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

[GeorgeM37]

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

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. 

 

Another excellent write up and great read. I hate gym shorts still, I hate mills right along with him and I simply cannot believe ertz is doing the exact same thing that DJax did during his contract year. 

I typically wake up to Good Morning Football and happened to see the Dak injury. Man, that just looked brutal and uncomfortable and although a hated rival, like you said, you never want to see a potentially career ending injury (even when it was Michael "crack" Irvin).....let's hope its not like Alex Smith, like you said (his numbers were absolutely brutal yesterday)....

[JayEcho]

if schwartz is fired, i will give whatever interim dc or dc we hire next year some time.  they'll have to work with the guys we have on defense and i don't think a lot will be different unless major changes are made.  not just to the scheme, but potentially the guys on the defense.  we see the defensive line is a strength, but is it worth it for the dredge we roll out at linebacker?  our talent in the secondary is pretty much interchangeable, with the exception of slay... which is not good.  i'm not saying get probowlers at every level, but you need more competent guys out there.  right now, the nate gerrys of our defense are being compounded by the bad scheme design of a schwartz.

i think if schwartz is fired, it has to be by week 8.  if we have confidence in promoting a guy in-house, we need to give them at least 8 weeks to start implement his schemes and see what he can do with guys on our roster...  and decide which guys he'll eventually want to move on from during the offseason.  if we stick with schwartz for most of the rest of the season, any new dc will need at least one year to start to implement his scheme.  i'd be willing to give any new dc three years from the day they took over to get the defense to where they want it to be.

 

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

28 minutes ago, JayEcho said:

if schwartz is fired, i will give whatever interim dc or dc we hire next year some time.  they'll have to work with the guys we have on defense and i don't think a lot will be different unless major changes are made.  not just to the scheme, but potentially the guys on the defense.  we see the defensive line is a strength, but is it worth it for the dredge we roll out at linebacker?  our talent in the secondary is pretty much interchangeable, with the exception of slay... which is not good.  i'm not saying get probowlers at every level, but you need more competent guys out there.  right now, the nate gerrys of our defense are being compounded by the bad scheme design of a schwartz.

i think if schwartz is fired, it has to be by week 8.  if we have confidence in promoting a guy in-house, we need to give them at least 8 weeks to start implement his schemes and see what he can do with guys on our roster...  and decide which guys he'll eventually want to move on from during the offseason.  if we stick with schwartz for most of the rest of the season, any new dc will need at least one year to start to implement his scheme.  i'd be willing to give any new dc three years from the day they took over to get the defense to where they want it to be.

 

I made a point in the blog that if you take away the defense of line, slay and even McLeod the rest of the guys on that defense should be back ups in the league. So 6 out of 11 guys on the field shouldn’t be starting. It’s hard to win in this league with that many holes that you have on a defense. 

That said I think they’re going to give Schwartz the rest of the year. Because they won the Super Bowl with him and he’s had success here so they’ll give him at least a year before firing him. Now it could go really south where they’re just giving up 40 to the Giants and maybe they say enough’s enough but I still see them give them the full year. If you fire him midyear you are still dealing with the same bad personnel at a lot of the positions. Add on I don’t want an interim coach To have some success and then they say we’re gonna bring you back for next year since you did so well down the stretch of the season. I want a new scheme to be implemented. It’s time. I think part of the reason the eagle struggle to get turnovers is the league has figured out Schwartz‘s defense especially since we play off at times 5 to 10 yards. it’s harder to get interceptions and teams adjust to your pass rush which makes it really hard for you to get the turnovers. They need a new scheme that’s not just rely on the pass rush to get the job done. Teams have adjusted to it. 

while Schwartz is not the only issue the Eagles defense has, his inability to change up and his comfort ability with guys he likes who are not good is a problem

[Miami]

13 hours ago, 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.  

 

Or the play call before that where Wentz took an unnecessary negative play.  We just needed some positive yardage to put Jake in a makeable range.  Wasn't far.  You save your best plays for then.  Frustrating because we actually had a chance to win somehow.  Think the same thing happened against Cincy too.  

[EazyEaglez]

6 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Damn.

Agholor, Jones, and Douglas are all playing better for other teams. 

[GeorgeM37]

39 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

Agholor, Jones, and Douglas are all playing better for other teams. 

I have noticed that as well.....looks like coaching is the problem after all, like alot of us have hinted at....on both sides of the ball

[UK_EaglesFan89]

41 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

Agholor, Jones, and Douglas are all playing better for other teams. 

