The good, the bad and the ugly: week 11 at Browns

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

The Good: 

1. The receiving combo of Rodgers and Goedert—Last week I was pretty critical of the Eagles not getting Dallas Goedert more involved in the offense. I thought he was under-targeted since he came back from his injury. Over the first 2 games, Goedert was only targeted 7 times. In this game, the Eagles targeted him 6 times. Granted this isn’t a great amount of targets, but I felt as though the Eagles tried to get him down the seam and into the game early. For the game, Goedert hauled in 5 receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown. The previous two games it felt as though the Eagles missed throws early and then completely ignored Goedert until late in the game. In this one, they found some success early, but once again seemed to just ignore him for large stretches of the game where the Eagles could have really used his mismatch a lot more. It wasn’t just Goedert, Dick Rod really has shined for the Eagles when given the chance. In this game, he was only targeted twice but caught both of the passes and one went for a touchdown. Over the last two weeks, Rodgers has pulled in 6 receptions for 108 yards. In this last 4 games he has had receptions of 29, 19, 22 and 30 yards. So he is not just catching the ball but also picking up big chunks of yards. Heading into the game, the Browns were one of the worst teams in the NFL at covering the tight end. They had given up 8.8 yards per reception. I thought running the ball and attacking the middle of the field with our tight ends is where the Eagles could find success. Unfortunately, I think Goedert and Rodgers should have been targeted more than just 8 times in this game. 

** I thought Rodgers was bad as a blocker today. He whiffled on a block on the pick 6. He also had a missed block last week that led to an easy Giants sack. As good as he has been receiving for the Eagles he has been pretty poor as a blocker. 

2. Running the ball—While the running game dropped dramatically in the second half to just 10 yards on 6 carries, it began the game looking really good. Heck Doug was even committed to it to start the game. In the first half, the Eagles rushed 19 times for 96 yards. That is a 5.1 yards per carry average. Furthermore, Scott and Sanders managed to combine for 90 yards on 21 carries, which is 4.3 yards per carry. Unfortunately, Sanders coughed up the ball on the Eagles opening drive inside the red zone, which would have allowed the Eagles to play with the lead instead of basically playing from behind all day. Nevertheless, it has become apparent that the Eagles rushing attack is trending upward as the passing attack is trending downward. Over the last four games the Eagles are averaging 119.3 yards on the ground. Furthermore, the Eagles ground attack over those four games is averaging 4.8 yards per carry. While we might not consider ourselves to be a run first team, it is clearly obvious the Eagles are much more productive and further ahead in the running game then they are in terms of their passing game. Overall the Eagles rushed for 106 yards on 25 attempts.

3. Alex Singleton looked competent—At the end of last weeks game, I thought both Singleton and Edwards were bad. Not just bad, they accumulated a lot of hallow stats where you’d look at box score say they were super active but if you watched the game then you understood they were routinely out of position and when they made tackles it felt like it was always 5 or more yards up the field. Against the Browns and particularly in the first half, I thought Singleton looked competent and like a starting caliber linebacker. He was shedding blockers at the point of attack and able until late in the game keep Chubb and Hunt under control. He was also making the correct decision the gap that he needed to shoot to hold the Browns rushing attack in check. Overall he just did a fantastic job at getting to the ball carrier as he was able to record 12 tackles and 8 solo tackles. Furthermore, he found himself to be in the right place at the right time as Cox stripped Mayfield. He was able to recover the ball, which set up the Eagles first touchdown. I am not sure what to make of Singleton. I do think he is much better than Gerry, but I still believe he is best suited to be a backup linebacker. It would be nice if Singleton progressed to the point where he became an average starting linebacker cause that would be a massive upgrade for the Eagles over what we have seen most of the year. 

