Roob's observations after Eagles punt their way to embarrassing tie with Bengals

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Roob's observations after Eagles punt their way to embarrassing tie with Bengals

Quote

Doug punted. I don’t even know what else to say. All 10 of my 10 Observations after the Eagles’ 23-23 tie with the Bengals should just be … "Doug punted???"

 

This was a tie that felt like a loss, and I guess 0-2-1 is better than 0-3, but let’s not kid ourselves. This was a third straight embarrassment for the Eagles. A third straight disaster.

Let’s get to our 10 Observations: 

1. Before we get into Carson Wentz and everything else … PUNTING ON 4TH- AND-12 WITH 19 SECONDS LEFT IN OVERTIME FROM THE BENGALS' 46-YARD-LINE? WHAT IS DOUG THINKING? Good grief, Doug. You don’t have a 12-yard play? Try to get a first down, and if you don’t get it, the game’s over anyway, at least you tried. If you do get it, spike the ball, then go kick a field goal. There's enough time. That was just terrible. That was giving up. Whatever happened to aggressive Doug? Where is that guy?

2. And good grief, Matt Pryor should be cut tonight. That was a make-able 58-yard game-winning field goal for Jake Elliott. He crushed his 54-yarder earlier in the game. He’s made a 61-yarder in the past. Jumping offsides on a FIELD GOAL ATTEMPT and costing your team a chance at its first win of the year just can’t happen. 

3. OK, let’s talk Carson. We saw some signs of life late in the game. He kept fighting, and you give him credit for that. He made some big plays on a fourth quarter drive that forced overtime. He almost got the Eagles into field goal range twice in overtime. But let’s be honest. It never should have gotten to that point, and I’m not going to sit here and celebrate a tie against the freaking Bengals. The bottom line is once again Wentz wasn’t good enough and he hasn’t been good enough all year. The mistakes, the misfires, the fumbles, the interceptions continue, with no end in sight. That’s just who Carson Wentz is right now. A good play here, a bad play there, a worse play here. And with each passing week, it just seems more and more unfixable. Wentz is now the first Eagles quarterback to throw multiple interceptions in three straight games since Ron Jaworski in 1985 and the first to throw six INTs the first three games of a season since Sonny Jurgensen in 1961. If he’s not the worst quarterback in the NFL, he’s close. And it’s not just one thing. It’s his accuracy, his decision making, his pocket presence … everything. Yeah, Wentz did show a few signs of life Sunday, and maybe he can build on them. But the disasters continue to outnumber the signs of life, and at this point I don’t see much reason for hope.

4. As for the defense, in some ways this performance was even more discouraging than giving up 37 points last week to the Rams. You’re facing a rookie quarterback making his third career start, you have him on the ropes early, he’s getting no help from the running game, and you still let him put up 23 points? Why were guys running wide open again after halftime? Why can’t this defense build on a good early start? How can you go three straight games without a defensive takeaway? Yeah, the defensive line all of a sudden looked great in overtime. Too late. Where was the pressure the rest of the game? I know most of the blame is going to be on Carson, and he deserves it. But this defense is a problem too. They should have smothered this team and they couldn’t do it.

5. More on Doug. He drives me bonkers getting away from the running game. Miles Sanders had 6-for-41 on the Eagles’ first two drives, then doesn’t get a carry on the next two drives. Doug finally goes back to Sanders just before halftime and he gets you 29 yards to set up a touchdown. Against a team allowing 185 rushing yards per game, Sanders only had 18 carries – just nine in regulation after the first two drives. He averaged 5.3 yards a pop, which you expect against this defense. But he should have had 25 carries. Maybe 30. You’ve got a QB who’s struggling and a running back who might be your best player right now. It’s inexcusable not to give him the chance to carry the team.

6. It’s really sad watching Jason Peters play right now. His level of play dropped last year and seems to have dropped another level again. He gave up three sacks Sunday, including one that caused a Carson Wentz fumble. Maybe going from right guard to left tackle has been harder than he expected. Maybe he’s still working himself back into shape after signing late in the offseason. Maybe he’s done. Not sure what options the Eagles have. Are you really going to bench Peters for Jordan Mailata two weeks after giving him a pay raise? J.P. got banged up in overtime and hobbled off the field and hopefully he’s OK. But seeing an all-time great turn into a liability is tough to see. And right now, that’s what J.P. is.

7. Watching Trevor Williams – Trevor Williams? - come in for injured Avonte Maddox and immediately give up a touchdown it’s impossible not to think about Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas. Two corners the Eagles spent high draft picks on three year ago who aren’t here anymore. Not even good enough to be backups. Not even good enough for the practice squad. This mess is everybody’s fault, but when you draft corners in the second and third rounds in 2017 and they’re not even good enough to make the team ahead of Trevor Williams three years later it’s a damning indictment of your personnel department. 