Yes indeed they are!

[EazyEaglez]

5 minutes ago, GeorgeM37 said:

I have noticed that as well.....looks like coaching is the problem after all, like alot of us have hinted at....on both sides of the ball

Corey Undlin had a job for years and I still don’t know who he’s developed as a player. Schwartz’s defense of playing off all the time prevents corners from being aggressive. Agholor isn’t on a 70 plus catch pace, but he already has 3 touchdowns. I think he needed a change of scenery. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

2 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

Corey Undlin had a job for years and I still don’t know who he’s developed as a player. Schwartz’s defense of playing off all the time prevents corners from being aggressive. Agholor isn’t on a 70 plus catch pace, but he already has 3 touchdowns. I think he needed a change of scenery. 

Schwartz scheme doesn't really play to CBs strengths though. I mean he never used Rasul properly and in a way that Rasul could actually succeed.

[EazyEaglez]

8 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Schwartz scheme doesn't really play to CBs strengths though. I mean he never used Rasul properly and in a way that Rasul could actually succeed.

Seems like only slot guys have some form of success with Schwartz. The outside guys seem to struggle a lot.

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

11 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Schwartz scheme doesn't really play to CBs strengths though. I mean he never used Rasul properly and in a way that Rasul could actually succeed.

In fairness we’d have to go to a cover 2 type of defense if we were going to utilize douglas to his full potential. It’s kind of why down the stretch of 2018 we played well with him. He had safety help. Jones i still don’t think is great he had a pick and PD but he was beaten multiple times in that game by fuller and cooks 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Just now, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

In fairness we’d have to go to a cover 2 type of defense if we were going to utilize douglas to his full potential. It’s kind of why down the stretch of 2018 we played well with him. He had safety help. Jones i still don’t think is great he had a pick and PD but he was beaten multiple times in that game by fuller and cooks 

But I think that's fine. Put him in positions to succeed and you have a corner who will make plays for a defense. 

[GeorgeM37]

18 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

Corey Undlin had a job for years and I still don’t know who he’s developed as a player. Schwartz’s defense of playing off all the time prevents corners from being aggressive. Agholor isn’t on a 70 plus catch pace, but he already has 3 touchdowns. I think he needed a change of scenery. 

Agreed. I HATE seeing them play off the receivers 10 yards and not jamming them up at the line....it irks me to no end and he is still implementing that way of playing. I don't understand in the slightest bit how he doesn't see this as a problem. We all saw the potential in Agholor but this system has a way of shutting down everybody's potential....

[EazyEaglez]

5 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

In fairness we’d have to go to a cover 2 type of defense if we were going to utilize douglas to his full potential. It’s kind of why down the stretch of 2018 we played well with him. He had safety help. Jones i still don’t think is great he had a pick and PD but he was beaten multiple times in that game by fuller and cooks 

That’s what good coaches do. Coach to their talent and strength. How many different versions were the Pats in their SB run? A TE dominate team. A big time receiver team. A big back dominating defense team. Good coaches don’t try to make square pegs fit in round holes. They have to learn to adapt. With that being the case I don’t think they have been given enough talent to succeed the way they did in the past. 

[EazyEaglez]

5 minutes ago, GeorgeM37 said:

Agreed. I HATE seeing them play off the receivers 10 yards and not jamming them up at the line....it irks me to no end and he is still implementing that way of playing. I don't understand in the slightest bit how he doesn't see this as a problem. We all saw the potential in Agholor but this system has a way of shutting down everybody's potential....

3rd and 5 and the Eagles are rushing 4 with 10 yard cushions. It’s a first down almost every time. Did you know Big Ben completed EVERY pass he threw on 3rd down against the Eagles? Just overall poor scheming. 

[GeorgeM37]

2 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

3rd and 5 and the Eagles are rushing 4 with 10 yard cushions. It’s a first down almost every time. Did you know Big Ben completed EVERY pass he threw on 3rd down against the Eagles? Just overall poor scheming. 

SMH yes I know and I absolutely hate it. Its the very reason that either last year or the year before when they played Carolina  and everytime they need 3rd and long it was an automatic conversion. Cam sliced our defense up in that game...and its because opposing offenses KNOW they will be playing far off the receivers 

[EazyEaglez]

1 minute ago, GeorgeM37 said:

SMH yes I know and I absolutely hate it. Its the very reason that either last year or the year before when they played Carolina  and everytime they need 3rd and long it was an automatic conversion. Cam sliced our defense up in that game...and its because opposing offenses KNOW they will be playing far off the receivers 

It’s time for Schwartz and his bend don’t break defense all game to go.

