The good, the bad and the ugly: week 5 at Pittsburgh

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

The Good:

1. Fulgham looks like a stud—While the offense was down DeSean, Jeffery, Reagor and basically Ertz is sleep walking out there, Travis Fulgham has stepped big time for the Eagles.  He was targeted 13 times against the Steelers and was able to haul in 10 receptions for 152 yards and touchdown. It wasn’t just that he was productive; he had confidence and was not afraid to go up and pluck the ball. Something that has been a disturbing issue with the Eagles over the past couple seasons is WRs having balls in their hands go incomplete or not fighting to secure the catch.  Fulgham was just beating the Steelers everywhere on the field. Whether the Eagles took a shot deep, or if the throw was contested or down the sideline, Fulgham was able to haul in the pass and secure it for big time gains. I do not think Fulgham is a pro bowl caliber player. I think he can be a guy that is a nice productive receiver in this offense. However right now, he has Wentz’s trust when running his routes that he is going to be where he is supposed to be. Additionally, he is doing the little things like creating separation or finding the soft spot in the zone but also securing the catch.  It is actually refreshing seeing no. 13 out there and being productive and a game changer for the Eagles. Heck the kid from ODU has more yards in this game than Ertz does on the season. 

2. Mailata holds up at LT; lets see where it goes—While the Steelers were able to record 5 sacks and 11 QB hits, I really didn’t think Mailata was the one that was responsible for most of those pressures and sacks. Now he did have some issues with bull rushes that pushed him back into Wentz’s pocket, but I expected the Steelers pass rush to dominate the Eagles OL and give Mailata all he could handle. Really, he held up pretty well. I do not think he was perfect and he has a lot he needs to work on to get to the point of where he wants to be, but considering it was his second game starting in his entire life, he did a really good job. I thought on the schedule that these were going to be the two toughest games for Mailata. Again he was not perfect, but he held up better than I think Peters would have if he was out there on Sunday. Lets see if Mailata builds upon this game and gets better every week. I think that is the sign that a guy is growing and developing. I am very curious to see how the Ravens attack him and how he holds up. So far, it feels like the Eagles might have at least found a capable swing tackle. If things continue to progress, possibly a starting caliber LT. 

3. Sanders still needs more touches—I get if you take away Sanders 74-yard touchdown run, he had 10 carries for just 6 yards. However, you see why he should be getting more touches on that big run. The Eagles were calling a simple draw on 3^rd and 9, yet Sanders was able to use his slipperiness and agility to make some guys miss and then find the open field for a touchdown. All it takes for Sanders is one play to completely change the dynamic of the game around. The Eagles looked like they were about to punt the ball back to the Steelers down 7-0 and give them decent field position. Instead Sanders was able to break off a career long 74-yard run. That is why he is so special. He might not do anything on the next 10 carries, but that one carry could be a huge homerun type of play. I thought last week it was criminal that he wasn’t on the field late in the 4^th quarter with a chance to salt away the game. That play is why I felt that way. He is too good of a player not to be out there in crunch time. He is also too good of a player to just have 13 touches in a game. As great as Fulgham played today, Sanders is still your best playmaker. He needs more opportunities to show case his talent. I would love to see the Eagles exploit more linebackers with Sanders in the passing game. I think he could be very similar to how Reid would use Westbrook but the Eagles have to commit to more than just 13 touches in a game. This has been an issue over the last couple of weeks. 

4. Eagles O on third down—This was the Eagles best game of the season on 3^rd down. They were very good and consistent at being in good positions to pick up the first down and keep drives alive. On the afternoon, the Eagles were 10-of-14 for 71.4%. Heading into this game, the Eagles had 60 3^rd down attempts on the season. They were in 3^rd down and 7 or longer in 32 of those 60 attempts. That is one of the worse ratios in the entire NFL. In this game, the Eagles were not much better. They were in 3^rd down and 7 or longer in 7 of the 14 attempts. Luckily for the Eagles they were able to pick up 4 of those 7. Once again this isn’t a recipe for sustainable success. Some of this is the running game really outside of the big Sanders run hasn’t looked great the past two weeks. Some of this falls on the Eagles are not winning the battle on first and second down or we are committing bad penalties to put us behind the chains. As well as the Eagles converted on 3^rd down against the Steelers, it feels more like an aberration when you managed to pick up 3^rd and 9, 3^rd and 12, 3^rd and 10 half of the time. While on the surface the numbers  look good against the Steelers, when you dive deeper, it is some of the same issues for the Eagles they were just fortunate to have some big plays. 

5. Big play offense—It has felt like a really long time since we have seen the Eagles have consistent big plays out of their offense. Over the last two years, it felt like we might get one per game and if we did it was a sight for sore eyes. In the game against the Steelers, Fulgham, Sanders and even JJAW delivered some big plays. In this game, the Eagles had 74-yard td run by Sanders, 37-yard reception by JJAW and a 31-yard reception by Fulgham (add on he had 18, 19 and 20-yard receptions as well). This is the first time all year we have had 3 plays on offense over 30 yards in a game. Heck we only had 3 over the last two weeks prior to this game. I feel like the offense is beginning to find a rhythm in the passing game. I do believe some of this is not having offseason activities and followed up by no preseason. I also think a guy like Fulgham is providing some much needed juice and confidence. While it would be nice to have Reagor, DeSean and Alshon back, I am not taking Fulgham off the field. He has earned his opportunity out there. I would like to see what he could really do with some speed on the opposite side of him that is better than Hightower. If Fulgham can continue to play like he has and Reagor begins to flourish as a down-the-field threat then this offense can really explode. Add on we haven’t seen Goedert on the field in a couple of weeks due to his injury.  