4. 3^rd down D—Over the last couple weeks, I thought that the Eagles third down defense was not good enough. I might have been a little too critical. In the previous 3 weeks, the Eagles had given up just 12 third down conversions in 40 attempts. However, it felt like the Eagles were fortunate that it was not worse as plays like Engram dropping a ball or DiNucci missing open receivers didn’t kill them more. But maybe the 3^rd down defense is just improving to the point where they are just solid to good. Against the Browns, the Eagles did an excellent job. They were able o hold the Browns to 4-14, which is just 28.5 percent conversion. Meaning that over the last 4 weeks, the Eagles have held their opponents to 16 conversions out of 54 3^rd down attempts. That would be just 29.6% conversion rate. That said, I think the next 4 weeks is really going to show us how great the Eagles defense really is on third down and in general. The Eagles are about to face 4 very good offenses in Seattle, Green Bay, New Orleans and Arizona. I would be surprised if these numbers hold true. If the Eagles defense is able to hold their opponents to just 29.6% conversions then you would have to think the Eagles defense is doing their job.

5. Red zone defense—Again, there weren’t a lot of positives to take away from this game, but one encouraging sign was the fact the Eagles red zone defense was able to step up to the challenge. The defense is not going to be perfect in the red zone, but entering the game they were one of the worst in the league as they had given up 20 touchdowns in 29 red zone trips (really should be 27 as the Washington Football team gave them a turnover on downs and Dallas the clock ran out midway through the drive where I appeared like they were going to score). Against the Browns, the Eagles defense was able halt a Browns rushing attack at the 1 yard line to keep the game at zero and the Browns off the score board. Additionally, the Eagles were able to keep the Browns out of the end zone late in the game to keep it at just a 2 score game at 22-10.  The Eagles weren’t perfect as they allowed the Browns to just march down the field when it was 12-10 and Hunt was able to bully his way into the end zone to give the Browns a 9 point lead. However, I think this has to be encouraging as the Eagles haven’t gotten many stops or holds inside the Red zone for much of the season. Like the 3^rd down defense, I think the next four weeks is going to tell us just where we stand with our red zone defense. Unfortunately, I think today might just be an outlier. 

6. Kelce’s toughness—We all know you have to be tough to play football in general. I am guessing they’re a lot of guys who are playing with some sort of pain or injury that we really don’t hear about how bad it is. But man there might not be a guy I love more on this team than Jason Kelce. He leaves the game with what appears to be an elbow or upper arm injury. He comes back out in a brace and attempts to play at the same level we’ve grown accustom too. This team is not very good and basically looks like hot garbage on offense, but I give Kelce credit he wanted to be out there even if he wasn’t close to 100%. I am not so sure that everyone on this team would give the Eagles that at this stage of the season. Hats off to him. I pray for the Eagles that this isn’t his last year as an Eagle. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling this might be the last couple games we see Kelce in an Eagles uniform.

7. Defense was good enough to win—On a day where the conditions weren’t ideal and it played into the hands of the Browns two-headed rushing attack, the Eagles defense did enough this game to win this game. If you take away the pick 6 and the safety, the Eagles defense surrendered just 13 points. In today’s NFL, if your defense is able to hold the opposing offense to just 13 points, then you have an excellent chance to win the game. Needless to say, it is obvious this offense might be one of the worse in the entire league. It has been trending in the wrong direction over the last 4 weeks. Not I get the Eagles defense gave a touchdown up right after the Eagles offense cut the lead to 12-10. That is an issue, but I cannot be mad at the defense, which kept the Browns out of the end zone in 2 of 3 red zone trips, forced a turnover, 7 tackles for loss and held the Browns to just 3.4 yards per carry. That was one of the best offensive lines that I think the Eagles will see all year and they were stout against the run besides the 54 yard gash by Chubb and a couple of bad plays by Maddox and Mills in the passing game. 

