Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

All the Answers

Posted December 23rd, 2023 | 4 Comments »

The Eagles are on a three-game losing streak. This is a team that has problems. And there are a lot of people out there with the answers.

Those are interesting pieces with some good points.

But what is scheme isn’t the problem? Maybe it is something else.

There was a report about the Eagles having internal concerns about Jalen Hurts being too stoic.

There is an episode of the TV show House where the doctors are trying to figure out what’s wrong with a challenging patient (isn’t that all of them?). Someone shows a scan to Wilson and asks for his opinion. He says “I’m an oncologist. I see cancer. Go talk to Foreman (the neurologist) ahd he’ll see something with the brain. We see what we know.”

That feels like judgment of the Eagles right now.

People who write about schemes think that’s the issue. People who focus on organizational leadership will see issues with Lurie, Howie and/or Nick. Others will focus on player personalities and locker room issues.

This team has a lot of issues. I don’t think any one fix is going to magically solve everything. Think about the scheme talk. If the Eagles used more motion or mixed in some different plays, the players still have to execute them. Last week in Dallas the Eagles had three fumbles in scoring territory. Those mistakes potentially cost them 21 points in a game the Eagles lost by 20 points.

The biggest issue with the offense this year isn’t scheme, it is Jalen Hurts. He played at a very high level in 2022 and the team got to the Super Bowl. Hurts hasΒ  been erratic this year. He’s great at times and struggles at others. He failed to see wide open receivers on multiple plays, instead forcing the ball downfield. Those throws resulted in a turnover and an incompletion that led to a punt. The design of the play worked, the execution didn’t.

Hurts made those plays work a year ago.

That is a pass that probably shouldn’t have been thrown. But it ended in a TD. This year those passes hit the ground or get picked off.

Hurts threw 892 passes in 2021 and 2022 combined. 15 of those passes were picked off. This season Hurts has thrown 461 passes. 12 of them have been picked off. Fumbles have been an issue as well. The Eagles did a great job of protecting the ball last season. This year has been very different. Nick Sirianni and his coaches still preach and teach protecting the ball, but it hasn’t worked as well this year. Beyond execution, there was some good luck with turnovers last year and there has been some bad luck this year.

I’m not sure this team can be fixed during the season. Some seasons just feel flawed, like it isn’t meant to be. This season has been odd from the start. The Eagles jumped out to a 16-0 lead on the Patriots and then had to hang on for a 25-20 win. Those Patriots are 3-11 and easily the worst team Bill Belichick has ever coached. That game had a weird vibe and set the tone for a weird season.

I think it is fair to wonder if success came too quickly and easily last year. Think about the Andy Reid era. The Eagles were 5-11 in the first year. They started 5-4 the next year before getting hot and winning 6 out of 7. The Eagles didn’t reach the NFC title game until Year 3 and got to the Super Bowl in Year 6. That team built up a lot of scar tissue and that gave them a toughness that helped them through tough times.

Sirianni started 2-5. The Eagles went 21-6 after that and made it to the Super Bowl in Year 2. I’m sure Sirianni and Hurts thought they had all the answers. This year is teaching them that no one has all the answers. They are both eating a lot of humble pie.

It will be interesting to see how this team plays over the last three weeks and in the postseason. I think their flaws are going to limit what they can do, but the team needs to make the most out of the games they will play. There are lessons to be learned that can serve them well in the future.

Jalen Hurts is still a good QB. He is a good leader. But he has things to work on. I think he’ll be fine in the long run, but he must embrace his mistakes and learn from them.

I still believe in Nick Sirianni, but NFL coaches are hard to evaluate. Dan Quinn got the Falcons to the Super Bowl in his second season and the team regressed each year after that. He was fired after an 0-5 start in 2020.

Think about Sean McVay. He was Boy Wonder the first two years, getting to the Super Bowl in Year 2. Then Bill Belichick put out the strategy for shutting down his offense. The Rams missed the playoffs the following year. They made it back in 2020, but still had issues. McVay traded for Matt Stafford and the Rams won the SB in 2021. Then talk focused on him being burned out and maybe retiring. The Rams were a disaster in 2022. This year they are re-born and McVay is back to being a guru.

Sirianni has shown that he can be a good coach. But sustaining success is hard. You must be able to adjust and adapt. Sirianni hasn’t done a good enough job of that this year. Like Hurts, he needs to learn from his mistakes. A strong finish to this season would certainly be a good look for him.

*****

If you need a good breakdown of the battle for the NFC East.

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If you need some Tommy Cutlets entertainment, enjoy this.

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DoΒ  you remember when Cameron Dicker kicked for the Eagles lastΒ  year? This is fantastic.

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Game Review – SEA 20, PHI 17

Posted December 22nd, 2023 | Comments Off on Game Review – SEA 20, PHI 17

The Eagles were on a 2-game losing streak. They needed the coaches to put together great gameplans. The star players needed to make plays. The team needed to show a sense of urgency. That’s how you stop a losing streak and get back to winning.

The Eagles lost.

The offense ran for 178 yards and looked good at times, but came up short in high leverage situations. The defense looked better. They played well for most of the game, but like the offense, came up short in high leverage situations.