6. Red zone offense—This was one of the best performance we have seen from Wentz and the Eagles offense inside the red zone all season. The Eagles entered the Red Zone 3 times, they were able to convert them into 3 touchdowns. That is 100% touchdown rate.  I also loved the throw to Greg Ward. It was perfectly placed by Wentz to where it was only going to be Ward who caught it and it was a good job by Ward to create the separation inside the red zone. I also thought it was an excellent job by Wentz on the Fulgham touchdown of looking to the guy who has just been making plays for him. Fulgham found the soft spot and it was an easy pitch and catch. Last week, the Eagles were not bad but they also weren’t great. They had two trips but only came away with 10 points. So it was definitely nice to enter the red zone more and be that efficient. On the season, the Eagles have had 12 trips inside the red zone 12 times and converted touchdowns on 8 of those 12 trips. If the Eagles can build some confidence from this game and find themselves into the red zone more and more then the offense could be on track to have some big time performance against Giants, Cowboys and Browns coming up. 

7. Fought back—When the Eagles found themselves down 31-14 after a bad interception and a quick score by the Steelers, I thought they were going to get steamrolled. It looked like a team on the verge of imploding. The secondary was getting torched, the pass rush was not very effective, poor penalties and linebackers were being Eagles linebackers. But the Eagles managed  to weather the storm. They were able to compile a 7-play 75 yard scoring drive capped off by Ward touchdown and a Hightower two point conversion. Then unlike the previous 5 possession, the Eagles defense managed to get off the field and give the offense a chance to bring themselves within one score. Wentz and the offense did just that as they marched 80-yards down the field  and Fulgham brought the Eagles to within 2 points. Unfortunately, the Eagles blew a golden opportunity to take the lead over the Steelers as Elliott’s 57-yard FG missed and after that it was over as the defense couldn’t generate another stop. Nevertheless, I hated the fact that the Eagles lost this game and defense couldn’t get a stop at the end of that game (granted awful penalty on Graham), but it was nice to see this team didn’t give up.  It is a moral victory. Feels somewhat similar to the Vikings game last year where we found ourselves down big but scratched back into it to ultimately still lose by double digits. 

 

On the fence:

 1. Wentz’s performance—This was probably the best game we have seen from Wentz so far this season, but it still leaves me yearn for more and for him to be better. On the afternoon, Wentz was 20-35 (57.1%) for 258 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. One of the interceptions I do not really blame him on. At the end of the game on a 4^th and 20 from inside your own 15 yard line, heaving it and taking a chance is not a bad idea. Would I have liked a better throw? Ideally yes. However, at that point you are just trying to make anything happen down the field to keep the game alive. His first interception, isn’t entirely his fault. Ertz was hit on the route nd didn’t complete the route and it was an easy interception by the Steelers. Frankly, this feels like something that happens every week. At some point, guys need to help him out and he needs to be better when making some of his decisions. Additionally, he has to understand with 4 backups along the oline that he has to get rid of the ball. He isn’t going to survive this season behind that oline being hit 11 times and sacked 5. I thought 3 of those sacks fall squarely on his shoulders for holding it just too long. Nevertheless, he very easily could have and should have had 3 touchdown passes. I thought the pass into the end zone to Hightower is a pass that an NFL WR has to make. I have seen receivers around the league make that play for their QB. I feel like Fulgham is about the only guy on the Eagles making that play for Carson. Furthermore, I liked his dimes on the two touchdown passes. He just seems to be gaining confidence over the last couple weeks. I get it wasn’t the Wentz we saw back in 2017, but I feel like he is getting closer each week now to how he played at the end of the season. I think some of that is having some reliable receivers the last two weeks in Fulgham and Ward. I think next week might be a struggle against a really good Ravens defense, but I think the four games after that you will see Wentz get hot. You just hope that if he does over those four games he can carry it for the rest of the season against some of the better teams we are going to face. 

2. Running game—On the stat sheet, Eagles running backs carried the ball 12 times for 83 yards and two touchdowns, which is a 6.92 yards per carry. However, without the 74-yard scamper by Sanders, the Eagles backs had 11 carries for 9 yards. That is not going to be good enough most weeks to win games in the NFL. While you cannot take away Sanders big run, the Eagles rushing attack outside of that one run over the last two weeks has been rather dreadful. Over the last two weeks, the Eagles running backs have combined for 30 rushes for 121 yards, which is just over 4 yards per carry. However, without the touchdown gash by Sanders today the other 29 rushes looks more like just 47 yards. That would be just 1.62 yards per carry. This is an area that has to be better for the Eagles to win games and Wentz to survive this season. This was against one of the best rush defenses in the league, but it isn’t going to get easier next week. The Eagles cannot just rely on one big run every week or become one-dimensional. We do not have the weapons to succeed like that for long periods of time.  

3. JJAW made a catch then celebrated—he made a nice 37-yard reception. He then began to celebrate and eventually realized we needed to get to the ball to spike it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get out of bounds and the Eagles blew their last time out a couple plays prior otherwise it would have set up a chance to be tied at 17 going into halftime. Instead it became somewhat of a meaningless play unless you are just happy that JJAW finally did something in a game for the first time in weeks. I am hoping that maybe just maybe that play springboards him going forward. However, it didn’t appear to do so as he was nowhere to be found in the second half. 