8. Doug’s role in this disaster? It’s huge. His biggest strength has always been getting his team to shrug off adversity and believe in itself and dig themselves out of whatever hole they’re in. You have to wonder if his voice is even getting through anymore. Sure doesn’t seem like it. That Super Bowl seems so far away now. The next one seems even farther away. 

9. We talked a lot coming into the season about the lack of experience at linebacker, and after three games it’s pretty clear this group is just not NFL-ready. I thought Nate Gerry played OK last year and T.J. Edwards is a solid short-yardage backer. But as a group, they’re just not good enough, and when you see L.J. Fort starting for the Ravens and Kamu Grugier-Hill making plays for the Dolphins you just have to wonder how it got this bad.

10. A couple positives I have to touch on. 1) Was good to see Cre’Von LeBlanc’s role expanded after Nikell Robey-Coleman struggled so badly in the Rams game and LeBlanc only got three snaps. LeBlanc is really good and needs to be on the field. 2) The Eagles are so lucky to have Greg Ward. He’s been their best wide receiver so far. A guy they released six times between 2017 and 2019, including twice from the practice squad. With Alshon Jeffery and Jalen Reagor hurt, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside invisible, DeSean Jackson not doing much Sunday and John Hightower still finding his way, Ward made plays not only in the slot Sunday but outside as well. He had 8-for-72 Sunday, and his 29-yard TD just before halftime gave the Eagles the lead for good. 3) Sanders finished 18-for-95 with four catches. He’s a heck of a player, even if he’s still underused.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/roob-observations-after-eagles-punt-their-way-embarrassing-tie-bengals

[time2rock]

Doug has been as terrible this year as Carson has been.  His decision-making is just terrible.  Yep, he has "emotional intelligence" ... whoop-de-freakin-doo.  Do you think Belichick or Carroll have "emotional intelligence"?!?!  If a player can't handle being coached hard, then you have the wrong players assembled.  It's beginning to look like what this team really needs to become competitive again is an overhaul of the FO ... new GM with a real eye for talent and new coaching staff (the offensive staff assembled after Groh was released is a joke).  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

4 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Doug has been as terrible this year as Carson has been.  His decision-making is just terrible.  Yep, he has "emotional intelligence" ... whoop-de-freakin-doo.  Do you think Belichick or Carroll have "emotional intelligence"?!?!  If a player can't handle being coached hard, then you have the wrong players assembled.  It's beginning to look like what this team really needs to become competitive again is an overhaul of the FO ... new GM with a real eye for talent and new coaching staff (the offensive staff assembled after Groh was released is a joke).  

Doug has been awful there's no doubt. He's calling strange plays, he's putting the offense in strange positions and yeah he's not helping Wentz out. But Wentz is absolutely the biggest issue right now. He looks so so bad out there. He's completely lost. 

[NOTW]

All spot on observations.

Not talked about as much was his point about the corners.  2017, what a terrible draft year.  That was a supposed deep class at corner and they were desperate.  They should have been able to get a long-term starter and another pretty good corner out of that.  Total bust.

[weko]

8 minutes ago, NOTW said:

All spot on observations.

Not talked about as much was his point about the corners.  2017, what a terrible draft year.  That was a supposed deep class at corner and they were desperate.  They should have been able to get a long-term starter and another pretty good corner out of that.  Total bust.

That 2017 draft is historically bad.  Gerry is awful.  The only non bust is Barnett and he's hurt most of the time.  F

[UK_EaglesFan89]

12 hours ago, weko said:

That 2017 draft is historically bad.  Gerry is awful.  The only non bust is Barnett and he's hurt most of the time.  F

And even Barnett is not all that good. 

[time2rock]

2 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

And even Barnett is not all that good. 

Barnett was generally considered a safe pick by most draft pundits.  It's unfortunate he hasn't panned out as expected.  I swear Howie has no drafting mojo ... he either gets cute and overdrafts thinking he's outsmarting the rest of the league or when he does take the safe pick they often don't pan out.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

5 hours ago, time2rock said:

Barnett was generally considered a safe pick by most draft pundits.  It's unfortunate he hasn't panned out as expected.  I swear Howie has no drafting mojo ... he either gets cute and overdrafts thinking he's outsmarting the rest of the league or when he does take the safe pick they often don't pan out.  

I think he's an OK player. Good against the run, he's the odd pressure and sack. He's OK, he's fine but you'd absolutely want more from a top half of the first round pick. 

[nipples]

On 9/28/2020 at 8:12 AM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Doug has been awful there's no doubt. He's calling strange plays, he's putting the offense in strange positions and yeah he's not helping Wentz out. But Wentz is absolutely the biggest issue right now. He looks so so bad out there. He's completely lost. 

