The good, the bad and the ugly: week 8 vs. Dallas

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

Not gonna lie, might not be my best one. Late night after the game. Vow to do better next time

The Good:

1. Cox, Graham, Curry and Hargrave—Playing against the current Cowboys roster you expect games like these three had. Cox was particularly a monster as he was able to create havoc in the backfield on DiNucci. On the evening Cox was able to generate a sack, 2 tackles for loss and 2 QB hits. With the Eagles facing the Giants out of the bye week, I expect Cox to have another big game against them make his presence known. However, it is going to be telling when the Eagles start their stretch of Seattle, Green Bay, New Orleans and Arizona. That is the stretch where I think the Eagles need Fletcher Cox to play like he did tonight.  All four of those teams when healthy have excellent offenses and he needs to be the best player on defense if the Eagles have a chance in those games. As for Graham, he is having a heck of a season. He might have made the defensive play of the game if not for Edwards play late in the game. After Wentz made a poor decision and fumbled the ball, the Cowboys were driving inside the red zone and could’ve easily turned a 3-0 lead into a 10-0 lead. Not sure how this game goes if that occurs. Feels like it could have had a much different end to the story. Nevertheless, Graham was able to get to DiNucci and force the fumble and recover it. With how the offense functioned for most of the evening, it wound up being a massive play for the Eagles. On the season, Graham has 7 sacks through 8 games. It would be the first time in his career, he would finish with double digit sacks. I would be shocked if Graham was not named a Pro Bowler after the season he has put together. While Curry didn’t have a the flashy play that Graham had, I thought he was very active. He recorded a sack, tackle for loss and a QB hit. I think the depth behind Barnett and Graham is looking better as the season is going along. I know a lot of people were upset that we waived Toohill to bring back Curry especially when long term Curry is not likely in the plans, but he has been very good and a welcomed addition to the line over the past couple weeks. Finally, I thought Hargrave had his best performance in an Eagle uniform. It still was not spectacular, but he was better overall. He was able to record a tackle for loss. Additionally, on 4^th down, DiNucci broke the pocket and began to scramble, he was able to get his big mitts up and deflect the ball away on to create the turnover on downs. Yes there is definitely room for improvement. He was pushed back a couple times in the 3^rd quarter when the Dallas running game got on track for a drive. Ideally you’d love to see him get more pressure on the QB playing against a below average Dallas offensive line. But you saw improvement from what we saw earlier this year. Hopefully after the bye week he is really able to come on because I am not sure how long this Quad injury is going to keep Malik out. 

2. Edwards makes a statement— I think when the news came out that Gerry was going to miss three games most of us were anxious to see what the lienbackers could do as Gerry has flat out just not been very good this year. However, many of us were of the belief just cause Gerry was out didn’t mean the linebacker unit was automatically fixed or even be that much better. But Edwards coming off IR looked like a stud tonight. Additionally, he had the biggest play of the game and basically locked up the win for the Eagles. On the play, he was sent on a blitz and was able to get home on DiNucci and force the fumble that bounced to Curry, which eventually was scooped up by McLeod and returned for a touchdown to give the Eagles the 21-9 lead. In my opinion, this might have been the best linebacker performance we have gotten since the 2017 season with Nigel Bradham. Edwards recorded 13 tackles, a sack, tackle for loss, 1 qb hit and a forced fumble. Furthermore, he was doing his assignments and not out of position. He was excellent in finding the gaps and filling them. He limited the holes that Zeke was able to find and made it very tough sledding for Zeke. I do not know how the rest of the season will go for Edwards. I had high hopes for him at the end of last year and the injury bug took away part of this season. But if he is able to give you this type of performance weekly, then the Eagles have found themselves a very solid and nice linebacker. 

3. Fulgham is for real—If you didn’t think the kid was real before, he just keeps going out there and proving that he is. If the Eagles get nothing else out of the 2020 season (besides a hallow NFC title) then we should be thankful that two other teams happened to release Fulgham. Against the Cowboys, Fulgham was able to haul in 6 receptions for 78 yards and more importantly a touchdown to give the Eagles a 13-9 lead, which they never looked back from. It is amazing just how great Fulgham has been for the Eagles. I want to give the Eagles scouting credit for finding the kid on the scrapheap, but the Eagles also released him so they nearly lost a player of his caliber. So far on the season (just 5 games in an Eagle uniform), he has 29 receptions for 435 yards and 4 tds. Heck over the last 4 weeks, Fulgham has not had less than 70 yards receiving. I am happy for the Eagles to find someone of his talent and excited to see him get even better as he gets more reps with Carson and more comfortable with the playbook. For the first time in a while, I am thrilled to see a wide receiver on the outside that I think you could call a no. 1 receiver. He might not have the blazing speed, but he had great hands, he runs solid routes, his catch radius is ridiculous. The sky is really the limit for the kid.  

4. Scott ran well—There isn’t a whole bunch of good from this game on offense, but I thought Scott ran the ball well especially early in the game. In the first half he was finding the holes and hitting it for some nice gains. The offensive line was opening holes for him. It felt like as the game went on, the Eagles went away from the run and when they finally got back to it he just didn’t have the same effect. Overall, he had 15 rushes for 70 yards, which is a 4.7 yards per carry. I would’ve actually loved to see the Eagles get him 20-23 touches against the Cowboys. I thought when Carson was making poor decisions and struggling in the first half, Doug missed an opportunity to take control of the game with his back looked as good as he has all year running it.

