Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Game Preview – MIN at PHI

Posted September 14th, 2023 | Comments Off on Game Preview – MIN at PHI

The Eagles hosted the Vikings in a primetime game in Week 2 last year. Feels weird to have that happen again, but don’t count on the Eagles having an easy 24-7 win this time around. Both teams are different, and banged up.

Minnesota played a really soft defense last year. Jalen Hurts threw for 333 yards against them. Heck, Daniel Jones lit them up in the playoffs. That should tell you all you need to know about the issues they had.

Brian Flores has taken over as the defensive coordinator. They have gone from passive to aggressive. Very aggressive.

This isn’t an ideal opponent for Week 2 because you’d prefer more preparation time. Still, good offenses like to be blitzed. That opens up a chance for big plays. You must read the blitz correctly. You need to block it well. Then you need the QB to hit the open guy quickly.

Jalen Hurts from 2022 could do that. Jalen Hurts from Week 1? On the advice of counsel, I decline to answer.

The Eagles offense must be better this week. 251 yards and 19 points is just not good enough. There is too much talent and brainpower for that group to put up such mediocre results. Weather will not be an issue. The Eagles won’t be facing a top defense. The excuses are gone. Let’s see what they can do.

I’ll be shocked if the OL isn’t better this week. That group has too much talent and pride to get out-played two weeks in a row. Jeff Stoutland and Nick Sirianni probably tore into them during the film session. I would expect the OL to come out with a real chip on their shoulder. It won’t surprise me if the offense comes out running just so the line can set the tone for the game.

One of the reasons Hurts was so sloppy last week is that he didn’t get good protection. He struggled to get comfortable in the pocket and into a rhythm with his receivers. The offense improved in the second half (153 of 251 yards came after halftime) so hopefully Hurts can build on that.

Minnesota isn’t great at rushing or covering. They only had one sack last week. They don’t have good CBs. There should be opportunities for the Eagles to throw the ball. We know DeVonta and AJ will get the ball. The big question this week will be if the Eagles can get Dallas Goedert more involved. He didn’t have a catch last week, as you’ve heard countless times since Sunday. That was an anomaly, but the coaches may design an early pass for him just to get Goedert going.

The run game will definitely look different this week. D’Andre Swift will be the lead back. Rashaad Penny will be active. The Eagles only ran for 97 yards last week. You know they want to do a lot more running than that.

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The Eagles will be missing starters at LB, CB and S. That’s not ideal when facing an offense that put up 385 yards last week. But the Vikings only scored 17 points. Minnesota has talent, but still has some issues to work through.

It seems like Christian Elliss will take over at LB, Josh Jobe at CB and Terrell Edmunds at S. Elliss can cover. His issues have been with tackling. Going into a game as the starter might bring out the best in him. This is a huge opportunity for him to show what he can do. The Vikings will attack the middle of the field, trying to take advantage of Elliss and Zach Cunningham, as well as the safeties.

Sean Desai knows this and will plan accordingly. It will be interesting to see if he can get the defense to do a better job in covering the middle. Identifying problems is Step 1. Solving them is Step 2.

Expect Darius Slay to travel with Justin Jefferson for a lot of the game. Slay did a fantastic job on him last year. I’m sure Jefferson is sick of hearing about that and will be a man on a mission. I don’t see the Eagles shutting him down two years in a row. Jobe will have his hands full with rookie Jordan Addison. The Eagles need their safeties to help on both WRs to keep them from delivering big plays. Edmunds and Justin Evans will need to do their best impression of good safeties. We’ll see if they can pull that off.

The Eagles do have a significant advantage up front.

https://twitter.com/RossTuckerNFL/status/1701298828584853529

Wow.

The Vikings will be without their C and will have a banged up LT. Expect the Eagles to fly up the field to get after Kirk Cousins. Last year Cousins wouldn’t take sacks, instead making bad throws (3 INTs and it easily could have been more). Will Cousins force the ball into coverage? Will he take sacks?

I’m sure Minnesota will try to get the ball out quickly, but that negates having good receivers like Jefferson and Addison. Cousins will want to get the ball down the field to them. The Eagles need to make him pay when he tries that.

