Posted: January 5th, 2024 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 3 Comments »Football players are lucky. They play a game for a living. They get paid a lot of money. They get to hang out with all the cool members of the media. They occasionally get to meet a pretty girl or two. Life is good.
Then comes a losing streak and things get turned sideways. With all the negativity around the Eagles you would think the world was ending. The players seemed miserable. The coaches too.
It feels like that has changed a bit.
Nick Sirianni had three press conferences this week and he seemed different. He felt less defensive and more optimistic. Sometimes hitting rock bottom can be a good thing. Maybe the players and coaches realized they’re still pretty lucky. Beyond that, the season isn’t over. They still have a chance to do some good.
The world isn’t crashing down.
You’re never going to turn things around by burying your head in the sand and being depressed. All you can do is keep grinding. Or maybe go to an escape room.
This doesn’t feel like a team that is falling apart.
Maybe this is me being too optimistic. Maybe this is me delusionally looking for something good. But there is a different vibe around the team this week. Even if that is true, it doesn’t mean anything if that doesn’t translate to better play on the field.
The team led 20-3 and 21-6 the past two weeks. They had a chance at blowing both games wide open. Unfortunately the team choked in both instances, losing to the Cardinals and almost losing to the Giants.
If the Eagles can play with more pep in their step, maybe that can finally give us that blowout we’ve all been waiting for.
One thing that will help quite a bit is getting the team’s best LB back on the field.
It is crazy to think that Zach Cunningham was on the street when the Eagles signed him last summer. He turned out to be a terrific addition and has been the best LB this year. He’s not been much of a playmaker, but he’s a good run defender and has had some good moments in coverage. Cunningham brings a steady hand to the middle of the defense and boy do they need that.
He’s not going to magically fix the defense, but having him back can help in a big way.
Sunday will be interesting. Do the Eagles play better? Do they have fun? Can they win big?
Or will things go horribly wrong, again?
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Posted: January 4th, 2024 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »This game has already been discussed quite a bit so I’m not going to write a ton, but I like to watch the tape and share my thoughts. The Eagles offense was good, but not good enough. The Eagles defense was erratic in the first half and flat out awful in the second half. That was an incredibly disappointing performance.
The Cardinals had nothing to play for but pride. They were beat up and on the road. But somehow that group out-played the Eagles who had everything on the line. I can’t tell you how discouraging that is. If the Cardinals had just made this a close game, NFL history is full of bad teams playing well and scaring the crap out of a good team.
The Eagles lost.
Beyond that, they got manhandled with the game on the line. Ugh.
The Eagles might have more disappointing losses to the Cardinals than any other team. This is one of the low points in a rivalry that is full of them.
I’ll stop there because I can already feel myself getting depressed.
COACHING
Gannon 1, Sirianni 0.
Brian Johnson had some good calls in the game. He ran a short pass to Goedert out of 13 personnel and that went for 23 yards. I liked the red zone pass to Julio Jones on the first TD. Smart way to mix in other receivers. This trick play worked well.
https://twitter.com/Eaglesfans9/status/1741538093180530775
Obviously the hot topic is the three plays on the final scoring drive. The results stunk. I do get the logic in the play-calling. I would have preferred trying to get the ball to AJ on at least one of the plays. He’s one of the best players in the league. Give him a chance to make a play.
The defense was awful partly due to coaching and partly due to execution. Everyone had a hand in that mess. I don’t understand Matt Patricia’s use of his personnel. He made some odd decisions and some really awful ones.
OFFENSE
Jalen Hurts had a good game. I liked his pocket presence. He wasn’t falling back and bailing to the outside. He had good protection and took advantage of it, throwing for 3 TDs. When he did move, he kept his eyes downfield. That’s how he got the second TD to JJ and the TD to Goedert.
D’Andre Swift mainly played well, going 13-61. I hate the fact he bounced his final run way outside. That caused Mailata to hold and drew the flag. In a situation like that, just run upfield. 2nd & 9 is better than 1st & 20.
Hurts only threw 23 passes so none of the receivers put up big numbers. AJ was 4-53. Julio Jones caught a pair of TDs. DeVonta caught 3 passes, but had a huge drop on a deep ball. That would have put the Eagles in scoring territory. The throw wasn’t ideal, but it was catchable, especially for a star receiver.
The OL played well. Hurts wasn’t sacked and only got hit twice. He generally had good time to throw. The run blocking was up and down. The Eagles only finished 23-91 on the ground despite playing a defense that struggles vs the run.
DEFENSE
The Eagles had a 21-6 lead and blew it. They didn’t force a punt all game long. They gave up 449 yards and 35 points. They gave up 221 rushing yards. To Arizona. Yikes.
Jordan Davis has gotten a lot of flak for his performance. He did struggle to get off blocks. I think he’s getting more blame than he deserves. Almost none of the defensive players can be happy with their tape.
I liked what I saw from Brandon Graham and Moro Ojomo. BG was disruptive at times. Ojomo played physical.
Milton Williams had a great TFL, but celebrated immediately…while the ball was loose. If he stays on top of Kyler Murray, Blankenship has a chance to swoop in and recover the ball. That would have kept points off the scoreboard.
Haason Reddick has been talked about a lot. He dropped back too much (poor coaching). He struggled when he did drop back. Reddick also lost contain on a scramble in the red zone and let Murray go for a first down. Not his best game.
Josh Sweat had a chance to make a few plays, but didn’t make any. He missed a sack of Murray in the red zone that could have been huge.
Shaq Leonard was terrible. He was painfully slow. He got lost in traffic. He missed tackles in space. He was replaced by Ben VanSumeren late in the game. Leonard shouldn’t play anymore this season unless everyone else is hurt. Just looks like his tank is empty. VanSumeren was okay when he played. I can live with that from an athletic rookie.
Nick Morrow did have 14 tackles and a TFL, but sure didn’t have a good game. I will give him credit for at least playing hard.
Sydney Brown had the highlight play of the game.
Reed Blankenship was in on 11 tackles, but most of them were downfield. He missed a couple. His highlight was an immediate tackle of a receiver on 3rd & short. Got the guy down short of the sticks. Kevin Byard didn’t have a good game. He was a physical run defender in Tennessee. That was missing on Sunday. He didn’t tackle well and didn’t attack the LOS very well.
Kyler Murray was 25 for 31 so that should tell you how bad the coverage was. Coaches love to talk about coverage and the rush matching up. The Eagles played a lot of off coverage. Murray got rid of the ball quickly. Catch after catch after catch. If he’s throwing quickly, play some press and make him hold the ball. Give your rush a chance.
ST
The Eagles never forced a punt so Britain Covey got the week off.
Braden Mann did average 58.5 yards per punt. He’s pretty good.
Arizona tried an onside kick. Eli Ricks made a heads up recovery. Great decision by Gannon to try that. Made sure his offense got the ball back with plenty of time to go score.
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