 

The Bad:

1. Run defense— In the first half of the game, the Eagles were stifling against the run. The Browns were as bad on offense as the Eagles were except they didn’t have a critical mistake like the pick 6 Wentz threw. In the first half, the Browns rushed 13 times and were only able to get 18 yards. However, in the second half, the Browns stuck with their identity and were able to breakthrough as they had 27 second half rushing attempts and compiled 119 yards. Just under half of them came when Chubb ran for 54-yards as he stiff-armed Ostman and ran through a weak tackling attempt by Maddox. If you take out the 54-yard gain by Chubb, it doesn’t look nearly as bad as the Browns got just 65 yards on 26 attempts, but you can’t do that because that is how the Browns like to play. It only takes one big play by Hunt or Chubb to completely turn the game around and that 54-yard scamper wound up being the difference as they were easily able to punch it in with Hunt a couple plays later. I do give the Eagles credit as they held the Browns to just 3.4 yards per carry, but this is now the 8^th time this season that the Eagles have given up 115 yards rushing on the ground. Over the last two weeks, the Eagles have given up 287 yards rushing and 4 tds on the ground. The next 4 games are not going to be easier as they face Chris Carson (expected to be back), Aaron Jones, Kamara and Drake/Edmonds. On the positive side, they didn’t allow Mayfield to beat them on his 6 carries. He had just 9 yards on those 6 carries. 

2. Sanders fumble—Sanders looked really good early in the game until he coughed away the ball. He has to protect the ball. Those were points we left on the board and momentum that could have changed the course of the game by taking the early lead. That fumble felt a lot like the Rams game where the Eagles had some good momentum going and were moving the ball and then he gave it up. This time the Browns didn’t get points, but he took points and an early lead and maybe even confidence away from the Eagles. 

3. Red zone offense— The good news is that the Eagles were able to move the ball into the red zone four times on the afternoon. Unfortunately, the Eagles were only able to capitalize those four trips into 2 touchdowns. The Eagles had as many turnovers inside the red zone as they had touchdowns. Walking away with just 14 out of a potential 28 points is a recipe for disaster and how you lose a football game. You cannot have your star running back fumbling the ball away at the 4. You cannot have Wentz throwing a pick from the 10 even if Alshon looked atrocious on his route and jump. These are mistakes that will lose you a football game and did. Heck if the Eagles didn’t have the two turnovers but still failed to score a touchdowns then 2 field goals is 6 points and the Eagles find themselves at 23 points and not 17.  

4. Pass rush still overrated— While I thought Cox played a very good game as he was disruptive against the run and had some pressure on Mayfield, which helped create the Eagles only turnover, the rest of the pass rush outside of a Josh Sweat sack was really nonexistent. get the Browns are not a pass first team and limited themselves to just 22 pass attempts. Also understand that the Browns have a good offensive line and very athletic when you go look at their spider charts when they came out of the draft. However, the Eagles were only able to get 2 QB hits and 2 sacks from its front 4. I thought Malik Jackson was nowhere to be found in this game besides nearly getting caught for another offside penalty in which the 2 minute warning saved him. In fact, I feel like since he got injured a couple weeks back his performances have gotten worse and worse.  He has not recorded a QB hit or a sack since the Ravens game all the way back in week 6.  Even before Barnett got hurt in this game, he was not doing a very good job of getting pressure on Mayfield when he was dropping back. Add on Graham was very stout against the run, but just couldn’t get any sustained pressure on Mayfield except for the time Mayfield gave himself up on a broken play. Finally, Hargrave I thought played Ok against the run, but he still has been nonexistent for most of the year as a pass rusher. The Eagles are paying a ton of money to Hargrave and Malik Jackson and over the last 5 weeks, the two DTs have been underwhelming as pass rushers. For the amount of money the Eagles have paid Jackson and Hargrave I have expected much much more. Sadly I do not think the Eagles are going to be able to get out of those contracts and frankly I do not think either are worth the money they decided to pay them. On the surface you would look at say the Eagles defensive line has done a very good job over the last two weeks as they have gotten 6 sacks, and just 10 QB hits, but it feels like the pass rush needs to be even better and its not enough.

