Game Review – PHI 28, DAL 23
Posted: November 14th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 8 Comments »Sorry for the delay in posting this. I was traveling last week and was under the weather a bit. Re-watching the final minute of the Dallas game probably wasn’t great for my health or sanity, but I did it anyway.
I came away feeling better about the Eagles. They didn’t do anything great, but found themselves up 28-17 on Dallas. The Eagles could not put the game away, but made enough key plays to really put the Cowboys behind the eight ball. It took a miracle for Dallas to have a legit shot at the end. Rather than wilting, the Eagles once again made key plays and were able to secure the victory.
There is one glaring concern. The Eagles had no answer for CeeDee Lamb. He finished 11-191. Lamb played in the slot and outside. He played left and right. They put him in the backfield. Dallas moved him all over. The only DB to slow him down was Darius Slay. Lamb ate up Eli Ricks on several plays. That’s no insult to Ricks. He’s a UDFA rookie going against one of the best WRs in the league. You can bet every team left on the schedule will study that tape for ways to get the ball to their star receivers.
The one thing about the defense that did impress me is that they defended every blade of grass, as the old coaching axiom goes. Dallas was stopped at the 6-inch line on 4th down. They had a 2-point try come up a foot short. The Eagles did give up 406 yards, but only 23 points. The defense only gave up 6 points in the second half. You want them to cut down on the yards, but love the fact they were so clutch in key situations.
COACHING
Nick Sirianni set the tone early by going for it on 4th down from his own 32-yd line on the opening possession. He went for it on another 4th down on the same drive and those conversions helped the Eagles get out to a 7-0 lead. I didn’t love the play-calling on the final couple of series. I’m not sure how much of that was Sirianni and how much was Brian Johnson.
I did think Johnson had a good game overall. The Eagles ran a jet sweep pass to Swift that went for 20 yards. That was a good play. They ran an RPO that turned into a short pass to Goedert that went for 28 yards. That set up a short TD pass to AJ Brown that was well-designed. The Eagles were 3 for 3 in the red zone. It sure seems like Johnson has figured out what to call and the players are doing an excellent job of execution.
Sean Desai did some creative things. He had Sweat and Reddick switch sides early on and mixed that look in throughout the game. He lined up with 4-2-5 personnel and would have Cunningham shift from ILB to Edge, giving Dallas a 5-1 look. Desai mixed up coverages a bit, but had no real answers for Lamb. Hopefully the return of Bradley Roby will lead to better slot play.
OFFENSE
Jalen Hurts was 17-23-207, with 2 TDs. He was 10-36-1 as a runner. He played really well and his performance was even more impressive when you have context. He went into the game with a sore knee. He took a direct hit on his knee late in the first half. I thought that could be bad news. Hurts started to come out of the game, but somehow willed himself to stay in and never missed a snap. He continued to run when the Eagles needed it.
Hurts threw some dimes.
6) I cannot believe how good this throw is. Oh. My. Goodness. This is a DIME. You could not put this ball in a better position. Eagles smartly take the shot with Parsons out the game and it's just a beautiful throw and catch. Fantastic route and finish by DeVonta Smith. I could… pic.twitter.com/XpcJ8w5Y89
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) November 6, 2023
That TD to DeVonta was a thing of beauty. He ran a good route. The OL gave Hurts a perfect pocket to throw from. And Hurts delivered a beautiful touch throw for a TD. That’s what you want from a QB. The short throw to Goedert on the RPO was perfect. It was accurate and had good pace. That allowed DG to turn upfield and deliver a big play. Hurts hit DG on an early 4th down with a perfect throw just before the sideline. My biggest complaint with Hurts would be when he forced a deep ball to AJ in triple coverage. There was some space, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Luckily the pass was incomplete.
D’Andre Swift was 18-43 on the ground and 2-31 as a receiver. Those aren’t overly impressive numbers, but he did have some good runs in the game. Give Dallas credit. They played the run well. He didn’t have a lot of space to work with.
Kenny Gainwell was 3-22-1. His highlight was a 12-yard TD run on the opening possession. After all the questions about using Gainwell in the red zone, was there any doubt Sirianni would give him the ball? That’s about as Sirianni as it gets.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1721281132455764231
Rashaad Penny got a couple of carries to open the second half, going 2-8. He showed good burst on the first run and then made a nice cutback on the second run.