Think about players. Jalen Hurts had a false start penalty. He threw two INTs. He failed to see some wide open receivers. Jason Kelce got called for a false start and that basically cost the Eagles a TD. Kevin Byard, who has 28 career picks, couldn’t come up with an INT that would have sealed the game. The Eagles didn’t make enough plays and they made too many mistakes. That’s how a losing streak gets to 3 games.

There were so many moments where you just knew the Eagles had this game won. But they couldn’t put the nail in the coffin and Seattle made them pay. Maybe this will teach the Eagles a lesson…a costly lesson.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni challenged a play and got a call changed. He got lucky that Pete Carroll called a timeout and the Eagles were able to see the replay and decide to challenge. Eagles were 1 for 1 on 4th down. Solid game in terms of those decisions.

Sirianni and Brian Johnson had a good script to open the game. They ran the ball creatively and attacked the middle of the field in the passing game. The Eagles went for a TD and led 7-0. The offense only scored 10 points the rest of the game. Some of that is on coaching, some on execution. One thing that definitely bugged me was the amount of perimeter screens. Those plays weren’t working.

The offense just had a weird feeling. The Eagles gained 321 yards and converted 9 of 16 third downs. They were 2 for 3 in the red zone. That’s hardly awful. But the Eagles had 6 drives of 4 plays or less. That’s not good. And they struggled in 2-minute situations, going 0 for 3.

The defense was different this week. They used 3 safety sets more than usual. They mixed in different fronts. Some of that was good, some wasn’t. Matt Patricia got a good performance from the D for 58 minutes. They held Seattle to 6 of 14 on 3rd down and 0 for 2 in the red zone. That’s an improvement on recent weeks.

The defense did fall apart at the end. His call on the final play was bad. You don’t want Bradberry without safety help over the top. Ugh.

OFFENSE

Jalen Hurts did some good things, but struggled overall. He ran for 82 yards and 2 TDs. He only threw for 143 yards against a team that was missing their starting CBs. That’s not ideal. The first INT was a deep ball to Quez. The DB got away with PI, but Hurts has to see that isn’t the throw to make. Quez didn’t have a good angle and he’s not the guy you want on a contested catch. Sirianni took the blame for the INT at the end of the game. That reeked of Hurts forcing the ball to AJ. Bad decision.

There were other plays where Hurts forced the ball. He had DeVonta wide open on a crosser on a 3rd down, but tried to hit AJ down the field and it was incomplete. The short throw to DeVonta would have moved the chains and could have been a big play. Hurts had Gainwell all alone in the flat on the final play. That could have gained 15 yards easily. Sirianni and Hurts love explosive plays, but they forced things too much on Monday night. Hurts was under the weather and that certainly affected his play.

D’Andre Swift was 18-74 and ran well. Gainwell was 6-21.

AJ Brown was 5-56. He made some nice catches over the middle. DeVonta was 5-50. Julio Jones caught a pass on 4th down to move the chains.

Dallas Goedert was 4-30. Jack Stoll was used as a lead blocker on multiple runs and did a good job on those.

The OL mostly played well. Hurts wasn’t sacked. Seattle wasn’t even credited with a QB hit. The run game was good. Sua Opeta played better than he did in previous starts. That was good to see. Kelce was terrific on his pulls. His false start was a costly mistake.

DEFENSE

The DL was up and down. Josh Sweat had an impressive TFL, but didn’t generate much pressure. Haason Reddick wasn’t credited with any QB hits. He did push the RT back into the pocket a couple of times. Jalen Carter and Fletcher Cox each had sacks. Cox just missed another one on the final drive. Brandon Graham got pressure on the play where Cox got his sack. BG failed to keep contain on Walker’s 23-yd TD run.

Nolan Smith only played 9 snaps, but had some good moments. He hustled to get in on tackles on WR screens. He helped to blow up a run. He’s physical and athletic, a good combo for an edge rusher.

Shaq Leonard was up and down. He was in on 4 tackles. A couple of them were good. He had one really bad play. Leonard tried to get to the RB out wide. Brown missed the tackle, but Leonard couldn’t get close enough to even get a hand on the RB. Nick Morrow had his typical game. He had 8 tackles, a TFL and a PD. Sounds good, but the tape and the stat sheet can be very different. MorrowΒ struggled to play the run most of the time. Morrow gets stuck on blocks and guesses where to go. Bad combination.

Sidney Brown had a good overall game. He was in on 6 tackles. Brown did miss multiple tackles in the 2nd half. That was frustrating. He did play fast and was aggressive. Kevin Byard had a quiet game. Reed Blankenship generally tackled well, but didn’t make any plays.

Slay was out so the coaches mixed and matched.

Kelee Ringo – 32 snaps
Eli Ricks – 29 snaps
Bradley Roby – 29 snaps

James Bradberry was the workhorse, playing 59 snaps. And he was bad. Seattle attacked him relentlessly on the final drive and ate him up. Bradberry got called for PI on a 3rd down play on an earlier drive. Not good.

Ringo showed some promise. He was physical and tackled well. He broke up one pass. Ricks broke up a pass late in the game. Roby had a key tackle on a 3rd down early in the game.

ST

Braden Mann averaged 49.6 per punt. 3 of his 5 punts were downed inside the 20.

Britain Covey was 3-30 as a PR.

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