 

The Bad:

1. Pass rush disappears— Heading into this game, I thought the only chance the Eagles had to survive the Steelers offense that would spread them out and attack their weak secondary was if the pass rush played like it had the previous two weeks. Granted this was a massive step up in the oline they were going to face. At the start of the game, I thought the Eagles pass rush was doing a pretty good job of getting to Big ben, hitting him and forcing some throws to be off. Unfortunately as the game wore on, it felt like the Eagles were getting minimal pressure and he had the time to find his WRs open down field. On the afternoon, the Eagles had 1 sack and 2 QB hits. With all the money the Eagles are dishing out across the defensive line that is absolutely pathetic that they had just 2 hits on Big Ben. There is no way this secondary was going to hold up all game covering the WRs the Steelers have if the DL gave you that type of performance. Cox, Malik Jackson and Hargrave combined for 2 QB hits and a sack. Furthermore, Jackson was called for a bad 15 yard penalty that allowed for a drive to continue. It wasn’t just the defensive tackles that weren’t getting the job done. Graham, Sweat, Avery and Barnett combined for 0 QB hits and 0 sacks. Heck Graham and Avery had more combined penalties than sacks and QB hits combined. The Eagles defense is only as good as the DL is going to be. If the Eagles get this type of performance next week against the Ravens at home, then I fully expect Lamar and the Ravens to be close to 40 points just like the Steelers were at the end of this game. 

2. Run defense not as good as year’s past—On the afternoon, the Steelers rushed 32 times for 136 yards (4.25 yards per carry) and two touchdowns. It wasn’t a terrible performance by the Eagles run defense, but some of this falls on the Eagles inability to make a tackle or being out of position, which I will talk about below. The Eagles run defense over the last 3 years was something that we knew week-to-week would show up and not allow ground games to get on track. So far this year, the Eagles have given up over 100+ yards rushing in 3 of their 5 games. This is becoming an area of concern, which is going to be tested next week as the Eagles face one of the best in the league in Jackson and the Ravens. 

3. trick plays/misdirection—A problem that has begun to arose over the last couple weeks is the Eagles just getting absolutely destroyed on misdirection plays and trickeration by offenses. This really started in the Rams game as McVey used the Eagles aggressiveness against them and wound up gashing the Eagles for big plays. Last week it also reared its ugly head as Aiyuk was able to maneuver his way for an 38-yard touchdown on a play design that got the Eagles for being overly aggressive and out of position. This continued against the Steelers as well. McCleod was able to bust off a 58 yard round as the Steelers caught the Eagles being overly aggressive and hit them with a misdirection. The 58-yard run set up an easy red zone touchdown for the Steelers. These backbreaking misdirection/trick plays are killing the Eagles. It feels like they aren’t disciplined enough everywhere. This isn’t just the linebackers. We have defensive ends over pursuing. We have corners and safeties biting on the misdirection to the point where we are lucky if someone is close enough 30-40 yards down field to bring them down. The bigger issue here is that it eels like the Eagles are not learning their lesson from watching tape. It keeps happening and they keep giving up big time plays cause of it. At some point, Schwartz and the defense have to open their eyes to this issue. It isn’t going to change until guys recognize that teams are going to keep doing it until they correct the problem. 

4. Elliott’s long distance kicking— I still have a ton of confidence in Jake Eilliott, but it is a little concerning that twice this year we have asked him to kick from 50-yards and he has missed.  On the season, he is currently 1-3 from 50-yards. He was automatic for the Eagles for much of the last 3 seasons from that distance. I understand that 57 isnt an easy kick especially in Heinz field as it would’ve been the longest kick in the 20-year history of the stadium. However, that would have been a big time kick for the Eagles. The type of kick that potentially propels them kind of like his kick against the Giants. I was not 100% for kicking that field goal. I thought in that stadium it is asking a lot. Frankly I hate that Doug just assumes 50+ yard kicks means to go conservative at times. I would’ve loved to see us try to get some more yardage on third down going to Sanders. Nevertheless, I hope I am overthinking this, but it feels like in previous years that’s a kick that Elliott buries 75-80 percent of the time. 

5. Lane and the oline— I didn’t think the oline was awful in this game. I also do not think they played well either. Were all 11 QB hits and 5 sacks their fault? No. I think Wentz has blame on a couple of them for holding onto it way too long and not just getting rid of it. That said, I thought Pryor was not very good again today. Last week it was overshadowed because the Eagles won the game, but each week I go back and watch, there is a reason the Eagles really didn’t want to get him on the field. He doesn’t have the athleticism you want and he isn’t moving around very well. In the pass blocking department, he has been ok, but there is a lot to be desired. In the run blocking department he is getting pushed back and not being the attacker. I feel like a big reason that our runs to the right side of the line have been unsuccessful is that he isn’t moving guys nor athletic enough to spring Sanders. It isn’t just Pryor though, Lane being in and out of the game is hurting the Eagles. While I thought Driscoll filled in adequately considering he came in cold, he isn’t Lane when Lane is healthy. Now he isn’t an all out liability, but its clear he has to get stronger and he will only get better with these reps. But a major issue now is Lane has slowly morphed into Jason Peters in the sense he is in and out of the game. I get he has his injury, but that is actually on Lane. He should have had the surgery back in Jan or February. It would have given him enough time to heal and recover so that this wouldn’t be a consistent issue week to week. At this point, I think the Eagles might just be better off letting Lane heal til he is fully healthy and allowing Driscoll to get the reps during the practice week. I think those reps would make a difference. I do not think Seumalo is coming back anytime soon, but that really is the best cure for what ails the Eagles right now. It allows Herbig to go back to right guard where when I watch him, he just looks more comfortable then at LG. Granted, he also played majority RG his final couple seasons at Stanford so it would make sense. I am curious to see how the line holds up next week. I thought the Steelers were a massive jump up this week and they were Ok. I think the Ravens might be as good if not better with their depth. 