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I’m not sure who intangibles favor this week. The Eagles are 1-0, but were not happy with their performance in the opener. They want to play a lot better this week. Sirianni has looked borderline miserable in his press conferences. He really wants to see good football this time out.

The Vikings are 0-1 and don’t want to fall further behind the Packers and Lions. This is a huge game for them. Beyond that, they got embarrassed by the Eagles last year so you know this game means a lot to them.

The Eagles are the better team. They are at home and this is a short week. This is a game they should win.

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Eagles DL Was Outstanding

Posted September 12th, 2023 | 4 Comments »

Eagles fans have enjoyed watching great defensive lines for a long time. The guys in green always seem to be good up front. Even after losing Javon Hargrave, Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh, the Eagles DL looks poised for a big year.

Fran Duffy gave us some early Christmas presents. Try not to boo him like you did Santa (according to the national media, of course).

https://twitter.com/EaglesXOs/status/1701365352930611250

https://twitter.com/EaglesXOs/status/1701590682664660998

https://twitter.com/EaglesXOs/status/1701594725504172204

https://twitter.com/EaglesXOs/status/1701663151068942551

Wow.

You see strength, power, quickness, agility and good technique. You see big, dynamic athletes who can make plays. If you want to win in the NFL, you need a good DL. The Eagles look like they’ll have one of the best in the league. The best part is that they are young so the team should be in good shape for a few years.

Carter is a stud. There isn’t a whole lot more that needs to be said.

Davis is in good shape and looks ready to dominate in the middle. Any concern about him having an up and down rookie year can be put to rest.

I didn’t realize how well Milton Williams played when watching the game live. It is really exciting to see him continue to get better. He was outstanding down the stretch last year. It would have been easy for him to be frustrated with the drafting of Jalen Carter, but Williams seems to be focusing on beating OL. Everything else will take care of itself. The burst he showed on the final pass rush in the clip was great. Watching live, I thought that was one of the edge rushers. Crazy to think it was a 280-pound DT.

It is fair to point out that New England had some backup OL in the game. Still, that was a very impressive perfomance by the DL.

The edge rushers didn’t have a huge day, but that was due more to the Pats quick passing attack than anything else.

*****

I liked what Sean Desai had to say in his press conference. He mentioned that the Eagles need to force the QB to get to the second read. That didn’t happen enough on Sunday so Mack Jones was able to get the ball out quickly. Desai knows the coverage and rush need to work together so you aren’t giving the offense easy yards. One of the maddening things about Jonathan Gannon was when he played off coverage over and over, letting good QBs throw quick passes for easy yards. Desai needs to show us he has answers, but I’m encouraged that he talked about it.

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We knew this might happen. Not ideal, but football is a game of attrition so we knew injuries would happen. I was just hoping it would be to a backup TE or something like that.

Christian Elliss will likely take Dean’s place, with Morrow playing on STs and filling in here and there. Rashaan Evans was signed to the practice squad for depth. Elliss showed promise last year and this summer. This is a huge opportunity for him. We’ll see what he does with it.

For those wondering about the decision to let TJ Edwards leave in free agency, watch this.

Coaches love to get LBs isolated in coverage and attack them. Edwards got roasted on that play. The Eagles LBs had their struggles on Sunday as well. Desai is going to do what he can to put them in better situations, but finding LBs who can cover and play the run isn’t easy.

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The Eagles offense was not a well-oiled machine on Sunday. Want to feel better? Watch this clip.

Oof.

The Bears have the same coach, OC and QB as last year. But that play is a hot mess. What the heck did they work on this summer? And why didn’t Fields just throw the ball away? Ugh.

*****

If you need a good laugh, The Onion has you covered.

*****

Really good piece here by Dave Engels about how the Eagles 2023 opener had a lot in common with the 2022 opener.

A lot of that hadn’t occurred to me. The score was higher this year (25-20 vs 35-32), but both games were sloppy and came down to the wire. Let’s hope the Eagles win in Week 2 like they did last year.

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