More on the Opening Win

Posted: September 8th, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on More on the Opening Win

The opening game of the NFL season always presents some answers to the questions from the offseason. The downside to that is that some new questions pop up. Let’s talk about both areas.

ANSWERS

The defense was one of the worst in the league last year so the question was whether the unit would be improved this year. There are six new starters and a new coaching staff. The scheme is similar to last year, but there also differences with that.

The Eagles gave up 29 points and 414 yards so you’re inclination might be to say the defense is the same. I would differ on that. The defense made some key plays that proved to be the difference in the game. They held the Packers to 1 of 4 in the red zone. Last year the Eagles allowed TDs on 65 percent of red zone possessions (good for 29th in the league). The Eagles had an INT that led to points. Last year the Eagles had 9 picks all year long. The Eagles closed out the game with a sack. There were multiple games last year where the Eagles had a chance to do that and couldn’t.

The pass rush was disappointing, but it sure feels like a lot of that was due to the surface. Neither side was regularly flying into the backfield. If the Eagles rush was better, I think the overall defense would have been better.

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Many of us wondered about the OL, specifically RG. I haven’t had a chance to study the tape yet, but Becton had some dominant moments.

Becton is still learning a new position and is going to have some ups and downs. The key is that his good moments can be special because of his size, power and agility. If he can truly adjust to playing RG, Becton has enormous potential. We saw flashes of that on Friday night. I’m sure Jeff Stoutland is excited by what he saw and what the possibilities are.

Cam Jurgens had a snap that turned into a fumble. There were some crowd noise issues that may have caused that. I thought he played well. The line needs time to gel with two new starters, but it should remain one of the top units in the league.

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How would the new offense look and would it work? 34 points and 410 yards should tell you the offense looked pretty good. Kellen Moore mixed the old stuff (RPOs, Brotherly Shove) and the new stuff (motion, under center, new plays) together. Frankly, the new stuff looked a lot better to me.

Moore used a lot of motion, something the Packers hadn’t seen from the Eagles. Jalen Hurts thrived when they did use motion. It gave the Eagles a schematic advantage. It really is mind-boggling that Nick Sirianni didn’t adjust to this last year.

We also saw different personnel packages and different alignments.

Smith went 7-84. Those raw numbers aren’t great, but the catches he made were important. And he added a good amount of RAC yards, something that wasn’t necessarily a specialty of his last year. Moore got him the ball and gave him a chance to make plays.

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We all wondered how the new guys would do.

Saquon Barkley – great game. He could have a huge year.

Jahan Dotson – quiet. No catches and only one target.

Mekhi Becton – already covered. Very promising start.

Bryce Huff – quiet. Need to see him in a couple of more games to see what he can do.

Zack Baun – stud. Had 15 tackles and 2 sacks. Physical. Played with a sense of urgency.

Quinyon Mitchell – impressive. He had 5 tackles and 2 PDs. Both were impressive plays. Didn’t look like a rookie.

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How would Sirianni adjust to his new role? This is tough to answer after just a game, but it seems to be a good start. You could tell Moore ran the offense. Sirianni offered thoughts as all coaches do, but that was Moore’s offense. There weren’t any game management issues. I didn’t like the way Sirianni used a timeout late in the half. He tried to get GB to jump on a 4th down. They didn’t so the Eagles called a timeout and then went for it. Maybe they used the timeout to talk about what to call and it helped, but I would rather them just have called the play and saved the timeout.

Sirianni must figure out what to do with the Brotherly Shove. The Eagles got stopped the first time they ran it. It worked on the next try. Late in the game they got down to the 1-yard line. Barkley was red hot.

Hurts didn’t get the snap cleanly and the ball got loose. Barkley fell on it to avoid disaster.

I was not a happy camper. Ugh. The problem with the BS is that it is a really difficult play. Everything has to be executed perfectly because the defense knows what is coming. That’s especially dangerous near the end zone when you have 11 guys attacking the ball. Had the Eagles run Barkley, he might have gotten stuffed in the backfield. There is no guarantee he would have scored.

The BS is a tricky play that teams have had more time to study and to prepare for. It requires precise execution. The Eagles should definitely keep it in the playbook, but I think they run it too much. When you have a stud RB and he’s on a roll, give him the ball. Let’s not over-complicate this.

QUESTIONS

Jalen Hurts only threw one INT all summer. We heard day after day about how great he looked. On the initial 3rd down of the season, Hurts made a horrible decision and a horrible throw for an INT. Early in the 4th quarter Hurts almost threw a bad pick on 2nd down and then did throw a bad pick on 3rd down. In the red zone. With the Eagles winning. Football 101. Protect the ball when you’re in scoring territory. Especially when you have the lead.

Ugh.

This felt a lot like last year. Maybe Hurts has some PTSD from the collapse. Maybe he just got greedy. But it sure bears watching. If this was just an opening game couple of hiccups, fine. We can live with that.

His decision-making was erratic for much of the game. That cannot continue or the Eagles are going to have issues. The Packers have a mediocre defense. Hurts has to play a lot smarter against good defenses.

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Is the new pass defense going to be okay?

They played really well this summer and got us excited to see them in action. Then we saw some issues on Friday. The 70-yard TD by Jayden Reed involved sloppy coverage and a missed tackle. There was a 29-yard pass to Tyler Kraft where Nakobe Dean got caught looking in the backfield and left him wide open. There was a 33-yard pass to Reed on the final drive that gave GB a chance.

The back seven needed to play in a game and to be tested. GB was arguably the best passing team in the league down the stretch last year so they were the kind of challenging test the Eagles needed. Hopefully Fangio and his staff can clean up some of the issues. The players do have the physical ability this year. Last year they didn’t. That group lacked talent and the coaching to help them.

This group has talent and now has veteran coaches who should be able to provide some good answers.

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