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

17 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

But I think that's fine. Put him in positions to succeed and you have a corner who will make plays for a defense. 

Don’t disagree. However going to have to convince the eagles to can Schwartz who’s stubborn in his ways. Frankly we need a completely new scheme. Teams have figured it out. And if they adjust to negate the pass rush or have olines capable of blocking out DL then we are in a world of trouble cause our defense isn’t very complicated. 

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

14 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

That’s what good coaches do. Coach to their talent and strength. How many different versions were the Pats in their SB run? A TE dominate team. A big time receiver team. A big back dominating defense team. Good coaches don’t try to make square pegs fit in round holes. They have to learn to adapt. With that being the case I don’t think they have been given enough talent to succeed the way they did in the past. 

Again don’t disagree however you are trying to emulate a dynasty it’s easier said than done. Belichick is one of the best Defensive minds to ever coach in the nfl. Brady might be the best to ever play the position. Those things make it much easier to pull the ever changing formula. Schwartz is who he is and too stubborn to change. You’d need a new coach and new scheme that’s willing to adapt to their personnel. Schwartz really isn’t willing to adapt. He will employ what he wants even with personnel that doesn’t fit. Frankly i thought it was dumb to release douglas. Even for a backup he was ok. He’s better than Craig James who’s going to not be here as soon as Schwartz is gone. Douglas showed he could be good if you gave him safety help and adjust to how he played. 

[EazyEaglez]

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Again don’t disagree however you are trying to emulate a dynasty it’s easier said than done. Belichick is one of the best Defensive minds to ever coach in the nfl. Brady might be the best to ever play the position. Those things make it much easier to pull the ever changing formula. Schwartz is who he is and too stubborn to change. You’d need a new coach and new scheme that’s willing to adapt to their personnel. Schwartz really isn’t willing to adapt. He will employ what he wants even with personnel that doesn’t fit. Frankly i thought it was dumb to release douglas. Even for a backup he was ok. He’s better than Craig James who’s going to not be here as soon as Schwartz is gone. Douglas showed he could be good if you gave him safety help and adjust to how he played. 

Schwartz’s lack of change is more puzzling and frustrating considering the alleged power he has in picking his own players. If all these guys had his personal blessing then why pick players who don’t fit? It’s all too vexing and perplexing. It’s time for Schwartz to go.

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

Just now, EazyEaglez said:

Schwartz’s lack of change is more puzzling and frustrating considering the alleged power he has in picking his own players. If all these guys had his personal blessing then why pick players who don’t fit? It’s all too vexing and perplexing. It’s time for Schwartz to go.

I think Schwartz overvalued what certain guys can do. For instance maddox. Maddox is a slot corner. The more and more he plays outside the more he gets exposed yet Schwartz doesn’t want to believe that about a player he likes. 

[EazyEaglez]

3 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I think Schwartz overvalued what certain guys can do. For instance maddox. Maddox is a slot corner. The more and more he plays outside the more he gets exposed yet Schwartz doesn’t want to believe that about a player he likes. 

Clearly he never liked Douglas and he wasn’t much of a fan of Jones either. Meanwhile he loves Craig James and Mills. Maddox doesn’t belong on the outside like you mentioned, but these are... Never mind, because I come to the same conclusion. It’s time for Schwartz to go.   

[eglz1]

2 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

Corey Undlin had a job for years and I still don’t know who he’s developed as a player. Schwartz’s defense of playing off all the time prevents corners from being aggressive. Agholor isn’t on a 70 plus catch pace, but he already has 3 touchdowns. I think he needed a change of scenery. 

Clearly some of Agholor's issues were between the ears so it's not really surprising that a chance of scenery helped.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

10 hours ago, eglz1 said:

Clearly some of Agholor's issues were between the ears so it's not really surprising that a chance of scenery helped.

Yeah I agree. I don't put it down to really poor coaching. He was in his own head too much and with this fan base that'll get you crushed. 

[birdman#12]

I've been a big supporter of Schwartz since he came here, but lately, I've seen some things that are just baffling and how bad the defense has been this year.  They're not going to fire him midseason, but unless this defense makes a 180 degree turn, he probably should be replaced.