5. The safetys—The defense for most of the game was great, but we often do not get to talk about the safety position. I thought McLeod played one of his best games of the season. I get it came against a porous Cowboy offense, but McLeod was very active. He had two pass deflections and one of them should have been an interception. Additionally he had a heads up play after the ball squirted out of the hands of Curry and he picked it up and ran it in for what felt like the backbreaking touchdown.  He wasn’t the only safety that I thought played very well, I thought Will Parks looked really good for the Eagles. He was coming up and helping in run support as he was able to record two tackles for loss. Additionally, he added 5 tackles. I am not sure why the Eagles would be looking to deal him. Frankly with all the injuries in the secondary, we really cannot afford to trade him. Slay left the game early and then Jacquet, he was thrown into the starting safety role and Mills was moved to corner. Nevertheless, I guess I am open to it if the Eagles are able to acquire a good draft pick, but I actually would love if they could get him a long-term deal to be the 3^rd safety here. I think it is a role suited for him. I think if you ask him to be the starter over the entire season the more he would be exposed.  I also have to give Mills a lot of credit. He was seemingly always in the right place tonight. They are times during the game where he seems to be out of position and it winds up going for a big play. Tonight was not one of them. He was able to register 5 tackles and a pass deflection. 

6. Singleton is better than Gerry—I don’t think it is a high barometer to be better than Nate Gerry, but Singleton at least seems to be in the right place and not constantly chasing everyone from 5-7 yards behind. Like, Edwards, he was very active and seemingly was hitting the right gaps and limiting what Zeke was able to do. On the evening he had 8 tackles and 1 QB hit. I do not know what Singleton is like Edwards. I think he can be your third linebacker in base, but the more and more plays he is out on the field, I believe he will get exposed. I also do not know if his body will hold up for an entire 16 game schedule as a starter playing significant snaps. However, if he could just give you average linebacker play for the rest of the season, it would be a massive improvement from what they have been getting the first 7 weeks of the season. 

7. Schwartz and the defense—The defense really saved the Eagles in this game. If not for the defense holding the Cowboys to just 9 points and forcing multiple turnovers, this game could have easily been a loss with how bad Carson and the offense looked for 75% of the night. I thought the Eagles could have been better against the run in some moments. However, they still were able to register 8 tackles for loss and really make it hard on Zeke. In addition, they were able to get pressure on DiNucci. The Eagles sacked him 4 times and 7 QB hits. The Eagles were also able to get their hands on some his passes to knock the ball away or even nearly have an interception as they had 5 deflections. I think some of this can be credited to Schwartz. For the second game in a row, he was pretty creative and sent blitzing linebackers and even safeties. I understand why Schwartz has done it the last two weeks. Jones is young and turnover prone when faced with pressure. This was DiNucci’s first career start and he didn’t want him to feel comfortable or get into the rhythm. It was a good gameplan by Schwartz and the defense showed up to a game they were expected to play well in. That said, I think the Eagles are really fortunate that it was DiNucci back there at QB and the Cowboys have the Qb back there that they trusted to take more shots down the field. If Dalton plays this game, I do not know what the outcome would have been, but I have a feeling Dallas might have had more than 9 points and Schwartz’s blitzes might not have been as many.

8. Practice Squad Jacquet—It is never easy getting the call up from the practice squad and then being asked to step into the game for one of the better corners in the league. Jacquet was asked to do that and I thought he did a very good job for the Eagles. He was a sure tackler. On one play he singlehandedly brought down the WR after the catch and made sure he didn’t get extra yardage. Unlike Maddox who slowed down on a critical 3^rd and 1 play and allowed Zeke to get the corner and the first down. He also had a pass deflection. I do not know what the future holds for the kid, but what I noticed was he was a willing and able tackler and I liked his size. I think he could be a nice project for the Eagles. 

9. Oline played OK—Overall I thought the Eagles offensive line played pretty well. Definitely on the second fumble I thought Pryor made a mistake going to help Kelce on his block and not blocking the two defenders that came through his hole to crush Carson. However watching the replay from the end zone angle it isn’t all Pryor’s fault. Carson had some time to get rid of the ball and he actually had two wide-open receivers in the middle of the field. So it isn’t entire on Pryor there. Before the game, I thought the Eagles were asking a lot of Mailata to switch from the left to the right side and asking him to hold up against Lawrence. In the first series, he gave up a sack, but after that he really settled in. I know the Eagles were having Goedert help him and helped him in general, but he was much better against the Cowboys then he was against the Giants. Furthermore, I thought the left side of the line was very good on the evening. It has been a while since we had seen Peters play at an above average level. Before his IR stint, the argument could be made he was as bad as Pryor and Herbig in his first start of the season. I am not saying Peters should stay at LT, but he was competent tonight. Additionally, he and Herbig were really opening up some nice holes for Clement and Scott to run through. Over the past 3-4 weeks besides Sanders long runs, I thought the oline was struggling to have good run blocking. The right side of the line was creating some nice holes on the evening. As for Kelce, it was a typical Kelce game. He is really the rock of that oline. I am not sure if you lost Kelce that this line could recover this season like they have at other spots. I was actually nervous when I saw him come up in pain after a play. Luckily he was alright and just kept playing. While Carson was sacked 4 times and hit 6, the oline I felt was only responsible for maybe 2 of those sacks. Carson was awful tonight and he caused a lot of self-inflected wounds. To be honest, I would say this was likely the best oline performance we have seen over the last 5 weeks.  