6. Hightower is a rookie—I have high expectations still for Hightower, but I think you are seeing why it is a mistake to rely on late round rookies to make an impact their rookie year. I thought the ball Wentz threw into the end zone is a catch that an NFL WR has to make. Was it a perfect pass? No, but a good NFL wide receiver makes that catch. Instead it felt like much of the last two years as a solid throw goes through our WRs hands and falls incomplete. That had a chance to be a massive momentum play and even build up more confidence between he and Wentz. I do think they’re brighter days ahead for Hightower, but today was a chance to make a big time play and he came up small. I was happy he didn’t let it affect the rest of the game as he had a nice 2-point conversion reception and picked up a good 3^rd down late in the game. 

7. Turnovers—The Eagles offense has committed at least one turnover in every game this year. In 4 of their 5 games this year, the Eagles have committed 2 or more turnvoers. On the season, the Eagles have turned the ball over 11 times and forced just 5 turnovers (one coming on special teams). That puts the Eagles in the bottom five of the NFL with a -6 turnover margin. Additionally, the Eagles bottom 1/3 of the league in forced turnovers. And top 3 in the league in offensive turnovers. Turnovers are killing this team right now. The defense isn’t getting enough for the offense to cash in on short fields and the offense is hanging the defense out to dry with 4 games of multiple turnovers. 

 

The Ugly:

1. Schwartz’s days might be numbered— I really didn’t love Schwartz’s game plan last week where he just let Kittle do whatever he wanted. I thought it nearly came back to bite him in the a**. Frankly I thought he was lucky Mullens was awful otherwise it would have backfired. This week, I sit here asking myself WTF are we doing on defense. On the biggest 3^rd down of the game, we have Gerry out there covering Claypool who had been killing us all game. I do not know why or how that happened, but that falls upon my DC to understand that never should happen. Even if we had a great cover linebacker that is an unbelievable mismatch for the offense; the offense is likely to win that mismatch 99 times out of 100. Claypool is too good for us to just be employing Nate Gerry on him especially when that third down we still had a chance to get the ball back and win the game.  It is maddening that somehow our DC thought Gerry was capable or good enough to cover Claypool. Claypool who had 4 touchdowns on the day and 7 receptions for 110 yards was going to manage to be stopped by Nate Gerry. That is the type of thing that gets you fired. That isn’t the only issue with the Eagles. The Steelers had 9 possessions in this game, they scored on 6 of them. That’s not all, at one point they had scored on 5 straight possessions. On those 5 possessions, they scored touchdowns on 4 of them. It was way too easy for an offense that is already very talent. Heck they were missing one of their better receivers in Diontae Johnson. Additionally, they are constantly getting beat on misdirection plays and trick plays. It is like they do not watch the tape or adjust to the fat teams are scheming that against them. They just keep doing the same thing over and over again.  In addition, the Eagles continue to be atrocious in the red zone and getting off the field at critical junctures/third downs in the game. Again the Eagles could only force 1 or few turnovers in a game and no interceptions, which has been a growing problem since the SB year. Schwartz has his fingerprints all over this defense. He has told Howie about some of the guys he wants and has the ability to remove players who are just not good enough. Furthermore, I see guys like Douglas thriving in Carolina. I see Jones making an interception for the Jags today. Yet I continuously year after year see Mills still getting beat like a drum. Or Maddox for some reason playing the outside. Or having linebackers that should not even be on the field playing the amount of snaps they are playing. I think it is time for the Eagles to move in another direction and someone that knows his personnel and doesn’t just stick with guys he likes.   

2. 3^rd down defense— I actually thought the Eagles did a relatively good job on first and second down. The Steelers were forced into 15 3^rd down attempts. Of those 15 attempts, the Steelers had 3^rd and 7+ in 6 of thems. Unfortunately, the Eagles defesne just could not get off the field on third down. The Eagles gave up 11 first down conversions on 15 third down attempts. The Steelers were converting on 73.5% of their 3^rd downs. Furthermore, Big Ben on third down had a perfect passer rating. Big ben was 13-13 (100%) for 158 yards and two touchdowns. That is absolutely insane. Some of this goes on the fact that the Eagles pass rush was unable to get to Big Ben on 3^rd down. Additionally, the Eagles secondary has guys like Jalen Mills getting completely turned around at the start of the route and Claypool runs free 15 yards down the field. This is the second week in a row the Eagles third down defense was just not very good. Over the past two weeks, the Niners and Steelers have combined to go 16-26, which is 62% conversion. But really getting off the field on third down in critical moments has felt like a disaster for the Eagles all season. Gio Bernard gets a 42 yard gain, Aiyuk runs for a 38 yard touchdown, Claypool has a 32 and 35 yard td receptions. I would argue this has been a massive downfall since the Graham debacle in Tennessee in 2018. They are simply not getting the job done with critical 3^rd downs. Sadly a lot of those big plays have come on 3^rd and 8 or longer. 

