Posted October 18th, 2024 | 1 Comment »We are five games into the 2024 season and we still don’t know a lot about this Eagles team. The defense was very good in two games and bad in the others. The offense struggles in the first quarter and then plays well the rest of the game. Jalen Carter has been dominant at times, neutralized at others. Saquon Barkley has been a revelation, but also has critical mistakes that cost the Eagles the Falcons game and almost cost them the Browns game.
We still don’t have a good feel for this team or how things will turn out.
How many people remember the 1994 Eagles? They started 7-2, including a 40-8 demolition of the Niners. The offense had Randall Cunningham, Fred Barnett and rookie RB Charlie Garner. That’s a lot of firepower. The defense held 4 of the first 9 opponents to 8 points or less. William Fuller, Andy Harmon, William Thomas, Byron Evans and Eric Allen were Pro Bowl type players. That’s a lot of firepower.
That great start turned into a 7-9 season. Rich Kotite wasn’t a good coach. Cunningham lost his confidence. Evans got hurt and the team didn’t win a game without him. What a collapse.
What about the 2006 Eagles? They started 5-6. Donovan McNabb tore his ACL and that hurt in a couple of losses. The team also had some painful defeats that turned on a play or two. Jeff Garcia replaced McNabb and the team finally figured some things out down the stretch. They finished 10-6, winning the NFC East. They beat the Giants in the playoffs and lost to the Saints in a torturous game. It took a while for that team to get going, but they turned out to be good.
The current team is a mystery to me. We’ve seen some really good stretches, but also some key mistakes. Can they build on the good stuff and eliminate the issues? It certainly is possible. There is enough talent that this team can get hot and go on a good run like that 2006 team.
At the same time, there are some weird vibes with this team and things could go south. Nick Sirianni needs to push the right buttons. Key players need to make big plays. The defense needs to come up with more takeaways. The coordinators need to have better answers when things aren’t going well.
The Eagles take on the Giants on Sunday. They need to win that game. They also need to play well. That doesn’t necessarily mean winning by 10 points or something like that, but they need to make more plays than mistakes. I still think this team has a lot of potential, but we need to see more production.
At some point potential becomes a bad word. A college coach famously told one of his players “Son, your potential is going to get me fired.”
Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman need to figure out what this team is. Does it make sense to trade for a player? Is this team just dysfunctional and they’ll be up and down all year long? If you think that, trading for help doesn’t make a lot of sense.
It is key to remember that we’re just five games into the season. The Eagles didn’t have AJ Brown for three weeks. They had some other key injuries that hurt. I think that is part of the reason I’m being patient with this team. There are still a lot of unknowns.
Kellen Moore has only had two games with all his key weapons. I don’t think we know exactly what he wants to do. The offense looked great for a lot of the opener. The offense had some really good moments against the Browns. Let’s see what Moore can do with a full set of players. Give him time to work with this group.
Vic Fangio is installing a new scheme to a young group of players. The defense shows promise. They are 4th in the league in red zone defense. They are 12th in third down defense. But they also miss tackles, blow coverages and fail to show good gap integrity vs the run. Basic stuff. If the defense can improve in those areas, this group can take a big step forward. But there is no guarantee these players will get better. We are still trying to figure them out.
There are reasons to be optimistic. AJ Brown reminded us how special he is last week. Saquon Barkley remains one of the top RBs in the league. Jalen Carter has dominant potential. Quinyon Mitchell is playing well and you just know he’s going to come up with some picks sooner rather than later. Cooper DeJean was very good last week and could offer a key spark to the defense.
A lot of this comes down to Sirianni and Jalen Hurts. Sirianni has shown he can get the most out of a team (2022). He’s also shown he can fail to solve problems and preside over an epic collapse (2023). This team needs the good Sirianni. We’ll see if he shows up.
Hurts led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2022 and then played the game of his life. He was wildly erratic last year, offsetting his big plays with critical turnovers. This season hasn’t been great. Hurts didn’t turn the ball against the Browns, but he had at least one turnover in each of the other games. If Hurts can protect the ball and start to get into a good rhythm with his receivers, the offense could be one of the best in the league.
