in February and it cost them the Super Bowl. The defense isn’t putting up the same kind of overall numbers they did last year, but they feel better in the sense that they aren’t just getting the best of scrubs, rookies and backup QBs. They beat Tua, Dak, Stafford and Cousins already.

Monday night will give us another clue about where the defense is and if they have the potential to win key games in the postseason.

*****

We’ll see if Desai tries some of this.

Desai has had time to study the first nine games. He will have a healthy defense. He can be as creative as he wants. It will be fun to see what he does.

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