3. Red zone defense—Another reason that I have no faith in the Eagles defense is that their red zone defense has been trash all season. Against Washington they were put in multiple bad positions by the offense due to turnvoers, but they weren’t able to make a stop. They continuously kept breaking. It has felt like that has been the trend for much of the season. Even last week against the Niners, they were fortunate to get an interception, but the other 2 red zone trips ended in touchdowns. In this game, the Steelers were a perfect 3-for-3 inside the red zone. On the season, the Eagles have given up 14 touchdowns in just 19 red zone trips by their opponents. That is 73.7% touchdown conversion rate. I do not think this is a fixable problem tbh. I think the Eagles do not have the personnel in the back seven to matchup with a lot of teams. They need the pass rush to be dominate or make a play otherwise the secondary seems to always be confused or trailing. The linebackers are completely useless in coverage. IMO the two best offenses and QBs the Eagles have faced this year are the Rams and Steelers. The Rams and Steelers combined to go 5-for-6 inside the red zone and 18-27 on third downs. 

4. Ertz looks lost—I think at this point, the Eagles need to look to move Ertz. I love what Zach has done for the Eagles in the past, but he looks disinterested out there and his body language just looks like his contract situation is weighing on him. In a perfect world he would be able to finish his career here and this isn’t an issue, but really we do not live in a perfect world. I thought his effort on the first interception was flat out embarrassing. Yes he was hit off his route and it should have been a penalty, but you do not give up on it or look at the refs failing your arms because it led to a bad interception that gave the Steelers great field position and eventually a 17 point lead, which with this offense is asking a lot to overcome. Not that Wentz had no part in that pick, but he is expecting you to be at that spot and it felt like Ertz really didn’t give his best effort to be there. Over the last two weeks, Ertz has been targeted 11 times and has just 5 catches for 15 yards. Maybe we are seeing the demise of Ertz in front of our eyes and it is a blessing we didn’t sign him to a big contract prior to this season, but this feels more like he is allowing his contract to dictact how he is playing and his attitude on the field. At this point, it might just be mutually beneficial for the Eagles to trade him somewhere else so he can make his money and probably be in a better place mentally. We could also use more draft picks. However, I do not see us doing so until Goedert is back on the field, which I am hoping is before the trade deadline. 

5. Mills not much better than Maddox— I was for the Eagles moving Mills back to corner because I thought Maddox was getting abused on the outside and isn’t an outside corner. Sadly, while Mills still is a better outside corner than Maddox, is still not nearly good enough opposite of Slay. One of the biggest fears I had this season was the fact that teams would just stay away from Slay and attack our other outside corner and our slot corner. I actually thought the slot corners played relatively well against Juju today and even containing Washington, but our corners including Slay just had issues all day long with Claypool. Mills was up at the line on one play and Claypool burned him so bad with his initial move that he had Mills completely turned around the wrong way and was running wide open. I think Mills is a fine back up corner in this league, but really that is what he is. He can give you an occasional spot start, but the more you have him out there the more he gets exposed. I do not think he is the only culprit today, as Wallace, Epps, McLeod, LeBlanc and Slay had their issues, but it should be obvious to everyone he is a marginal upgrade to Maddox and it is a big time hole the Eagles have heading into next year that needs to be addressed. 

6. Giving up big plays— Over the last 4 weeks, the Eagles have continued to see the big plays comeback to bite them. Against the Rams, Henderson hauled in a 28 yard reception and busted off a 40 yard run. Higbee added his own 28 yard touchdown reception. Against the Bengals, Bernard broke off a 42-yard reception on 3^rd and 15 that led to a field goal. In the niners game, Aiyuke rushed for a 38 yard touchdown and Kittled pulled in a 38-yard reception.  This week was just as bad. In this game, Claypool was able to score 32 and 35-yard touchdowns against the Eagles defense. Additionally, due to a poor tackling job by LeBlanc on 3^rd down, McCloud was able to bust off a 58 yard run that set up a touchdown. The Eagles defense has given up a play of 30 yards or more in 4 consecutive games. Additionally, they have given up 10 plays of 25+ yards over their last 4 games. So not only are they not getting off the field on third down, bad in the red zone but they are giving up huge chunk plays or long touchdowns as well. This defense is just simply not that good or talented outside of Slay, McLeod and the defensive line. 

7. Gerry is not a starting LB—Not even going to both going into great detail about this, the guy cannot cover. The fact the Eagles still believe he is a starting caliber linebacker is an embarrassment. It is as big of an embarrassment that Schwartz somehow believed that he could cover Claypool in the game’s biggest moment. IAs an Eagles fan I am cheering for him to do well, but it seems poetic justice that Schwartz’s boneheaded decision with Gerry is costing him this game and potentially his job.  

8. Penalties—It was another brutal game of penalties for the Eagles. Malik Jackson taking an unnecessary roughness penalty to help set up the Steelers first touchdown. Graham got a facemask late in the game that helped keep the Steelers final touchdown drive alive (that one might have been BS as we never actually saw the replay to know if he did it or not). Multiple times in this game the Eagles jumped offsides and gave the Steelers five yards back and twice on 3^rd down to make it much more manageable. This is the second time in two weeks, the Eagles have been over 80 penalty yards. Now it wasn’t all them, some of the calls were questionable, but it felt like the defense was undisciplined at times and lacked focus. On the day, the Eagles finished with 9 penalties for 84 yards. 

9. Dak’s injury—As much as I hate the Cowboys, I feel for Dak here. You never want to see a player get hurt even if it is your rival. You never want to see one as severe as that. I am hoping for him he is able to come back next year and still play at the level he was at. That injury looked really bad and sounds really bad. I am really hoping it isn’t a Alex Smith type of situation. From an Eagles standpoint, it kind of feels like the Eagles should be the team to beat in the NFC East with him going down. I kind of feel like 6 wins might legitimately be enough for this division. 

