Playing With Fire

Even with Sunday’s loss, the Eagles are 5-1, tied for the best record in the NFL. This is a good team that has found different ways to win. You have to give them credit for adapting to different lineups and different circumstances and getting off to a 5-0 start.

During that undefeated start, the Eagles were erratic.

at NE – Got up 16-0, won 25-20

MIN – Got up 27-7, won 34-28

at TB – Got up 25-3, won 25-11

WAS – Led 31-24 with 1:43, let WAS tie game. Eagles won in OT 34-31

at LAR – Trailed 14-10, won 23-14

The Eagles created separation in the first two games, but let the other team back in. They pretty much controlled Tampa for the entire game, but did let them cut into the lead in the 4th quarter.

The WAS game was tight all the way. The Eagles had the lead late and couldn’t slam the door on them. They did win in OT.

Against the Rams, the Eagles could not get separation. They dominated the game, but it went from 17-14 to 20-14 and didn’t go to a two-possession lead until there were less than five minutes left.

The Eagles were winning, but they were also playing with fire. Those games were closer than they should have been. This is the NFL and I understand you’re not going to win 41-10 every week, but the Eagles got sloppy too often. There were red zone issues. There were coverage breakdowns. Jalen had some costly turnovers. There were some critical drops. Jake Elliott missed a field goal and an extra point.

The Eagles masked those errors by making crucial plays and winning. You can’t count on that. At some point you have to eliminate the mistakes. That sure didn’t happen on Sunday.

Instead, the Eagles worked as a group to get as many mistakes in the Jets game as possible.

• Dallas Goedert had a turnover (called an INT, but DG’s fault)
• D’Andre Swift fumbled
• Jalen Hurts threw a bad INT late in the game
• Jake Elliott missed a FG
• DeVonta Smith dropped 2 passes (one might have gone for a TD, would have put the Eagles deep in Jets territory)
• An illegal shift penalty wiped out a pass play that would have put the Eagles near the red zone. They had to punt a couple of plays later
• A kick-catch interference penalty helped the Jets start a possession at the Eagles 36-yard line. That led to a FG

Those are just the obvious mistakes. Change any of those plays and you might have an Eagles win. Change a couple of them and you could have a very different game. The Eagles were up 14-3 and you didn’t get the feeling the Jets were a real threat. The Eagles kept them in it by making mistakes and the Jets took advantage of those opportunities.

Swift went out of bounds with about 4:30 left. That wasn’t a clear mistake because the Eagles were focused on yards more than time at that point, but in retrospect that proved to be crucial. Take off another 30 seconds and the end of the game decision-making could have been very different.

It is absolutely fair to question Nick Sirianni’s strategy late. He threw the ball on 3rd/9 with 2:00 left. I thought for sure he would run the ball and trust his defense. I know Sirianni is very aggressive, but the Eagles offense wasn’t clicking. That sure seemed like a time to run, kick and play D.

It is fair to question whether the Eagles should have let the Jets score after the INT. That wouldn’t have left the Eagles much time, but they would have only trailed by a point. With a kicker like Jake Elliott, you only need to 30 to 35 yards.

A lot of people are down on Brian Johnson. I don’t really get this. The offense was hardly an efficient machine, but the biggest issues were the turnovers and drops. That might cost the Eagles anywhere from 9 to 21 points. And there was a missed FG. That’s another 3 points. The turnovers and drops were more about poor execution than play-calling.

I do think the coaches could have done a better job of calling the game once Jack Driscoll took over at RT.

The Eagles got away from the run game and that wasn’t ideal. To be fair, Swift wasn’t having much success. The speed of the Jets LBs seemed to give him problems. Quincy Williams was impressive.

This is one of those games where you can point out mistake after mistake. Coaches, players, offense, defense, special teams…everyone came up short in this game. Very disappointing performance.

If this game serves as a true wake-up call, it could be good for the Eagles. Everyone had a hand in the mess, everyone can have a hand in fixing things. It sounds like the players are saying all the right things.

Actions speak louder than words. Let’s see better football from this team.

*****

The X-ray on #Eagles safety Reed Blankenship's rib injury came back negative, per source. Team will be cautious with its leading tackler (39), but good sign so far.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) October 16, 2023

Good news. It would really help to have him available on Sunday. It would help if Sydney Brown is able to play. He’s had time to rest and heal.

Getting Slay and Jalen Carter back would be huge. You don’t want to face the Dolphins without your best guys.

I haven’t seen anything yet on Bradley Roby.

It sounds like Lane Johnson will miss a couple of weeks. We’ll have to wait to know for sure. The man did play with a torn groin last year. That is insane just to type. I can’t imagine actually doing it.

*****

This was fun to watch.

https://twitter.com/Eaglesfans9/status/1714091483827990551

Unfortunately Dallas won.

_