A Complicated Win

Posted: October 13th, 2024 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

The Eagles beat the Browns on Sunday. That’s good. The score was 20-16, a lot closer than most expected. That’s not so good. The overall performance was up and down. Nick Sirianni had an odd day, which I’ll get into later. It was a complicated win.

One of the focal points for the offense was getting off to a quicker start. The Eagles didn’t score in the first quarter, again. They are the only team in the league not to score a point in the first quarter this season. The first two drives ended in punts. Then the Eagles got a FG, TD and had another drive that got into scoring territory. They settled for a FG attempt, but it was blocked and run back for a TD to make the game 10-10 at the half.

That wasn’t the first quarter or the first half the Eagles envisioned. It certainly what I was hoping to see.

The Eagles kicked a FG to go up 13-10. The Browns tied the game at 13 and then the Eagles scored a TD go up 20-13. Cleveland added a late FG to cut it to 20-16, but never got closer than that. The Eagles never trailed in the game, but they couldn’t put the struggling Browns away. They were up 10-3 and driving late in the half. Saquon Barkley caught a short pass in the flat and only needed a yard to get a first down. He focused on getting out of bounds to stop the clock, but didn’t get the yard. Jalen Hurts was sacked on third down and then the FG disaster came on fourth.

If the Eagles got any points there, it would have given them control of the game. Instead the game was tied in a flash and the Browns suddenly had life. That feels like the story of the Eagles this year. They get close to things going well only to have some bizarre mistake undo everything. There was the Saquon drop against Atlanta. There was Hurts INT in the red zone against the Packers. There was the muffed punt in Tampa. You can mix in Sirianni’s game management decisions as well.

This team continues to be frustrating.

There is good news as well. Hurts started 0 for 5, but then went 16-20-264 with a pair of TDs. A lot of the Eagles season hinges on Hurts playing well. He got the ball to his star receivers and they made plays. Hurts protected the ball well. No turnovers. He ran 14 times for 33 yards. Several of those went for first downs (at least 5), including one late in the game.

What a difference AJ Brown makes.

On the broadcast they said Jim Schwartz commented that "Brown’s strength is his strength”. Boy could you see that. Brown’s TD came with a DB draped on him. There were multiple times when DBs failed to tackle Brown and he added RAC yards. Brown really is the key to the offense.

The Browns did a good job on Saquon Barkley, holding him to 18-47. A lot of that was on the OL failing to consistently get push. Barkley didn’t have much room to run. He had a terrible sequence late in the first half. He failed to get a yard after catching a pass in the flat. All he had to do was extend the ball. That set up 3rd & 1. Barkley failed to pick up a blitzer and Hurts was sacked. That led to the blocked FG. Barkley can’t afford mistakes like that.

The defense had a good game. They held the Browns to 244 yards and 9 points. The Eagles had 5 sacks and held Cleveland to 0 for 1 in the red zone. They did give up 100 rushing yards, not great when the team has a banged up OL and backup RBs. Deshaun Watson went 16 for 23. He only had 168 yards, but you would like a few more incompletions.

I think the Eagles tackled better, aside from Nakobe Dean. He still missed a couple out in space. I think the defense played hard. I was impressed by their effort. Rookie Cooper DeJean played in the slot and had a good game. He had 6 tackles and half a sack. DeJean brought some energy and enthusiasm to the defense. Encouraging start for the rookie. He also did well as the punt returner.

The defense can build on that performance, but will need to be better when going against offenses that aren’t dead last.

Nick Sirianni was under fire the past couple of weeks. He needed the Eagles to win. That happened. But the Eagles were 9.5 favorites. They were expected to beat Cleveland comfortably, not in the final minutes of the game. During the game Sirianni was seen getting into what appeared to be a shouting match with a couple of Cleveland DBs. Sirianni said after the game he was just having fun with former Eagle Rodney McLeod.

Late in the game Sirianni was arguing with some fans.

Not ideal.

If the Eagles won 47-9, he would have bragging rights. Beating a bad Browns team by 4 points…shut up. That isn’t time to engage the fans the way he did.

In the postgame press conference Sirianni brought his kids out with him. That wasn’t well received by the media. It looked awkward. You bring your kids when celebrating a big win or a key moment. Scraping by Cleveland was hardly a memorable event. Was this Operation Human Shield? Bring your kids and hope the questions aren’t as bad or that your answers aren’t as scrutinized. I don’t think Sirianni would do it for those reasons, but it sure wasn’t a good look.

Sirianni needs to be himself, but he’s got to be careful to make sure what he’s doing is actually worthwhile. Yelling at fans was dumb. Bringing the kids out today was weird.

The Eagles got to 3-2. They’ve still got some things to figure out, but they at least took some steps in the right direction.

http://igglesblitz.com/b/philadelphia-eagles-2/

6 hours ago, time2rock said:

Sirianni needs to be himself

Somewhere else…

Just now, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Somewhere else…

Please quote just the text in the future (not me).  Thanks.

35 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Please quote just the text in the future (not me).  Thanks.

Sorry bud.

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Sorry bud.

No worries man ... I just don't want people thinking I am the one saying some of the ridiculous things you are quoting in those articles (plus I won't be getting so many notifications).  🙂  Thanks!