10. Creating turnovers— For the second consecutive week, the Eagles were able to create turnovers. And boy did they need them in this game in order to pull this out. Against the Giants, the Eagles were able to pick off Jones and force two fumbles. In this game, the Eagles were able to strip sack DiNucci twice inside Eagles territory to keep the Cowboys off the board. Tonight’s game marks only the 3^rd time on the season that the Eagles were able to create 2 or more turnovers. In those 3 games they are 3-0. Conversely, when the Eagles force 1 turnover or less, they are 0-4-1. On the season, the Eagles have forced 11 turnovers. That is about 1.4 per game. I suspect with the Giants and Browns on the docket next that they might be able to continue the streak of multiple turnover games. 

11. Third down defense— Last week against the Giants, I thought the 3^rd down defense was a little bit of fool’s gold. They held the Giants to 3-for-10, but really the Giants could have easily been much better. For instance, if Engram hauls in a wide open pass late in that game, the Giants are 4-10 and we lose that game 21-16. I thought the Eagles were more fortunate than good on third down in that game. In this game, the Eagles were just dominate. The Cowboys were 4-for-16, which is 25% on the night. The Eagles held the Cowboys to 3^rd down and 7+ in 9 of their 16 third downs. The Eagles only once gave up a first down on those 9 attempts. Also, the Cowboys were able to pick up two 3^rd downs late in the game during garbage time otherwise the Eagles third down defense looks even more dominating at 2-for-13. As the season continues on and we face much tougher opponents after the Giants, I do not expect this type of performance weekly especially when we face teams like GB, Seattle or New Orleans. I think it is asking a lot against some of the opponents we are going to see. However, if the Eagles are going to sneak a win in here and there during that tough slate then they are going to have to be good on third down. This was a stellar performance and hopefully it is a sign of things to come. 

12. Red zone defense finally steps up— One of the areas I was really disappointed in last week was the lack of red zone defense. I feel like all season its been breaking instead of bending. The Giants were  31^st in the league in the red zone. And yet, they were able to convert on both trips inside the red zone. Entering the game, the Eagles had given up touchdowns on 18 of 24 red zone trips (75%), which was one of the 5 worst in the NFL.  Furthermore, they had give up 7 touchdowns in their oppoents last 8 red zone. Against the Cowboys, the Eagles stood tall. They were able to force a turnover on a Brandon Graham strip sack. That was a huge play early in the game. It is a play that the Eagles hadn’t made much of all season. The only other turnover the Eagles got in the red zone came in week 4 against San Francisco. I think we all understand it is the Cowboys and their offense has been putrid since Dak broke his ankle. But you have to start somewhere and build off of it. The Eagles have an excellent chance to get this ball rolling in the right direction as they play a Giants again after the bye. 

13. Red zone offense—After one of the worst red zone offensive performances over the last couple seasons against the Giants (3-8), the Eagles were much better against the Cowboys. While they only entered the red zone twice, they were able to score touchdowns on both of their trips. Still, the Eagles have a long way to go to become one of the better red zone offenses in the league. After tonight, the Eagles have scored on just 16 of 25 red zone trips, which is 64%. 

14. Run game finds stride—I thought over the last month, the Eagles for a majority of their games had struggled to run block. There were minimal holes and when there were the backs besides Sanders long runs weren’t hitting them. On the night, the Eagles rushed for 119 yards on 26 carries, which is 4.6 yards per carry. Furthermore, Clement and Scott combined for 94 yards on 20 carries, which is 4.7 yards per carry. In fact, this was the first time all year that I thought Clement didn’t look slow and bogged down when he was running the ball. He had some pep in his step and was gaining positive yards. That said, I still would love to see Huntley get more involved in the running game. I think he has something that Clement doesn’t. He has better speed and I think he break off a big time run if given some more opportunities. I was a little disappointed with the running game working so well early that we didn’t stick to that more and see what all 3 of the backs could do. I really think the Eagles leaned more on the run than Scott, Clement and even Huntley could have rolled Dallas for 130-150 yards in this game. Frankly with how bad Wentz was playing they really should have. 

15. Penalties—It was a good game for the Eagles on this aspect. They were only called for 4 penalties for 28 yards. In 5 of the 8 games played, the Eagles have been called for 5 penalties or less. This is great because it means the Eagles for the most part aren’t shooting themselves in the foot with penalties.  However, the Eagles have been called for 75 penalty yards or more in 3 of their 8 games. 

16. First place?—We are in first place, but it kinds of feels like over the last two weeks we have regressed offensively from where we were after the Ravens game.

 

On the fence:

1. Don’t know how to feel about Reagor; I guess underwhelmed—I understand that this was his first game in over a month and he is a rookie so I should cut him some slack. I thought at the beginning of the game, the Eagles were figuring out ways to get the ball into their rookie playmakers’ hands. He had a 6 yard run, 2 receptions and a touchdown in the first quarter. It looked like he was on his way to a big game. Then he had only one reception the rest of the game. Add on he had a chance to reel in a touchdown late in the game that would have completely buried the Cowboys for good, but saw the defender make a great play on the ball. I do not think it is his entire fault. Frankly I was pretty underwhelmed with the play calling and utilizing his skill set. I envisioned when we hired the assistant coaches we did and then drafting him that the Eagles would employ him much of the same ways that the Niners use Deebo Samuel. Frankly I think you have to in order to maximize his upside and ceiling. Unfortunately, I thought the best call of the night for him was the first swing pass/run and the two-point conversion where he was able to use his speed to his advantage cutting across the field. I didn’t mind the Reagor pick at 21. I understood why they went with him and his speed, but with how a lot of the rookies are performing so far this year and us having a chance to tee off against Diggs and Dallas who struggle to defend I leave the game saying I am underwhelmed and expected more. Maybe my expectations were too high for his first game back. 

