Eagles Add HOF Player!

The Eagles have dealt with injuries all season long. They have had to shuffle the roster to deal with guys going in and out of the lineup. That said, there haven’t been any real surprises. That’s not the case anymore.

A recap of the last hour or so:

• Eagles are signing WR Julio Jones. (He'll be on the practice squad at first)

• Eagles bringing back DB Josiah Scott to active roster from Steelers' PS, per @JLSports3

• Giants poaching OL Tyre Phillips from PS, per @DDuggan21

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) October 17, 2023

They lost Tyre Phillips! No, of course I’m talking about Julio Jones. You may have heard of Julio at some point. He caught 903 passes, 63 for TDs, while playing in Atlanta, Tennessee and Tampa.

Jones is 34 now and didn’t do much the past two years. That’s not a big deal from the Eagles perspective. They have volume receivers in AJ Brown (leads the NFC in receiving yards) and DeVonta Smith. The Eagles needed a role player to help with depth. Quez Watkins is on IR. Olamide Zaccheaus is a good role player, but they wanted someone else to add to the mix.

I have to think this is partially driven by red zone issues. Julio is 6-3, 220. He can go up and get the ball if needed.

Adding a receiver isn’t the surprise. That actually makes some sense. I just didn’t think Julio would be on their radar. He’s an older player and won’t contribute on special teams. I do think the fact he’s joining the Eagles tells you he is comfortable being a role player on a title contender. Julio played in the Super Bowl with Atlanta in 2016, but he’s never won the big game.

Jones may also be comfortable with the Eagles because of his ties to the other receivers. He played in Atlanta with Zaccheaus. Julio played in Tennessee with AJ. He and DeVonta are both Bama grads and you would think they’ve met somewhere along the way.

Don’t think of Julio as the elite player he was for al those years. You have to think of him as a veteran role player. We’ll see if that’s something the Eagles needed.

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This is pretty brilliant.

https://twitter.com/YoshkeZoidberg/status/1714356820884459743

For those who don’t remember, the Eagles had a habit of signing former stars back in the early 90s. Those moves never worked. I’m still ticked off at James Lofton for dropping a fourth down pass from Ken O’Brien against the Dolphins in 1993. The Eagles lost that game to some scrub QB named Doug Pederson.

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You’ll notice the Eagles brought back Josiah Scott. He was the backup nickel last year and is a serviceable player. The Eagles released Mario Goodrich. He just hadn’t shown enough this season to warrant a roster spot.

Scott will have to adjust to the defensive changes made by Sean Desai, but I’m sure he’ll recognize plenty of what was kept around from last year. Scott should be able to play right away, if needed. We’re still trying to figure out if Bradley Roby can go on Sunday.

Another funny post from Twitter.

Are you a defensive back who has played in the NFL in the last 3 years who can still walk? The Philadelphia Eagles may be interested in you! https://t.co/fhkNNVCfQP

— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) October 18, 2023

With so many DBs banged up, the Eagles have to look at everyone.

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The Eagles did get some good news on the injury front.

Sources: #Eagles’ Lane Johnson has Grade 1 ankle sprain and could be back for Dolphins game. My report: https://t.co/B6FBYHRWUO

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) October 17, 2023

Having Lane back for the Miami game would be big news. Even when he isn’t 100 percent, he is a difference-maker at RT. The coaches can call a different game with him in the lineup.

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This is a cool pic of two really talented QBs.

Past and present#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/ekz6wORunC

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 17, 2023

It is crazy to think that Hurts won more playoff games last season than Cunningham did in his Eagles career. To be fair, Hurts has slightly better offensive coaching than Randall did.

Randall did give us some all-time great memories. He’s the reason some people became Eagles fans. He was an absolutely unique player back in those days. I will go back and watch clips  from that era and I’m still blown away by some of the things he did.

Let’s hope Jalen does some special things while wearing the kelly green on Sunday night.

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Playing With Fire

Even with Sunday’s loss, the Eagles are 5-1, tied for the best record in the NFL. This is a good team that has found different ways to win. You have to give them credit for adapting to different lineups and different circumstances and getting off to a 5-0 start.