10. Play action on 4^th and 20— Not sure why the hell Doug on a 4^th and 20 at the end of the game thinks it is a good time to run play action. I do not think the Steelers or anyone on this planet would fall for it. It just seems par of the course for this season though and that is why I bring it up. 

 

[brkmsn]

As soon as Ben got sacked, the Steelers made an effort to not hold the ball long at all on passing downs. I think you have to give our pass rush credit for forcing the change. I just wish our coverage would have been better today.  If they're going to pass quick, you can't let players be open immediately. 

[CaliEagle]

I can't fault Elliott for missing the FG. No kicker has made a 57 yarder or longer at Heinz field. It is notorious for being a tough stadium to kick in. Doug should've gone for it. The analytics would've suggested it on 4th and 5  in a stadium that isn't hard to kick in let alone Heinz.  

[Green_Guinness]

4 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

As soon as Ben got sacked, the Steelers made an effort to not hold the ball long at all on passing downs. I think you have to give our pass rush credit for forcing the change. I just wish our coverage would have been better today.  If they're going to pass quick, you can't let players be open immediately. 

And thus one of the problems with Gym Shortz who doesn't adjust his D to the changes the O makes.  The Stillers were happy to take those short to mid chunks of yardage with our DBs playing off their WRs.  Stillers have a 3rd and 4 or 5 and our DBs are more than 4-5 yards off their WRs, basically allowing them to run to the marker and make the catch before our DBs can put a hand on them.  And it seems every bunch play any team runs vs our D that it works.  FFS, Jonathan Vilma called out that mismatch coverage of Gerry on Claypool about 5 seconds before the snap and Shortz does nothing but allow it to play out?  He's lost the plot.  Time for a change.

[Green_Guinness]

6 minutes ago, CaliEagle said:

I can't fault Elliott for missing the FG. No kicker has made a 57 yarder or longer at Heinz field. It is notorious for being a tough stadium to kick in. Doug should've gone for it. The analytics would've suggested it on 4th and 5  in a stadium that isn't hard to kick in let alone Heinz.  

I didn't feel comfortable with that call for the FG.  In fact, I was surprised when they brought Elliott out to try a long FG on a cool October afternoon.  I was thinking they'd go for the 1st down on a 4th & 5 at the Stillers 40.  Later when I heard the longest FG ever at Heinz Field was 53yds I was even more convinced the FG was the wrong call.  

But, the play before that, was not a good play call.  The Stillers switched up and put Haden on Fulgham.  The Eagles had an empty backfield and no pre-snap motion so were basically telegraphing what they were doing.  And while our secondary was getting killed most of the game with underneath crossing routes, our WRs just pretty much ran vanilla routes to the sticks.  Haden had Fulgham covered very well from the start.  That play call did nothing to put any of our players into a position to make a positive play.  

 

[CaliEagle]

Just now, Green_Guinness said:

I didn't feel comfortable with that call for the FG.  In fact, I was surprised when they brought Elliott out to try a long FG on a cool October afternoon.  I was thinking they'd go for the 1st down on a 4th & 5 at the Stillers 40.  Later when I heard the longest FG ever at Heinz Field was 53yds I was even more convinced the FG was the wrong call.  

But, the play before that, was not a good play call.  The Stillers switched up and put Haden on Fulgham.  The Eagles had an empty backfield and no pre-snap motion so were basically telegraphing what they were doing.  And while our secondary was getting killed most of the game with underneath crossing routes, our WRs just pretty much ran vanilla routes to the sticks.  Haden had Fulgham covered very well from the start.  That play call did nothing to put any of our players into a position to make a positive play.  

 

Even if Elliott makes that FG, chances are the Steelers move the ball on our defense with 3 min left.  You have to go for it there and eat some clock.  Wentz  had someone open on 3rd down at the top of the screen. But, he didn't look there.

[Uscg-green]

Putting any blame on Elliot for missing a 57 yarder is silly. It would have set the field record by 5 yards. You go for it there. 

[Br3]

If Doug goes for it there and we don’t convert everyone would be saying Eliott can make them from 61 and that Doug is an idiot. I guess I’m in the minority that thinks it was the right call. Very surprising the longest kick in Heinz field stadium is only 53 yards after all these years. Nontheless, just because that’s the case doesn’t mean a longer kick cannot be accomplished....

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

10 minutes ago, Uscg-green said:

Putting any blame on Elliot for missing a 57 yarder is silly. It would have set the field record by 5 yards. You go for it there. 

I never said i was blaming Elliott for missing. However i do have more cause for concern going forward asking him to just be automatic from 50 yards. I think doug takes for granted that Elliott has a big leg and can just make it. I felt the same way about the bengals game even before the penalty that doug just believes Elliott can kick from 50 and it’s automatic. That’s a bad plan to just rely on 50+ field goal even if he has the leg for it. I would’ve gone for it however it’s more concerning that he’s not as automatic from 50 this year but doug seems to think it’s a smart plan to just kick it from that distance like it’ll automatically go through.  

[brkmsn]

2 minutes ago, Br3 said:

If Doug goes for it there and we don’t convert everyone would be saying Eliott can make them from 61 and that Doug is an idiot. I guess I’m in the minority that thinks it was the right call. Very surprising the longest kick in Heinz field stadium is only 53 yards after all these years. Nontheless, just because that’s the case doesn’t mean a longer kick cannot be accomplished....

I don't have a problem with the call there. It would have been for the lead if made. I did have a problem with that punt in the bengals game. 