2. Run defense—The Cowboys only ran for 3.8 yards per carry, but were able to compile 135 yards on 35 rushing attempts. Normally you would say that is very good that Dallas had to run that many times to get that type of production. However, I viewed it a little differently. First, the Eagles continue to have issues with misdirection and the RO with QBs that can scramble. The Cowboys got 41 yards on those types of plays. Additionally, in the second half in the last two games it felt like our opponents could just run on us at will. During the Giants 97 yard touchdown drive, Gallman was picking up big chunks of yards. In this game, it felt Polland continuously was finding 5-6 yard on the ground. He finished the game with 40 rushing yards on 7 attempts for 5.7 yards per carry. I know you aren’t going to be able to shutdown a running game completely, but when the two backs go 103 yards on 26 carries, I just think the Eagles could have been better than what they allowed.  

3. Misdirection plays—To the Eagles credit, they did manage to bust a couple of trick/misdirection plays that the Cowboys ran later in the game. However, early in the game the Eagles gave up a 19 yard run to Lamb on a misdirection. I feel like as the game went on, the Eagles picked up on the misdirection and were able to recognize and dissect it. Unfortunately, the Eagles are still being victimized by misdirection at time. The Rams utilized it routinely against the Eagles. Aiyuk and McCloud had big time runs against the Eagles using misdirection. Teams are going to continue to employ this against the Eagles until they are able to defend and recognize it. Like I said, I thought as the game went on, the Eagles were much better at figuring it out and shutting it down. I do not know if that’s because it was the Cowboys and their offense just stinks so they expected it. Or if the Eagles are beginning to get better at it. I have it on the fence cause I hate seeing one of the first couple plays be this and pick up yards to get Dallas some momentum. 

 

The Bad:

1. Where was Goedert?—I was pretty excited earlier in the week when I saw Goedert practicing and running routes. I had a feeling he was going to play this game and that the Eagles really wanted him to before the bye. However, I expected the Eagles to try and exploit this matchup more than they did. I would have to go back and watch the all 22, but I think he was used largely as a blocker to help Mailata and Peters with the Cowboys front four. Needless to say, Goedert is far too talented, good and impactful to just be held to 1 reception for 15 yards. He was only targeted in the passing game one time.  That is not nearly enough against a defense that has been historically bad all season and hasn’t shown the ability to stop anyone. I do think as he gets healthier and plays more snaps that the Eagles will incorporate him more into the offense. But kind of like Reagor, I feel like the Eagles didn’t do nearly enough to get him the ball in this game and I really wanted to see him come out with a bang. 

2. Special Teams issues—This is often an area that gets overlooked in games, but this game had multiple issues with special teams. First, I do not get the love for Rudy Ford. Yes it was his first penalty of the year. He has also not played in half the games for the Eagles. This dates back to last year it seems like he is always committing one penalty per game on special teams. Tonight he had a block in the back on Ward’s return, which he didn’t even need to make the block on. You cannot keep telling me he is a special teams ACE meanwhile he has stacked up more ST penalties over the last two years than anyone on the Eagles. Second, I am not sure what the heck Wallace is doing on Johnston’s punt midway through the second quarter. Instead of stopping and running on the goaline, he runs into the end zone and then tries to make his way back to the ball. The ball bounds around the 6 and goes into the end zone. If he begins running along the end zone line when he gets to the end zone then he is likely able to down that ball at the two. Instead the ball goes into the end zone for a touchback. It didn’t matter in a game like tonight, but it very well could’ve been the difference in another game where it was a battle of field position. Lastly, after the Cowboys gave the Eagles a safety to make it a 14-point game, the Cowboys tried a sky-high type of onside. I am almost positive you are allowed to have some one call for a fair catch on that type of kick. Instead the Eagles let it bounce and nearly lose it to the Cowboys. The Eagles had to know that was coming and they just looked completely unprepared for it. 

3. Third down offense—This was the third consecutive week that the Eagles third down offense had really been underwhelming. In the previous two weeks, the Eagles were just 7-25, which is a terrible 28% on third down. Against the Cowboys, the Eagles were not much better as they converted on just 3-8, which is 37.5%. Over the last three weeks combine, the Eagles are 10-33 (30.3). That is simply just not good enough to be a winning football team. The Eagles are lucky they played two of the worst teams in football because most teams that convert that poorly are on the losing side of the coin. The Eagles were better than they were last week in not finding themselves in 3^rd and 7+. Last week they had 8 third down and 7+. This week, they had 3 of their 8 third down attempts in 3^rd and 7+. Nevertheless, they only converted on one of those three and it came on a roughing the passer penalty. While that is a slight improvement, it is still not good that the Eagles have had 107 third down attempts on the year and they have been in third and 7+ in 52 of them. That is just under half of their third downs have been third and long. It is pretty obvious the Eagles offense has struggled the last two weeks and a major reason can be pointed at their inability to be successful on third down. They are bottom half in the league in this category. This is a far cry from just a couple seasons ago when they were atop of the league. 

