Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

A New Season

Posted January 6th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

The 2024 regular season is over. The Eagles went 14-3 and had a great year. Saquon ran for 2000 yards. The defense finished #1 overall. Zack Baun went from minor signing to possibly being the Defensive Player of the Year. Jalen Hurts finished with the highest completion percentage and passer rating of his career.

That’s all in the past. We have now moved to the postseason. One and done. Win or done. This is the ultimate in what have you done for me lately. All of those great accomplishments get swept aside if the team doesn’t win. The pressure is on.

The Eagles were one and done in 2021 and 2023. The first team just didn’t have the talent to beat Tampa. They couldn’t stop Tom Brady and they struggled to move the ball against Todd Bowles defense. Last year the Eagles were beaten down, physically and mentally. That team was in Tampa in only the most literal sense of the word. Their hearts and minds had already headed for the offseason.

That was one crappy game.

The 2022 team made it to the Super Bowl and were a couple of plays away from winning that game. Unfortunately Patrick Mahomes remembered that he was Patrick Mahomes and found a way to win the game. Still, the Eagles played well in that postseason.

How will they do this time around?

The good news is that the team is pretty healthy and they have a good amount of experience. The offense is loaded with players still around from the last trip to the big game. The defense has a lot of new faces, but they can lean on veterans like Josh Sweat, BG, CJGJ and Darius Slay. Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship were young guys in 2022, but were on the team and remember that experience.

If you watched Sunday night’s showdown between the Lions and Vikings, you had to come away feeling that the Eagles can beat those teams. Detroit’s defense played well, but they are missing a lot of key players. The Vikings offense can’t be trusted. The Eagles are strong on offense and defense.

Of course the Lions and Vikings don’t much matter unless the Eagles beat the Packers on Sunday afternoon. Which Packers will show up? Will it be the team that started 9-3 and looked so good or the team that finished 2-3, including an ugly loss to the Bears? The Eagles, Lions and Vikings accounted for 5 of the Packers 6 losses this year. We’ll get into a game preview later in the week.

The Eagles won that first game 34-29. Both teams have come a long way since then. The Eagles defense went from being a mystery to being dominant. The Packers finished 5th in yards on offense and defense. You don’t find many wild card games where both teams have Top 10 offenses and defenses.

I’m excited to see what this team can do. The Eagles have passed just about every test this year. They can run, they can throw. They play great defense. They have depth and a lot of different playmakers. This team is built for the postseason.

You do have to remember that there aren’t any guarantees. We’ve seen great teams go down early. That’s what makes the NFL playoffs so special. You only need to be the better team for one day. Most pro sports require you to win a best of seven series. The NFL squeezes all of that drama and pressure into three hours.

I think this team is hungry. They aren’t worried about 2022 or 2023. They genuinely enjoy playing together and certainly winning together. They want to keep this thing going as long as they can. Hopefully we get another month out of them.

*****

It feels like the Hurts concussion mystery/drama is just Nick being Nick. He thinks he is getting a competitive advantage by not saying anything beyond “He’s progressing through the protocol.” I think just about everybody in the football world expects Hurts to play.

*****

I don’t feel like Moore is a hot name right now, but he deserves an interview. He’s had success in Dallas and Philly. Moore is a good coach with a bright future. I hope he sticks around for at least one more season.

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McKee Keys Win

Posted January 5th, 2025 | Comments Off on McKee Keys Win

We finally got to see Tanner McKee play a full game and he didn’t disappoint. McKee led the Eagles to a 20-13 win over the NY Giants. He got help from a stingy defense and the Eagles closed the regular season at 14-3.

This is exactly what Nick Sirianni wanted to see. His backups played well and got valuable experience. The Eagles starters who did have to play looked good and helped the backups. Despite the lineup being cobbled together, the Eagles played like a team. Maybe most importantly, there weren’t any major injuries.

McKee finished the game 27-41-269 with a pair of TDs. The coaches built the gameplan around his skill set and McKee executed it well. They ran a lot of play-action. They used a lot of under-center looks. There were multiple rollouts, to both sides. McKee was able to make quick reads and get the ball out on time.

I was very impressed by McKee. We knew from preseason games that he had a good arm and could make accurate throws. I wanted to see if he could run an offense and handle pressure. McKee did a good job of managing the game. He got the team lined up correctly and seemed to make good adjustments. The Giants blitz got to him a bit in the second half, but McKee didn’t put the ball up for grabs. He made smart decisions.

Dallas Goedert played part of the game. The coaches wanted him to knock off the rust and get ready for next week. Goedert had 4 catches for 55 yards. He did have one drop. It was good to see him back in action. Jahan Dotson played his best game of the year, going 7-94. When the offense throws the ball a lot and AJ/DeVonta aren’t out there, Dotson can make plays. McKee did spread the ball around. Eight different players caught passes. EJ Jenkins and Ainias Smith each had their first NFL TD catches.

None of this would have been possible without good protection. The OL had five new starters and they generally did a good job. Gates did have a few bad snaps. He was putting the ball too high.

Fred Johnson-Tyler Steen-Nick Gates-Jack Driscoll-Darian Kinnard

Trevor Keegan got some snaps in the second half.

The defense limited the Giants to 238 yards and 13 points. The Giants had a 45-yard TD pass to Malik Nabers. Other than that the Eagles controlled most of the game. No other play went for more than 16 yards.

Jordan Davis was one of the few starters who had to play. He finished with 5 tackles and a TFL. Davis had a good game. He played with a lot of energy and pursued the ball well.

Oren Burks made the most of his start. He was in on 17 total tackles and had 2 TFLs. That is a busy game. Jeremiah Trotter Jr had a pair of solo tackles and assisted on 9 others. He showed good athleticism, but missed too many tackles. That is something he’ll need to focus on in the offseason.

Kelee Ringo had a good PBU. He also looked good on STs. Sydney Brown sealed the game with an INT. That play showed good range and ball skills.

Isaiah Rodgers had a 51-yard KOR. He showed good speed on that play.

If there was one negative in the game, it would be Jake Elliott missing a 39-yard FG. He hit the two after that, but it isn’t ideal to see him missing kicks as we head into the playoffs. Wind was a factor. Still, Elliott should hit from 39.

Sirianni did say he wanted the guys who played on Sunday to enjoy their win. Those guys don’t play a lot so he wanted them to embrace the feeling of playing and winning. By Monday morning the Giants game will be a distant memory and the Eagles will turn their attention to the Packers, who they will face next weekend in the wild card round.

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