[CaliEagle]

3 minutes ago, Br3 said:

If Doug goes for it there and we don’t convert everyone would be saying Eliott can make them from 61 and that Doug is an idiot. I guess I’m in the minority that thinks it was the right call. Very surprising the longest kick in Heinz field stadium is only 53 yards after all these years. Nontheless, just because that’s the case doesn’t mean a longer kick cannot be accomplished....

Yeah, but our defense was having trouble stopping them. So, the Steelers would have 3 min to work the field and they would've most likely done that. If you go for it and make it, then you can run 5 more plays and another couple of minutes off the clock.  The analytics would support going for it.  A 57 yard FG isn't a gimme.  If it was around 50, then I might feel differently. But, honestly, I wouldn't have faith in the defense getting a stop with 3 min to go.

[Cochis_Calhoun]

2 hours ago, brkmsn said:

As soon as Ben got sacked, the Steelers made an effort to not hold the ball long at all on passing downs. I think you have to give our pass rush credit for forcing the change. I just wish our coverage would have been better today.  If they're going to pass quick, you can't let players be open immediately. 

Was going to post exactly this, in a revolutionary move the Steelers offense adjusted to let Roethlisberger get the ball out quick and Claypool did the rest. The D line over pursued at times but you could put 4 clones of Reggie White out there and they aren't going to be able to protect defensive backs that are second string and special teams standard outside Slay. 

Also on the original post calling out the run defense, a lot of the rushing yards came from that McCloud end around, the actual tailbacks were held to less than 3 yards a carry, it wasn't a perfect outing by any stretch but again the D Line pretty much did take care of its business, but our secondary is THE worst in the NFL, if we get the Seattle and Green Bay passing games in the sort of form they've been in thus far they're going to absolutely beat the living bejesus out of this secondary.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

4 hours ago, brkmsn said:

I just wish our coverage would have been better today.  If they're going to pass quick, you can't let players be open immediately. 

Thing is I am not sure what we were to expect from the secondary? Outside of Slay the secondary has struggled this year because the secondary lacks legit talent outside of Slay. We have had a corner playing safety, a safety / slot corner playing on the outside and I mean we all know how terrible our LBs are. The secondary is a major weakness on this team and will continue to be throughout the year. Offenses can almost pick whatever strategy they want to get after it. Attack through the short to intermediate passes, attack deep, attack over the middle, attack the LBs and safeties. Attack the corner opposite Slay.

[weko]

At the core, we don't have much talent.  The DEs didn't get a sack, didn't even hit the QB.  And that's supposed to be a position we have some talent.  We don't have 1 NFL quality LB.  Absurd.  It's not hard to find adequate LBs.  We don't have a 2nd outside CB, let alone a 3rd.  I imagine CB will be the focus in the 1st/2nd round.  Has to be.  You rarely find good CBs after the 2nd round.  S...we need at least 1 in the draft.  So that's 3 DBs we need to add next draft.  And of course a new DC and scheme.  Some day Mills & Gerry will be gone.  Avery too.  Just very little talent on this side of the ball courtesy of Howie.  Ravens will crush us next week.  Then do we beat the Giants?  Can't believe Carson managed to score 29 points vs that D with 4 back up Olinemen, a waiver wire WR leading the way with a FA WR helping, no 2nd RB, no big RB and the TE getting 6 yards in receptions.  Amazing we even had the chance to take a late lead with the long FG.  Some day we'll give Wentz some help, then we can adequately assess him.  Greg Cosell on Colan's show this week remarked that our passing scheme was so unimaginative.  It requires the WRs to run great routes and win one on one battles to get open.  There are huge failings with the schemes/play designs that won't be fixed until we hire a bright offensive mind to be the OC.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

2 minutes ago, weko said:

At the core, we don't have much talent.  The DEs didn't get a sack, didn't even hit the QB.  And that's supposed to be a position we have some talent.  We don't have 1 NFL quality LB.  Absurd.  It's not hard to find adequate LBs.  We don't have a 2nd outside CB, let alone a 3rd.  I imagine CB will be the focus in the 1st/2nd round.  Has to be.  You rarely find good CBs after the 2nd round.  S...we need at least 1 in the draft.  So that's 3 DBs we need to add next draft.  And of course a new DC and scheme.  Some day Mills & Gerry will be gone.  Avery too.  Just very little talent on this side of the ball courtesy of Howie.  Ravens will crush us next week.  Then do we beat the Giants?  Can't believe Carson managed to score 29 points vs that D with 4 back up Olinemen, a waiver wire WR leading the way with a FA WR helping, no 2nd RB, no big RB and the TE getting 6 yards in receptions.  Amazing we even had the chance to take a late lead with the long FG.  Some day we'll give Wentz some help, then we can adequately assess him.  Greg Cosell on Colan's show this week remarked that our passing scheme was so unimaginative.  It requires the WRs to run great routes and win one on one battles to get open.  There are huge failings with the schemes/play designs that won't be fixed until we hire a bright offensive mind to be the OC.

Some really good points here! The DE's struggled yesterday but they were up against a good OL, sometimes we will win those battles and other times we won't. That doesn't give them a pass though as you'd like to see them do more against those tough match ups. It would be nice to see them add another really good DE to the mix to replace BG. A legit #1 would be nice but I'd take a good #2.

The LB situation is horrific and laughable. Years of mismanaging the position and not valuing it in any way shape or form has led us to this.

