Assessing the Eagles

[time2rock]

Assessing the Eagles

Posted: December 23rd, 2024 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

The Eagles lost on Sunday and that means the next couple of days everyone will dissect the loss and assess blame accordingly. Kenny Pickett stunk. The defense stunk. The special teams stunk. The coaches stunk. DeVonta dropped the game-winning pass. On and on.

The bottom line is that this is a team loss. When the Eagles are at their best, they play complementary football. The defense gets stops. The offense sustains drives. STs does their part. This limits points against and helps with points for. That formula worked in the first quarter and then quickly went away without Jalen Hurts to run the offense. Each part of the team made plays, just not enough winning plays.

Big picture, we didn’t learn a lot from this game. Any team that loses a good starting QB in the first quarter is going to have issues during the game. If Hurts doesn’t get hurt, the Eagles win.

As it is, they still should have won the game. They just didn’t make the critical plays down the stretch that they needed to.

If that game does bring up a concern for me it is that the other key players didn’t step up with Hurts out. Multiple players dropped passes. Multiple players missed blocks. Multiple players missed tackles. Multiple players blew coverages. There were dumb penalties by a lot of guys. When guys see the QB get hurt, they should say to themselves and each other that they need to play clean football and make sure the team wins. Maybe the long TD run by Saquon Barkley gave them a false sense of security and everyone relaxed. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t a good response from the team.

Hopefully they can learn a lesson from this loss. You can have a lot of talent. You can make plays. But if you make too many mistakes, you will lose. That can serve as a good reminder for the final two games and the playoffs. There can be value in a late season loss if it helps get you mentally right for the postseason.

This loss wasn’t all about the Eagles. We do have to give a lot of credit to Jayden Daniels. He solidified himself as the Rookie of the Year on Sunday. Heck, he might get some MVP votes. There were some plays where he made something happen and the Eagles just didn’t have an answer for him. It’s one thing for a QB to have a good run. It is another thing when he runs for 81 yards and makes key play after key play. Washington had 7 conversions on third down and 2 more on 4th down. They were able to sustain drives.

I still feel good about this team. I think the defense will bounce back from Sunday’s performance. I think the blocking and run game will be better. I expect DeVonta Smith to catch the next critical pass thrown his way. We’ll see how things go with Hurts concussion. Some guys are back the next week. Others miss a game. As long as there isn’t a lingering issue, the team will be fine.

That isn’t to say the Eagles are a lock for the Super Bowl. Any given Sunday and all that stuff. But this is still a very talented team. They didn’t win 10 straight games by accident.

It’s good that Dallas is playing well, having won 4 of their last 5 games. The Eagles need to be focused for this game to get back on track. If the Cowboys were struggling, it would be easier for the Eagles to be casual about this. Dallas isn’t suddenly a juggernaut. They are playing hard and doing enough to win. That should get the players attention and have them ready for Sunday.

*****

Some people are trying to turn Sunday into a referendum on Hurts. Let’s not overcomplicate this. Any team that loses their starting QB mid-game is going to have some problems. That isn’t a sign that Jalen Hurts is irreplaceable.

All QBs get over-analyzed. Hurts isn’t an elite QB. He’s good, he’s just not great. Too many people want to go to extremes with him. They think he is great or he’s significantly overrated.

Hurts is good. Look at the numbers. Look at the wins. He’s just not in the same category as Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. That’s no insult to Hurts. There is nothing wrong with being good. He could win a Super Bowl this year. I think he’d care a lot more about that than people arguing about where he ranks.

I need to write a long piece on this, but the real key to me is that Hurts is the right fit for this team. If you put a different QB here, the results might not be as good. Some stats might be better, but I don’t know that they would win as much.

Enjoy Hurts while he’s here and let’s hope he gets to hoist the Lombardi.

http://igglesblitz.com/

[weko]

I guess we will play washington or green bay at home wild card weekend. I dont want to have to play the Pack. Prefer wash

[time2rock]

Quote

Hurts isn’t an elite QB. He’s good, he’s just not great. Too many people want to go to extremes with him. They think he is great or he’s significantly overrated.

Hurts is good. Look at the numbers. Look at the wins. He’s just not in the same category as Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. That’s no insult to Hurts. There is nothing wrong with being good. He could win a Super Bowl this year. I think he’d care a lot more about that than people arguing about where he ranks.

I need to write a long piece on this, but the real key to me is that Hurts is the right fit for this team. If you put a different QB here, the results might not be as good. Some stats might be better, but I don’t know that they would win as much.

This is one of the better assessments I've read on Hurts. I think this is spot on.

[PoconoDon]

57 minutes ago, time2rock said:

This is one of the better assessments I've read on Hurts. I think this is spot on.

I agree with you on this.

Oh, and Merry Christmas you Pocono Face Melter 🤘

[time2rock]

5 minutes ago, PoconoDon said:

I agree with you on this.

Oh, and Merry Christmas you Pocono Face Melter 🤘

❤️ Thanks pal!  Right back at’cha … Merry Christmas to you and yours!