It will be interesting to see if this team can come together and get on a roll. Or will it continue to be erratic and incredibly frustrating? Sunday won’t give us a definitive answer either way, but it will give us more insight on what to expect from the 2024 Eagles.
Hope for the best, but make sure you have plenty of PBR available in case you need it
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Posted October 16th, 2024 | 1 Comment »A game of what-ifs. Late in the half the Eagles called a pass play on third down near midfield. DeVonta Smith came wide open over the deep middle. Jalen Hurts wasn’t able to get him the ball because the Browns blitzed and Saquon Barkley missed the block he needed to make. A good block there and the score at halftime is 17-3. Instead the Eagles FG attempt was blocked and returned for a score to make the game 10-10.
What if?
The Eagles had a chance for an INT, but two players collided and the ball fell incomplete. That drive resulted in a FG. Those points could have been avoided if the DBs had seen each other and one had backed off.
There was a run play early in the game that could have gone for a huge gain. The DT pushed Landon Dickerson back just a bit and he hit Barkley as he was heading upfield. If Dickerson can hold his ground, that play goes for a lot of yards.
The Eagles always felt close to making a key play, but just a hair off. That’s why the game against such a bad team stayed so close. I would give the Browns defense some credit. They played well. And the Myles Garrett play before halftime was amazing. That is one special dude.
COACHING
I didn’t feel like the Eagles took the Browns lightly. The team played hard. The Eagles execution was just off in some key moments and that hurt. Nick Sirianni didn’t have a ton of key game management decisions. The Eagles were 2 for 2 on fourth downs. Sirianni challenged a play and got it overturned. That was a sack of Deshaun Watson instead of an incomplete pass. Good challenge.
The offensive gameplan was erratic. The Eagles used motion early in the game and then went away from it. They avoided play-action. Cleveland was aggressive against the run and the Eagles had mixed success at burning them with the pass. The Browns blitzed effectively. The Eagles did have some really good moments. The play before halftime was well-designed. There was a TE screen that went for a big gain. There was an option play late in the game that got a first down. That was a good call and well-executed by Hurts.
The most notable issue with the offense was the lack of first quarter points. The team still doesn’t have any this season. Ugh.
It is hard to judge Vic Fangio and the defense because the Browns are so bad. The Eagles didn’t give up an offensive TD to them. They held the Browns to 244 yards. The Eagles only gave up 2 plays of more than 14 yards. The pass rush came alive and had 5 sacks. It was a good performance, but it helped that Cleveland stinks.
OFFENSE
Jalen Hurts started 0 for 5 and then went 16 for 20. You hate the slow start, but appreciate that he played well after that. Hurts made good decisions in the run game. He finished 14-33 on the ground so those aren’t big numbers, but that also included several push plays. Hurts got quite a few first downs with his legs. He made some terrific throws. The pass at the end of the game was outstanding. There was a throw to Calcaterra over the middle that was impressive. His TD to AJ Brown wasn’t perfect, but was catchable.
The biggest issue for me was decision-making. Hurts forced the ball to Brown early when he had a TE coming wide open. On the next play he forced the ball to Goedert when he had Brown wide open over the middle. There were a few other plays where you wish he chose better. I did like him getting the ball to Calcaterra and Jahan Dotson. Hurts moved the ball around.
Barkley finished 18-47 on the ground. I thought he ran well despite the fact he didn’t have much room to work with. Cleveland played the run very well. Barkley caught 2 passes for 7 yards. He did have two key mistakes. Barkley caught a pass on 2nd & 1 late in the half. He sprinted for the sideline, but didn’t get the yard he needed. The Eagles tried to throw on third down. Barkley missed his blitz pickup and the player sacked Hurts. That forced a FG and I think you know what happened next.