The CB situation has come down to awful talent evaluation and also the scheme. Douglas looks like a pretty good corner right now so that's on Schwartz surely? But Jones isn't even on an active roster is he? So that was just a flat out bad pick. We definitely need to bring someone in to play opposite Slay and then eventually take over as the legit #1. Sadly by the time we find someone they will have to be the replacement to Slay rather than form a good tandem for the future.

The offensive scheme is definitely a concern and has been for some time now! It is so unimaginative. Every play our offense makes is almost like it has to be perfect execution. There is no misdirection or clever scheming going on. There is no throwing a defense off balance and then hitting them with a big hit. Every play looks like it is hard work. That Wentz has to make a sublime play or the WR has to make a really good tough catch. Where are the easy plays? Where are the nice easy 6-8 yard plays that every other offense seems to have all the time that just allow you to keep things ticking.

[20dawk4life]

8 hours ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Dak’s injury—As much as I hate the Cowboys, I feel for Dak here. You never want to see a player get hurt even if it is your rival. You never want to see one as severe as that. I am hoping for him he is able to come back next year and still play at the level he was at. That injury looked really bad and sounds really bad. I am really hoping it isn’t a Alex Smith type of situation. From an Eagles standpoint, it kind of feels like the Eagles should be the team to beat in the NFC East with him going down. I kind of feel like 6 wins might legitimately be enough for this division. 

Yea I hope it isn’t nearly as bad as Alex Smith. Don’t count Dalton out though. They still have three good receivers and zeke. 

[EazyEaglez]

Yeah even if Elliott made that kick this defense would have let them score anyway. It’s time for Schwartz to go. I know people wanted to see more runs, but other than the big run on the draw they run game was very ineffective. Clement and Scott are not playing well right now either. 

[Green_Guinness]

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

The CB situation has come down to awful talent evaluation and also the scheme. Douglas looks like a pretty good corner right now so that's on Schwartz surely? But Jones isn't even on an active roster is he? So that was just a flat out bad pick. We definitely need to bring someone in to play opposite Slay and then eventually take over as the legit #1. Sadly by the time we find someone they will have to be the replacement to Slay rather than form a good tandem for the future.

He played for JAX yesterday vs HOU.  Here's parts of an article on the game:

Jones picked off Watson on a diving catch in front of Will Fuller -- with Smoot pressuring the quarterback -- giving the Jaguars new life with 26 seconds left in the half after kicker Stephen Hauschka had missed a 24-yard field-goal attempt.

That opportunity went for naught also as Hauschka was short from 49 yards out.

Jones came through with another key play when he deflected a pass intended for Fuller in the third quarter, with safety Jarrod Wilson gathering in the ball. Wilson raced 47 yards to the Houston 27 but again, the Jaguars failed to score when a fourth-down trick play from the Texans 8 was blown up when running back James Robinson fumbled after taking a direct snap and failing to find an open receiver.

Jones had three tackles and four passes defended. He was an early-season pickup after being cut by Philadelphia on Sept. 5, and the Jaguars promoted him to the active roster two weeks ago.

Jones was pegged as a first-round draft pick out of Washington in 2017 but he injured his Achilles tendon at the Huskies' pro day. The Eagles took him in the second round but his pro career has been marred by four hamstring injuries.

But he's healthy now and has broken up five passes, along with his pick, in two games.

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

6 minutes ago, Green_Guinness said:

But he's healthy now and has broken up five passes, along with his pick, in two games.

Damn.

[Penn7980]

45 minutes ago, 20dawk4life said:

Yea I hope it isn’t nearly as bad as Alex Smith. Don’t count Dalton out though. They still have three good receivers and zeke. 

A wise move on their part to have an experienced QB as back-up.  Like what we had with Foles. 

We don't have such back-up QB at this point.  Sudfeld holds that position, but he is not yet tested in NFL games.  Hurts is a rookie.  We have the 40-something QB sitting miles away.  Experienced he is, but has not played at a high level.  Not a pretty picture should Wentz not able to play.

 

[Madriver]

1 hour ago, 20dawk4life said:

Yea I hope it isn’t nearly as bad as Alex Smith. Don’t count Dalton out though. They still have three good receivers and zeke. 

Exactly. Dalton is a legit NFL QB who played for a perennial loser in Cincy.

Dak choked. Dalton likely will not, at least not as often.

[EagleVA]

10 hours ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

 

5. Mills not much better than Maddox

 

Six in one hand, a half dozen in the other.

[NYEagle]

I hope Gym Shorts gets hit by a car today seeing this organization doesn't have the balls to fire him (sorry, Jim...will send flowers to hospital if this happens)

[Wentz 2 Ertz]

Regarding the 4th and 5 - if there was 1 minute left in the game then sure go and try the 57 yard FG.  But there was 3 minutes left!  Even if Elliot makes it there's a GOOD chance that the Steelers would put themselves in FG range to kick for the win.

Wentz was playing well, Fulgham was unstoppable, and it was 4th and 5 - not 4th and long.  Just a bad decision by Doug.

[ManchesterEagle]

I've always been a Schwartz supporter and he has taken a lot of unfair abuse on these boards, as over the past few years he's generally done a very good job with pretty average talent and injury issues.

But having said that, the D's performance has simply been unacceptable this year. While some of that is definitely on a lack of focus on the D in the draft over the past 5 years, Schwartz has to take his share of blame.

He's going to get this season anyway, but the D needs to show a marked improvement, otherwise it's time to move on.

I'll say again though, the D has been woefully ignored (apart from Slay and the D-Line). There won't be a quick fix some people are expecting with a new DC.