During that undefeated start, the Eagles were erratic.

at NE – Got up 16-0, won 25-20

MIN – Got up 27-7, won 34-28

at TB – Got up 25-3, won 25-11

WAS – Led 31-24 with 1:43, let WAS tie game. Eagles won in OT 34-31

at LAR – Trailed 14-10, won 23-14

The Eagles created separation in the first two games, but let the other team back in. They pretty much controlled Tampa for the entire game, but did let them cut into the lead in the 4th quarter.

The WAS game was tight all the way. The Eagles had the lead late and couldn’t slam the door on them. They did win in OT.

Against the Rams, the Eagles could not get separation. They dominated the game, but it went from 17-14 to 20-14 and didn’t go to a two-possession lead until there were less than five minutes left.

The Eagles were winning, but they were also playing with fire. Those games were closer than they should have been. This is the NFL and I understand you’re not going to win 41-10 every week, but the Eagles got sloppy too often. There were red zone issues. There were coverage breakdowns. Jalen had some costly turnovers. There were some critical drops. Jake Elliott missed a field goal and an extra point.

The Eagles masked those errors by making crucial plays and winning. You can’t count on that. At some point you have to eliminate the mistakes. That sure didn’t happen on Sunday.

Instead, the Eagles worked as a group to get as many mistakes in the Jets game as possible.

• Dallas Goedert had a turnover (called an INT, but DG’s fault)
• D’Andre Swift fumbled
• Jalen Hurts threw a bad INT late in the game
• Jake Elliott missed a FG
• DeVonta Smith dropped 2 passes (one might have gone for a TD, would have put the Eagles deep in Jets territory)
• An illegal shift penalty wiped out a pass play that would have put the Eagles near the red zone. They had to punt a couple of plays later
• A kick-catch interference penalty helped the Jets start a possession at the Eagles 36-yard line. That led to a FG

Those are just the obvious mistakes. Change any of those plays and you might have an Eagles win. Change a couple of them and you could have a very different game. The Eagles were up 14-3 and you didn’t get the feeling the Jets were a real threat. The Eagles kept them in it by making mistakes and the Jets took advantage of those opportunities.

Swift went out of bounds with about 4:30 left. That wasn’t a clear mistake because the Eagles were focused on yards more than time at that point, but in retrospect that proved to be crucial. Take off another 30 seconds and the end of the game decision-making could have been very different.

It is absolutely fair to question Nick Sirianni’s strategy late. He threw the ball on 3rd/9 with 2:00 left. I thought for sure he would run the ball and trust his defense. I know Sirianni is very aggressive, but the Eagles offense wasn’t clicking. That sure seemed like a time to run, kick and play D.

It is fair to question whether the Eagles should have let the Jets score after the INT. That wouldn’t have left the Eagles much time, but they would have only trailed by a point. With a kicker like Jake Elliott, you only need to 30 to 35 yards.

A lot of people are down on Brian Johnson. I don’t really get this. The offense was hardly an efficient machine, but the biggest issues were the turnovers and drops. That might cost the Eagles anywhere from 9 to 21 points. And there was a missed FG. That’s another 3 points. The turnovers and drops were more about poor execution than play-calling.

I do think the coaches could have done a better job of calling the game once Jack Driscoll took over at RT.

The Eagles got away from the run game and that wasn’t ideal. To be fair, Swift wasn’t having much success. The speed of the Jets LBs seemed to give him problems. Quincy Williams was impressive.

This is one of those games where you can point out mistake after mistake. Coaches, players, offense, defense, special teams…everyone came up short in this game. Very disappointing performance.

If this game serves as a true wake-up call, it could be good for the Eagles. Everyone had a hand in the mess, everyone can have a hand in fixing things. It sounds like the players are saying all the right things.

Actions speak louder than words. Let’s see better football from this team.

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The X-ray on #Eagles safety Reed Blankenship's rib injury came back negative, per source. Team will be cautious with its leading tackler (39), but good sign so far.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) October 16, 2023

Good news. It would really help to have him available on Sunday. It would help if Sydney Brown is able to play. He’s had time to rest and heal.

Getting Slay and Jalen Carter back would be huge. You don’t want to face the Dolphins without your best guys.

I haven’t seen anything yet on Bradley Roby.

It sounds like Lane Johnson will miss a couple of weeks. We’ll have to wait to know for sure. The man did play with a torn groin last year. That is insane just to type. I can’t imagine actually doing it.

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This was fun to watch.

https://twitter.com/Eaglesfans9/status/1714091483827990551

Unfortunately Dallas won.

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