It was great to have AJ Brown back. He went 6-116-1. Brown just makes the offense different. He caught a couple of short plays and turned them into good gains. Brown is so big and strong that even good players have a hard time getting him down. The TD catch was a thing of beauty.
That dude is a game-changer. DeVonta Smith was 3-64, including a 45-yard TD. The Eagles ran the mesh concept and Smith was wide open. Hurts hit him on the move and Smith went flying down the field.
Dotson technically only went 1-10 as a receiver. Hurts hit him with a backward pass for a gain of 13 yards. That goes down as a run. It was good to see Hurts getting him the ball. No other WR was targeted.
Goedert went out early. Grant Calcaterra finally made some plays, going 4-67. His long catch and run went for 34 yards. His blocking still drives me nuts, but at least the Eagles were able to take advantage of his athletic ability. If you’re going to keep him, throw the guy the ball in space a time or two each week.
The OL was up and down. They struggled to get movement in the run game. Give CLE some credit for winning battles and loading the box. The Eagles did keep Myles Garrett under control. He had 4 tackles and 2 TFLs. Jordan Mailata hurt his hamstring and got replaced by Fred Johnson at LT. Johnson did okay when I focused on him. The OL did a good job on the push play. The Eagles got a first down every time they ran it.
DEFENSE
The pass rush finally got going. Bryce Huff had a couple of tackles and half a sack. He was disrutive and did some good things. He was solid against the run. He’s still not where we’d like him to be, but we are seeing progress. Josh Sweat had 5 tackles, a sack and a couple of QB hits. It was good to see him making plays. He jumped to the inside on a run play and let the RB get wide for a gain of about 15. Sweat has to quit guessing and shooting to the inside. Dumb.
Brandon Graham had 5 tackles and a key TFL. Cleveland tried to run a jet sweep on 3rd & 1. BG stayed deep and tackled the runner for a loss of 5 yards. That forced a FG and that ball hit the upright. Huge play. Nolan Smith had 3 tackles and a sack. He also played the run well. Smith is another young player who is making progress.
Cleveland was able to limit Jalen Carter. He had 1 tackle and 1 sack. He did have 3 QB hits, though. Jordan Davis didn’t play a lot because the Eagles rotated their DL. That meant more snaps for others. Milton Williams had half a sack. Thomas Booker had half a sack. Moro Ojomo had a good game. He was disruptive on multiple plays and just missed a couple of sacks. He’s quick and agile. He’s also relentless. Really enjoy watching him play.
Zack Baun had 8 tackles. He didn’t have any big plays. His highlight moment came on a blitz when he ran over the RB. Baun did have a roughing penalty. Nakobe Dean led the team with 12 tackles. He was better on the re-watch than I expected. Dean was fine over the middle. He did struggle in space, missing at least 3 tackles. He’s got to do better than that.
The safeties didn’t have a great game. CJGJ had 6 tackles and 2 PDs. One of those PDs was when he collided with Quinyon Mitchell and neither guy came up with the INT. The other PD was on a throw to the TE and was a good play. CJGJ got beaten a few times. He hasn’t been the playmaker the Eagles were hoping for and is an inconsistent tackler. Reed Blankenship had 3 tackles. He had a quiet game.
The CBs were solid. Quinyon Mitchell had 3 tackles and had a couple of chances at the ball. CJGJ hit him on the one. The other pass was too tall and Mitchell couldn’t quite get to it. He was in good position. Isaiah Rodgers was out of position on a pass play that turned into a 35-yard gain.
Cooper DeJean played in the slot and had a good game.
If he can bring that kind of energy, effort and athleticism to the defense every week, things will get better. DeJean was a good blitzer. He covered well. He was physical and flew to the ball. I came away very impressed.
ST
There was the one disastrous play…the blocked FG.
Jake Elliott hit his other 2 FGs.
Braden Mann downed 2 of his 3 punts inside the 20.
DeJean was the PR and averaged 12.8 yards per PR, with a long of 19.
Isaiah Rodgers averaged 25 yards on 3 KORs.
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