4. Sweat getting fooled—I have loved what I have seen so far from Josh Sweat. This isn’t an indictment on his season as a whole. But man, he was awful today when DiNucci pulled the read option. In back-to-back drives, DiNucci got Sweat 2 times on the read option that allowed DiNucci to pick up some yards.  I have to go back and watch the all 22, but I believe Sweat was burned on this 4 times in this game. Teams will see this on tape with Sweat and look to exploit him. He has to be disciplined and read the play. You cannot just go crashing down and look to tackle Zeke. This was a problem some other Eagles had last week when Jones busted off a 80+ yard run and the week previously when Jackson rushed for a 37-yard touchdown.  

 

The Ugly:

1. Wentz was atrocious—There really isn’t any other way to put this, I thought this was Wentz’s worse game since the Cincinnati game back in week 3. In the first half alone he had 3 turnovers (2 fumbles and 1 interception). He finished the game with 4 turnovers over all. On the season, he leads the league with 12 interceptions. He has league high 16 turnovers. He has had 2 or more turnovers in 5 of his 8 starts. His first turnover in this game is just not acceptable. He rolled out and had time to just throw the ball away. He sat and waited and then began to wind up when he was hit and fumbled the ball away. If no one is getting open and you have rolled out then you have to have a clock in your head to just get rid of the ball and fire it away. You cannot afford to take the sack and you definitely cannot afford to be careless with the football. He was fortunate enough Graham saved him a few plays later. On the second fumble, I think that was more on Pryor missing his assignment. I cannot imagine the Eagles play called for him to help out Kelce and allow 2 defenders to just run through where he originally lined up. Even so when you watch it from the end zone view, Wentz had time to see where the blitzer was coming from and he has to see he has two wide open receivers straight in front of him that would’ve picked up the first down and continued the drive. So even you gave him a pass for Pryor, he had two horrible throws; one to Reagor and one to Hightower. One the first one to Reagor, the ball was overthrown to Reagor and into double coverage. That is something he has to see and notice. Give credit to the Cowboys defender as he did a good job of pulling the ball in and getting his knee down before it eventually hit out of bounds. That is on Wentz. Reagor was nowhere close to where that throw went. His second interception was also Wentz’s fault. He just put way too much air in it. Now Hightower definitely seemed to have issues tracking that ball, but even if he did track it properly it felt like that ball was overthrown and the only player who could make a decent play on the ball was wearing a Cowboys uniform. Entering this game you had to feel good about how the Eagles finished the game against the Giants and were building some good offensive mojo. When you add talent like Reagor and Goedert you have to feel even better about the Eagles ability to gash and light up this Dallas defense. To me there was no reason for Carson to be this awful against this Cowboys defense. He had the weapons we have been wanting all season. Maybe they need some time to gel, but that felt more like Carson trying to do too much and making boneheaded plays. This is happening with way too much frequency. It is either he is throwing a ball into double coverage, overthrowing his WRs, not recognizing where the blitz is coming from, holding the ball way too long, throwing across his body or just not taking what the defense is giving him. There are definitely moments and times this season where Wentz looks the part of a good QB then there is these stretches where he looks like he shouldn’t even be on the field. I thought after the Steelers game he was turning it around, but much of the Giants game and this game he just has looked awful. I am not sure how the Eagles fix it. Hopefully this is one of those seasons where we look back and say what the hell happened that year with Carson cause the rest of his career it doesn’t add up. However, I am growing more and more skeptical. The Eagles had weapons for him tonight and the oline for much of the night looked good and yet against one of the worst defenses in the league and league history he looked atrocious.  

2. Doug needs to give up play calling— Wentz was atrocious. Doug Pederson wasn’t too far behind with his play calling and game plan. I cannot re-iterate this enough, THE EAGLES WERE FACING A HISTORICAL BAD DEFENSE. They had given up the 8^th most points in NFL history over the first 7 weeks of the season. The Eagles offense could only managed to get 222 total yards, 18 first downs and just 15 points on offense. Heck the defense contributed 8 points, which is half as many as the offense.  At some point in time when the Eagles offense is struggling this bad for most of this season then there needs to be a change. In 4 of the first 8 games, the Eagles offense has managed to scored 20 points or less (Niners defensive touchdown and tonight defensive touchdown and safety). In 6 of the 8 games, he Eagles offense managed to score less than 24 points in a game. Now obviously some of this is on Wentz, but I also put a lot of it on Doug. I do not think we are utilizing our players to the best of their abilities. I also think we move away from the run when it is working and then not get back to it until it is too late and we get out of our rhythm. I do not believe he is helping his quarterback either. Play calling seems very predictable. 

3. Decisions, Decisions-- Also Doug’s decision making at times in this game and year have just been bizarre. Twice the Eagles had 4^th and short from the Dallas 44 and went for it and failed. Ok the first time you want to be aggressive and you think you can create some mojo to get your offense going and Dallas defense had been atrocious all year. Add on it was 4^th and 3 early in the second quarter up 7-3. Doug took way too long to get the play in and the Eagles got to the line with just around 3 seconds on the play clock. So it was a rushed played that ultimately ended up as a fumble as Carson missed two wide-open receivers. After that poor play call, I am still trying to figure out what Doug is thinking on his play call when going for it on 4^th down and 1 from Dallas’ 44 at the end of the second quarter. Dallas had yet to be able to stop the Eagles running game. Doug dials up a pass with an inaccurate Carson. Why not run the ball with the guy who was over 6 yards per carry early in the game? This has been an issue at times for Doug since winning the SB.  The Eagles were up 7-6. Frankly I would have punted because Dallas was playing with a 7^th round rookie that hadn’t yet shown he was capable of consistently sustaining drives. You pin them deep and force the Cowboys to drive the length of the field to get points with practically no time remaining. Additionally, you would’ve went into halftime with a 7-6 lead and no chance for the Cowboys to get any points before the end of the half. The Cowboys get excellent field position and were able to add on a field goal and gain some momentum heading into the half. I get there is a time to be aggressive and you think well Dallas’ defense isn’t very good so we should pick this up. However, your offense isn’t very good. You didn’t get the 4^th and short earlier in the quarter and Carson was struggling mightily in this game. These are the type of things that continuously keep happening this year. Are we still trying to overcorrect for the Bengals game? I am sorry but they’re too many. We are in year 5 of Doug, the offense for basically 4 out of the last 5 years has been underwhelming for large stretches of time. At some point in time we must look at Doug and say maybe he needs to give up play calling to someone else cause clearly his play calling isn’t getting it done on a regular basis. 