I’ll repeat what I said in a other thread. Doug is absolutely deserving of some of the blame, but I think in a lot of ways his hands are tied with the play calling right now. Wentz isn’t seeing the field well, can’t read the defense, and is wildly inaccurate. If the QB can’t even execute the basic stuff properly, then it would be an even bigger disaster to try to make things more complex.  I 100% believe Doug is "dumbing down” the playbook right now because Wentz is struggling with pretty much every aspect of even the vanilla stuff. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

59 minutes ago, nipples said:

I’ll repeat what I said in a other thread. Doug is absolutely deserving of some of the blame, but I think in a lot of ways his hands are tied with the play calling right now. Wentz isn’t seeing the field well, can’t read the defense, and is wildly inaccurate. If the QB can’t even execute the basic stuff properly, then it would be an even bigger disaster to try to make things more complex.  I 100% believe Doug is "dumbing down” the playbook right now because Wentz is struggling with pretty much every aspect of even the vanilla stuff. 

I think, based on what we know, that's a very fair way to look at this situation. I do think that Doug has issues and that perhaps he has taken this team as far as it can go but I trust him more than I do Wentz and certainly more than Howie. 

[time2rock]

16 hours ago, nipples said:

I’ll repeat what I said in a other thread. Doug is absolutely deserving of some of the blame, but I think in a lot of ways his hands are tied with the play calling right now. Wentz isn’t seeing the field well, can’t read the defense, and is wildly inaccurate. If the QB can’t even execute the basic stuff properly, then it would be an even bigger disaster to try to make things more complex.  I 100% believe Doug is "dumbing down” the playbook right now because Wentz is struggling with pretty much every aspect of even the vanilla stuff. 

I don't buy that.  I don't think Doug knows how to adjust and change his offense as needed.  He believes in forcing his QB to keep playing to try to work his way through whatever issues he is having.  

[EagleJoe8]

Bottom line is this team is a mess top to bottom. It starts with Lurie’s blind loyalty to Howie, and everything beyond that seems almost immaterial until Howie is replaced. 
 

With Howie in charge, any other changes are simply painting over rust at this point. 

[matchew88]

Where are the creative plays?

[UK_EaglesFan89]

2 hours ago, matchew88 said:

Where are the creative plays?

I'm not sure they can run many at the moment. Doug feels he's got to strip everything back to basics because his QB isn't coping.

[pallidrone]

On 10/1/2020 at 8:41 AM, time2rock said:

I don't buy that.  I don't think Doug knows how to adjust and change his offense as needed.  He believes in forcing his QB to keep playing to try to work his way through whatever issues he is having.  

Doug has done that in the past. He changed the offense to a lot more RPOs when Foles was in at QB. He started to run the ball more after that terrible game in KC when Blount got 0 carries. When all the WRs went down last year, he changed to a more small ball, TE focused play calling.

The issue is Wentz and there is not much the Eagles can do about it unless he gets hurt.

[time2rock]

31 minutes ago, pallidrone said:

Doug has done that in the past. He changed the offense to a lot more RPOs when Foles was in at QB. He started to run the ball more after that terrible game in KC when Blount got 0 carries. When all the WRs went down last year, he changed to a more small ball, TE focused play calling.

The issue is Wentz and there is not much the Eagles can do about it unless he gets hurt.

Foles recently credited Reich for those adjustments made to the offensive scheme to tailor to his strengths after Wentz went down in 2017.  

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/10/01/nick-foles-credits-frank-reich-for-his-super-bowl-mvp-success/

I don’t think Doug had any other choice to go small ball and more 12 personnel after all of our WRs went down.  

[pallidrone]

Just now, time2rock said:

Foles recently credited Reich for those adjustments made to the offensive scheme to tailor to his strengths after Wentz went down in 2017.  

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/10/01/nick-foles-credits-frank-reich-for-his-super-bowl-mvp-success/

I don’t think Doug had any other choice to go small ball and more 12 personnel after all of our WRs went down.  

Thats all fine, but it just shows that he knows how to adjust his offense.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

They are all good at what they do...and yet...all too often I find myself looking around the room thinking I am in some F’d up version of the twilight zone where I am the only one seeing this madness.  It’s like...the opposite of everything they have shown they have the ability to be.

[time2rock]

13 hours ago, pallidrone said:

Thats all fine, but it just shows that he knows how to adjust his offense.

 

I would have loved to see some of those in-game adjustments in week 1 when we gave up 27 unanswered to a crappy Washington football team, especially when you are watching your QB struggle so much and getting lit up by a strong DL and still call for him to throw the ball 42 times (and only call to run the ball 16 times).  I'm sorry but I disagree with your POV that he knows how to adjust.  

[EagleJoe8]

On 10/3/2020 at 8:43 AM, time2rock said:

I would have loved to see some of those in-game adjustments in week 1 when we gave up 27 unanswered to a crappy Washington football team, especially when you are watching your QB struggle so much and getting lit up by a strong DL and still call for him to throw the ball 42 times (and only call to run the ball 16 times).  I'm sorry but I disagree with your POV that he knows how to adjust.  

In all fairness, he used to adjust really well. Perhaps he started sniffing himself after the Super Bowl, or maybe the coaches who were most influential on changes left right after. Either way, he and our 47 OCs aren’t doing very well right now.