AJ Brown had a terrible game…by his standards. He “only” went 7-66-1. What a bum, right? Hurts didn’t throw a ton of passes so that probably cut down on the production a certain amount. DeVonta was 3-51-1 and played well. Oz went 1-8.
Goedert went 3-50 and was terrific. The bad news is that he broke his forearm and will miss some time. That will be a challenge for the coaches and other players.
The OL was a mixed bag. Tyler Steen made his first start and manned the RG spot. He struggled. Dallas attacked him with a variety of players. Steen didn’t handle their quickness very well. Micah Parsons crossed his face and shot into the backfield. Steen had never seen anything like that before in his life. I did think Steen came off the ball well on some runs. He played with good leverage. There were some run plays where he seemed confused on who to block and that led to hesitation. Not a good showing, but he did battle and did have some good moments.
Jordan Mailata struggled at times. Sam Williams beat him for a sack. Parsons got by him a couple of times. Those guys are smaller and explosive. That type of rusher can give Mailata fits because he’s so big.
Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson and Jason Kelce played well. Kelce had a good block on the Gainwell TD.
DEFENSE
Dak Prescott had more than 50 dropbacks. He was sacked 5 times and the Eagles were credited with 10 QB hits. The pass rush had a good overall game, even though there were plays when Dak had plenty of time. The one thing the Eagles struggled with was Dak’s mobility. Without his mobility, the Eagles might have had 10 sacks. They got close on multiple plays, but couldn’t get him down. He can be torture to watch when he’s avoiding rushers and making throws.
Haason Reddick had a good game. He had a sack, knocked down a pass and had 2 QB hits. He played bootlegs well. The sack came on a hard inside move. Josh Sweat had 4 tackles, a sack and a TFL. He was disruptive throughout the game. Sweat made the biggest play of the day.
JOSH FREAKING SWEAT!!! pic.twitter.com/1eGqWMx2Yv
— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) November 6, 2023
The beauty of that play is that the DL works as one. Reddick gets pressure off his side. Sweat beats the RT cleanly. The DTs get good push. Dak has nowhere to go and Sweat is able to seal the deal. As good as Dallas can look at times, they don’t have 4 guys who function like that against a good OL. That’s impressive.
Brandon Graham had his best game of the year. He had 1.5 sacks, a TFL and 2 QB hits. The sacks came on the next-to-last drive and were instrumental in getting a 4th down stop. BG also made a great hustle play to chase Dak out of bounds on a 2-pt try just a foot short of the end zone. Graham picked a great week to come alive and make plays.
Jalen Carter and Fletcher Cox each had half-a-sack. All the DTs played the run well. Dallas was just 21-73 on the ground.
Zac Cunningham was easily the best LB. He led the team with 10 total tackles and had a TFL and PD. I thought he showed good range, chasing plays all the way to the sidelines. He did some good things in coverage, which isn’t always his strength. He played well. Nakobe Dean had 3 tackles and 0.5 sacks before getting hurt. He hasn’t exactly set the world on fire this season. Nick Morrow had 2 tackles and QB hit.
Reed Blankenship had 7 tackles, 2 PDs and a FR. He made a huge play on the goal line throw to the TE. Blankenship undercut the rub route and was able to get to the TE before he could break the plane. That led to the stop just inches from being a TD. Great effort. Kevin Byard had 9 total tackles, but he’s not making any plays. He stays deep most of the time. He can come down in the box to play the run. He stuffed a red zone run play. I haven’t been impressed with his coverage vs TEs. Sydney Brown had 3 tackles and got the FF at the very end of the game. Brown gave up a TD. Had tight coverage on the play. Offense was just better.
Slay was the best CB for the Eagles. He finished with 8 tackles and a PD. He at least slowed Lamb down on some plays. James Bradberry had another game where he struggled. He had 6 tackles and a PD, but struggled in coverage. He gave up a TD to Tolbert. The low point was on the final drive when Bradberry got confused in coverage and had a 36-yard PI call that moved Dallas from deep to midfield in the blink of an eye. He was so confident and made so many plays last year. Bradberry is nothing like that this season. Ricks had 4 tackles. He didn’t make any plays.
ST
Jake Elliott slowed down Turpin on a long KOR and may have kept him from going all the way. Elliott only had to kick extra points.
Patrick Johnson made a hard tackle in punt coverage. The returner was not pleased with that.
Braden Mann averaged 51.8 yards on five punts. That was a big help. Dallas had 2 short fields and scored TDs both times. When they had a long way to go, they struggled to get into the end zone.
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