3. Press Taylor—We are going into the bye week and Carson is playing the worst football of his 5-year career this year. I would argue this is far worst than his rookie season because at least as a rookie we can say there is a learning curve and he is going to get better from the mistakes he is making. Now he is a veteran and continuously making bad mistake after bad mistake. Why do I bring up Press Taylor? Because he has been the QB coach for 3 years as the QB and it feels like under him Carson has regressed. I have said this in the past, but it feels like Wentz’s mechanics from week to week are not where they need to be. When he was at his best in 2017, he might have a bad week with his mechanics but you knew the next week that his mechanics were going to be on point cause Defilippo would harp on him for the week about it. Additionally, it feels like Carson is routinely just making poor decisions. I do not know what is going on behind closed doors, but clearly it isn’t getting through to Carson so maybe we need a new person delivering the message. I am not going to blame Press for everything that is going wrong with Carson, but I do think we need a new voice and not someone who is your buddy.

4. Hightower struggles— Over the past couple of weeks I thought we had seen some nice progression out of Hightower. He was tracking the ball down the field and making some big plays at some big moments in the game. However against the Cowboys it was a disaster every time the Eagles looked his way. He looked like the game was too big for him and he reminded me of Agholor on the deep ball. On the first deep ball down the sideline, it appeared like he just slowed down instead of running through. It felt like if he didn’t slow down that he likely would’ve gotten the PI. Another player was nearly picked off because instead of going abck toward the ball, he waited and then tried to jump back towards the ball. It wasn’t a good throw by Wentz but jumping back toward the ball at the last second isn’t going back to get the ball. On the interception thrown over him, I think if that ball was thrown on target he was going to have big issues tracking it and pulling it in. He looked completely lost when trying to track it. He just looked soft out there tonight. Frankly, I much rather try some of those deep shots to Reagor now that he is healthy. As much as I like Hightower going forward and think these snaps will ultimately help him, I don’t think he is ready for the amount of snaps we are asking him to do. 

5. Big play offense—I really thought this was going to be a game of big plays for the Eagles. I thought we would see a couple bombs to Reagor, which could open up some big plays in the middle of the field to Goedert. Fulgham would likely contribute with his usual big play. However, at the end of the night, Fulgham had a 32-yard reception, but then the Eagles didn’t have another play of over 20 yards. The Eagles tried but Wentz’s inaccuracy and guys just didn’t make some of the plays when the throw was there. This hurts because Diggs has been one of the worst corners in the league in terms of giving up the big play. I thought this would be a game we go into the bye feeling good about ourselves and starting to get even more big plays incorporated into the offense. Sadly I feel worse now than I did after the Ravens and Steelers game. 

6. One of the worst games I have seen—I have watched a lot of football games in my life and that one was more aggravating and irritating then any I can remember. I watched a ton of football today. Yes there were some not so great games, but this one was BY FAR THE WORST. It felt like two top 10 drafting teams playing against each other. Frankly I expected Dallas to not look good on offense with a 7^th round rookie QB at the helm. I expected their defense to get shredded by the Eagles offense as they returned Peters, Reagor and Goedert. Instead I feel like I saw a pop warner football game that happened to end in our favor.  

7. Maddox effort on Zeke’s run—There is nothing that irritates me more then when a guy has a chance to make a play and just do to lack of effort doesn’t make a play. The Cowboys down just 15-9 had a 3^rd and 1 form their own 34. Zeke runs the ball to the left and is getting close to the sideline. Riley is chasing him. Maddox is running to the ball carrier. Zeke is going to be stopped behind the first down market if Maddox continues to run and go for the tackle. Instead Maddox proceeds to slow down and Zeke is able to get just enough for the first down. Maddox is lucky that drive ended in a Dallas fumble. If DiNucci isn’t stripped by Edwards and Dallas scores a touchdown on that drive then that is a pivotal play in the game. If he goes all out and makes that tackle then Dallas has a decision on 4^th down to go for it on their own side of the field with 10 minutes left or punt. I am guessing the punt. Nothing irritates me more than seeing players just half ass it on a play. This happened last week with NRC on the Jones run. I can take 

8. Slay and Malik leave game—It always feels like when we get a couple guys back then the very next game we lose 2-3 guys. This game was no different. We get back Reagor, Peters, Malik and Goedert. Then we lose Malik to reinjuring his quad and we lose Slay to an ankle. I am not sure how long either are going to be out, but hoping the bye week is long enough to get both of them on the field for the Giants. 

