Game Review – NYJ 20, PHI 14
Posted October 21st, 2023 | 4 Comments »After re-watching the game, there are really two ways to look at the Eagles first loss of the season. On one hand, I felt better. This was a game where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. If you change any of a handful of plays, the Eagles probably win that game. Every team is going to have a day where they play sloppy and it hurts them.
On the other hand, the Eagles blew a 14-3 lead. They had chance after chance to make plays and just couldn’t do it. Even with all the mistakes they made, this is a game they should have won. The Eagles gave this game away.
It wasn’t like the Jets made a bunch of great plays. They gained 244 yards. They didn’t have any long TDs. Their defense gave up 348 yards. The Jets made fewer mistakes. That’s how they won.
I do think they were the more physical team and that’s got to be frustrating for the Eagles. They spend a lot of resources on the OL and DL. They are used to winning the LOS.
COACHING
Nick Sirianni had some key strategic decisions. He threw the ball on 3rd/9 at the 2-minute warning. I thought for sure he would run and then punt. He would trust his defense to protect a 14-12 lead with a backed up Jets offense. Sirianni called for a pass and it was picked off. That led to the go-ahead points. Sirianni is an agressive coach so I can live with the pass, but he’s got to stress to Jalen to protect the ball.
Sirianni then had the defense let the Jets score a TD with 1:50 left. He could have used his timeouts and played D. With a stop, the Eagles would have gotten the ball back with about 50 seconds left and needing to drive for a FG. That might have been more favorable than needing to drive for the TD.
Neither decision was blatantly wrong, but both were questionable.
OFFENSE
Jalen Hurts played well for three quarters. He used his legs to run for yards and also to buy time. He made some good throws and finished 28-45-280.
Amazing throw by Jalen Hurts with a defender draped all over his left arm. What a throw.
pic.twitter.com/GbRO1Nw3yX— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) October 15, 2023
Hurts threw 3 picks, but you can argue that only one was truly his fault. That was the throw at the 2-min warning. Bad decision on that. One pick was bobbled by Dallas Goedert. The other came on a downfield pass where Driscoll didn’t have help. Hurts was hit as he threw the ball and it didn’t go far, but did get to a DB.
Hurts didn’t look comfortable on the final drive. He was high to AJ and then threw a couple of short passes. He forced a deep ball on 4th down and it was incomplete. The frustrating part of that play is that DeVonta was initially open. Hurts was looking elsewhere. Then he looked deep, but was late and underthrew it. Ugly ending to an ugly game.
Hurts didn’t get a lot of help. His skill players let him down. DeVonta dropped two passes. One of them came in scoring territory and almost certainly cost the Eagles points. Kenny Gainwell dropped a 3rd down pass that would have moved the chains. Instead, the Eagles punted and the Jets got the ball in good field position. There was an illegal shift penalty that wiped out a good pass to Oz.
The OL didn’t have their best game. Lane Johnson hurt his ankle and Jack Driscoll took over. This might have been Driscoll’s worst game in the NFL. He really struggled. Too often he was passive in pass pro. Defenders were able to close ground and hit him with force. That knocked him back, right into Hurts lap. Don’t blame just Driscoll. The whole OL had an off day. It was frustrating to watch.
DEFENSE
The defense played well enough to win. They only gave up 244 yards. The Jets were only 2 of 11 on third downs and only 1 for 4 in the red zone. The only TD they allowed came when the Jets returned an INT deep and the defense let them score.
Haason Reddick had 2.5 sacks. Josh Sweat had a sack and was disruptive on a regular basis. Sean Desai used some 4-DT looks and that helped to limit the Jets run game. They finished 21-89, but 18 of those yards came on an end-around. Milton Williams came up big late in the game. He got in on a sack and blew up a run play.
https://twitter.com/EaglesXOs/status/1714706157040722274
Nick Morrow led the team in tackles. Nakobe Dean came back from injury and had 4 tackles. He had a chance for an INT, but couldn’t quite get to the ball.
Reed Blankenship was terrific until he got hurt. He finished with 5 tackles, a PD and a TFL. Terrell Edmunds played his best game as an Eagle. That’s setting the bar low of course, but it was encouraging to see him at least be functional. Mekhi Garner came in for Blankenship. Desai said Garner started slow, but then settled in.
Josh Jobe was up and down. He battled. He was called for 2 penalties, but also broke up 2 passes. James Bradberry had a solid showing. He broke up 2 passes of his own. The nickel corners were not overly impressive.
ST
Jets got away with roughing the punter. Only called “running into”. Bad call. Mann did have one punt downed deep.
Jake Elliott missed a critical FG. That really hurt.
Kelee Ringo was called for a penalty when he ran into a PR trying to make a fair catch. That penalty moved the Jets into FG range. Brutal mistake.
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