9. Trade Deadline—I would look to trade some of the guys on this roster that I could. I would look to see what I could get for NRC. I think there is likely a team out there that would give you something for him. I do not think he is having the best year, but I know teams are desperate around the league for corners and slot corners. I do not think you’d get anything more than a 5^th, but I would take that 5^th for him. I think LeBlanc after the bye can be your starting slot corner. Before DeSean got hurt I thought he was an interesting name. I could see a team like the Saints who need a deep threat to go along with Sanders and Thomas would have been interesting. I thought he was a moveable piece to a contender that though he was the missing piece to get them over the top this year and go all in. With him injured it wont happen. I am curious to see if the Eagles would move Curry. I like Vinny Curry. He is a very productive player in his role here. However, I think there is a contender that believes they need another rotational DE and if they are willing to give me a player or pick that helps me long term then I think the Eagles should consider it. I think he will have better value than people think. As for Howie acquiring, I just don’t see it. Williamson was traded to the Steelers tonight. He was about the only linebacker I saw on the market that was reasonable that would upgrade from what you have. The rest I think youd be overpaying and not getting what you paid for. At corner, I think the price is going to be way too high. If the Eagles were able to move NRC and bring in another outside corner then they could move Maddox back into his natural role in the slot. That said, I don’t see them adding a corner. After that what are you looking to add? A running back? I think Running back it isn’t worth giving up a draft pick. I rather see what I have in Holyfield or pick up Bo Scarbough who was released by the Lions. Neither are exciting, but I don’t see the Eagles giving up a draft pick when they have Sanders coming back even if they need a better backup. I would say offensive line, but if the Eagles manage to get Lane and Seumalo back after the bye then the Eagles offensive line is massively upgraded. You could have Peters move back to guard or have Peters or Mailata as your swing tackle. The oline I think will get better just getting guys back. So really it is LB and CB. I do not think the market prices are going to allow for the Eagles to do so. 

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Great job bud. You always do a great job with the good the bad and the ugly. I enjoy reading after each game. 

Overall I agree with pretty much everything you have said here. 

I thought there were positives coming out of this game. Fulgham is 100% legit. At this point I think at worst now... He's a really good long term #3 WR. I think probably he's going to be a really good #2 and you know what there's a chance he could be a good #1. I'd like to see them go to him more though.

The big positive for the LBs is that Gerry is out and that gives opportunities to others. I hope this now continues and we never see Gerry in an Eagles jersey again. He's flat out terrible and every other LB we have on this roster is an upgrade. 

Regarding Reagor, I'm taking the positives on this one. He had a really good TD catch where he showed his physicality and he had another really nice short yard catch on 3rd down where he got the first down. I'd like to see them open him up a little more though and find more ways to involve him. But hey this was his first week back and I think they probably wanted to just get him going. 

[NYEagle]

I am a Wentz supporter, I thought at halftime last night....it was one of the worst performances....not only by Wentz, but by any NFL QB I have ever seen.  His turnovers are just inexcusable.  The first interception in the end zone was completely unnecessary, he had like 20 yards of field in front of him he could have run for.  The fumble?  He could have easily thrown it away.  And I also agree on the playcalling that it is/was atrocious but damn Wentz, if we were playing Arizona, Saints, Green Bay or any good NFL team other than the team out there last night playing with the equivalent of a high school QB, we'd have lost that game by 30.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

2 minutes ago, NYEagle said:

I am a Wentz supporter, I thought at halftime last night....it was one of the worst performances....not only by Wentz, but by any NFL QB I have ever seen.  His turnovers are just inexcusable.  The first interception in the end zone was completely unnecessary, he had like 20 yards of field in front of him he could have run for.  The fumble?  He could have easily thrown it away.  And I also agree on the playcalling that it is/was atrocious but damn Wentz, if we were playing Arizona, Saints, Green Bay or any good NFL team other than the team out there last night playing with the equivalent of a high school QB, we'd have lost that game by 30.

Thing is... How can we be too hard on the play calling when the QB is playing so badly? I mean how can Doug call a good game when Wentz is playing so badly? If Wentz was just playing half decent football then I am not sure the offense looks quite so bad. If he executes a little better then we aren't killng Doug as much.

[NYEagle]

1 minute ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Thing is... How can we be too hard on the play calling when the QB is playing so badly? I mean how can Doug call a good game when Wentz is playing so badly? If Wentz was just playing half decent football then I am not sure the offense looks quite so bad. If he executes a little better then we aren't killng Doug as much.

I disagree, to go for it on 4th down at that point in the game was nothing short of retarded........I mean short bus, can't tie your shoelaces retarded.  And yes, that is completely un-PC........

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 minute ago, NYEagle said:

I disagree, to go for it on 4th down at that point in the game was nothing short of retarded........I mean short bus, can't tie your shoelaces retarded.  And yes, that is completely un-PC........

Oh yeah I agree with you there (well apart from being completely non PC). That was a brain dead play call and made no sense. It isn't like the clock keeps going if you keep the ball live so I was not sure what Doug was doing in that situation.

[20dawk4life]

I agree that Reagor should have made a better play on the Diggs int with the shin tap in the end zone but that was such a poor thrown ball that I don't think there was a chance in hell he could have even tipped it. Would have to see the all 22 film but that looked like a ball that was being thrown away. 

I feel like Reagor's plays all had an impact on the game. Would have liked to seen more from him but he seemed to disappear after the first. Definitely need to see a snap count total for him. Hightower seemed to be playing more than I would have liked with a Reagor back but they could be nursing Reagor back slowly. 

[time2rock]

These are always great reads and usually spot on with the analysis.  Thanks for taking the time to put these together.  

[nipples]

1 hour ago, NYEagle said:

I disagree, to go for it on 4th down at that point in the game was nothing short of retarded........I mean short bus, can't tie your shoelaces retarded.  And yes, that is completely un-PC........

And yet if he has any IQ for playing QB, he gets the ball out quick to beat the blitz. He had a receiver (Ward, I think) WIDE OPEN in the hole where the blitz came from. Would have been an easy first down, and there was so much room to run probably end up with another 5-10 yards of YAC. 

[EazyEaglez]

25 minutes ago, nipples said:

And yet if he has any IQ for playing QB, he gets the ball out quick to beat the blitz. He had a receiver (Ward, I think) WIDE OPEN in the hole where the blitz came from. Would have been an easy first down, and there was so much room to run probably end up with another 5-10 yards of YAC. 

It’s sad when you think about how when Wentz is looking good they all act like he’s great, and he’s elite, and he’s better than Goff and Dak combined. As soon as he looks bad it’s he has no talent around him, the coaches are horrible, or it’s not his fault. It’s never his fault it seems and he thinks that way too.

[GeorgeM37]

RE:OP

As always, a great read and analysis. I agree with everything but mostly this:

I felt as you did, that wentz shouldn't have even been on this field

[EazyEaglez]

Brandon Graham is easily having his best season and they better not throw Gerry back out there when he’s healthy. Edwards is the better player. 

[hoosierdaddy]

Awesome as always. I have an eerie feeling that Howie is just delusional enough to think he needs to trade away more draft capital in order to add a couple of pieces to this team at the trade deadline. I really hope I’m wrong. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Just now, hoosierdaddy said:

Awesome as always. I have an eerie feeling that Howie is just delusional enough to think he needs to trade away more draft capital in order to add a couple of pieces to this team at the trade deadline. I really hope I’m wrong. 

I don't see it. I don't think they have the cap space or the valuable players to trade for other players. They should just be sellers.

[brkmsn]

30 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

 It’s never his fault it seems and he thinks that way too.

I really don't get how you come to this conclusion. Wentz was bad last night and it was his fault. Last night he said,  "I’m not good enough. I can be better. I know I will be.” Last year after a similar game: "I’ve just got to own them,” he said. "I missed a few. There’s no excuses. I just missed them. I’ve got to be better. … There’s no excuses. It wasn’t the wind. It was nothing. I’ve got to be better."

These are pretty much the types of things he says after each bad game.

[EazyEaglez]

2 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

I really don't get how you come to this conclusion. Wentz was bad last night and it was his fault. Last night he said,  "I’m not good enough. I can be better. I know I will be.” Last year after a similar game: "I’ve just got to own them,” he said. "I missed a few. There’s no excuses. I just missed them. I’ve got to be better. … There’s no excuses. It wasn’t the wind. It was nothing. I’ve got to be better."

These are pretty much the types of things he says after each bad game.

He also said he’s not gonna stop trying to get the ball to his guys trying to make a play which means he’s not going to stop forcing the ball into places it shouldn’t be. He’s been saying the same stuff week after week and no changes. It’s basically "I gotta do a better job” all over again, and if he were trying to make changes he certainly wouldn’t be doing the same stupid stuff over and over again and in fact he’s gotten worse. It’s cool though. I think we all know how easily impressed you are so I’m sure you’re happy. 

[brkmsn]

1 minute ago, EazyEaglez said:

He also said he’s not gonna stop trying to get the ball to his guys trying to make a play which means he’s not going to stop forcing the ball into places it shouldn’t be. He’s been saying the same stuff week after week and no changes. It’s basically "I gotta do a better job” all over again, and if he were trying to make changes he certainly wouldn’t be doing the same stupid stuff over and over again and in fact he’s gotten worse. It’s cool though. I think we all know how easily impressed you are so I’m sure you’re happy. 

So you believe  he thinks it's never his fault because ... he's going to continue to be aggressive. Another great argument there ...

[EazyEaglez]

Just now, brkmsn said:

So you believe  he thinks it's never his fault because ... he's going to continue to be aggressive. Another great argument there ...

Aggressively be stupid. Yeah I’m not surprised you of all people are happy with that.

[brkmsn]

Just now, EazyEaglez said:

Aggressively be stupid. Yeah I’m not surprised you of all people are happy with that.

 

... and another straw man

[EazyEaglez]

1 minute ago, brkmsn said:

 

... and another straw man

What even is your argument? Actually never mind I don’t really care. Don’t you have some videos of JJAW running routes to post? 

[brkmsn]

1 minute ago, EazyEaglez said:

What even is your argument? 

I disagreed with your claim that he never thinks his poor play is his fault. Try to stay focused. 

[EazyEaglez]

Funny that Carson has some of you dopes thinking he’s concerned and going to change, but the guy didn’t even know how many fumbles he’s had in games until he was told last night. Yeah how’s he gonna "fix” something he doesn’t even realize was a problem? Just keep being blissful in your ignorance. 

[Portyansky]

6 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

Funny that Carson has some of you dopes thinking he’s concerned and going to change, but the guy didn’t even know how many fumbles he’s had in games until he was told last night. Yeah how’s he gonna "fix” something he doesn’t he realize was a problem? Just keep being blissful in your ignorance. 

You know how they say QBs should have short term memory with those situations? Well Wentz has Parkinson's .

[eagle45]

One way or another, the Eagles will not be paying Wentz $32m in 2022.  Just something to be aware of.

[EazyEaglez]

16 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

One way or another, the Eagles will not be paying Wentz $32m in 2022.  Just something to be aware of.

Is that a buyout year? He certainly isn’t worth that kind of money right now.