5. Creating turnovers— The Eagles and mainly a great effort by Cox were able to create a turnover in this game, but like usual it was not enough. Yes the turnover was able to give the Eagles offense great field position and ultimately 7 points, but the defense couldn’t find away to create anymore. They had chances as guys dropped some balls that could have been picked off.  In fact the Eagles have 3 interceptions in 10 games this season. Furthermore, just 6 in their last 20 games. If the Eagles can only manage to get one turnover in a game then the next four weeks is going to be a nightmare when they face the better offenses in the league.  I do not think the next 4 games will even be close with how the offense is playing if the defense doesn’t step up and make some big time plays. Frankly I do not think the Eagles have the playmakers on that side of the field to create those turnovers so it could be a very very very long 4 weeks. So far this year, the Eagles are 0-6-1 when they force 1 turnover or less. Meaning they are 3-0 when they have 2 or more turnovers. 

6. Reagor factor—At the time of the draft, I was really hesitant of picking a wide receiver in the first round where our pick was. I thought the crop that would be available in the second tier was very close. I was hoping the Eagles would move up to get someone like Lamb or move back to gain some extra picks. I also had a feeling the Eagles were going to come down to Reagor and Jefferson. I was OK with the Eagles taking Jefferson or Reagor if they did their homework and perceived one as head and shoulders the better player. When they made the pick, I was not surprised they went Reagor. But I don’t think the Eagles made the pick thinking that Reagor was the better player at that time. I think they were overcompensating for the fact they needed someone to step in if and when DeSean got hurt and when he was finally gone. I am not sure the Eagles were sold on Jefferson’s 40 time and I have to think they question whether he could be as effective as Reagor on the outside. Fast forward to today, Reagor had 52 yards receiving, but really the Eagles have done a poor job utilizing his strengths and what he does well. I watch a lot of other teams implement their guys into their gameplan. I see teams like the Niners use Aiyuk and Deebo on jet sweeps, getting them into space with their speed. I watch the Colts scheme ways to get Pittman the ball against smaller corners where he can just utilize his size. I watch the Saints figure out plays for Taysom Hill to look like a competent QB making his first start. With the Eagles, I see none of this with Reagor. It feels like they run the same offense and don’t tailor it to his strengths so that he can make a major impact. I feel like if you took Deebo, Aiyuk, Jefferson and put them into this offense that they might be somewhat better but not nearly as good as they have looked on other teams because I think we have done a lousy job of catering to what he does well and his strengths. 

7. Mills and McLeod aren’t playmakers— This is probably not talked about nearly enough this season, but neither McLeod or Mills are good enough at being playmakers. Let me start with McLeod. I think McLeod is a solid safety. He is giving you average starting safety production and play. He is Ok against the run. He isn’t going to give you a poor performance very often, but he also isn’t going to make very many big plays for your defense. Ideally he is a good safety if you have one that is willing to take more risks and creates some turnovers. Unfortunately the Eagles do not have that on this team. He hasn’t been a playmaking safety for the Eagles in quite sometime. In today’s NFL you need guys who are playmakers. As for Mills, I thought he was bad on one of the Browns big plays late in the game. That said I am not sure he is even a starting caliber safety. When I watch him, he tends to make the same mistakes when he is out there that he made in previous weeks. I haven’t really seen him get better week to week like you want to see as he is learning the position. Also teams are also adjusting and getting him spread more to the outside and then just attacking him vertically down the field using his speed against him. I get he has only played there for a handful of games, but I view him as a solid backup and could help you for a week or two. I much rather see a young player like Wallace get the reps and see what type of player he is. I think he is the long term plan at safety so lets see if he is able to be more of a playmaker and just better than mills.  Like McLeod, I do not think he is a playmaker. You might be able to get solid safety performances out of him, but he isn’t going to make a big play and when he has chances he rarely makes them. I already knew the Eagles didn’t have very much at linebacker in terms of playmakers, but safety gives you very minimal playmaking opportunities and they could use at least one safety that can create some turnovers. 

8. Josh Sweat and misdirection— I thought Sweat had his best game in a while. He did a nice job beating the left tackle on his sack, but man the guy every week seems to be having the same issue with misdirection. In this game, Mayfield is toast in the backfield. But instead Sweat just got burned into thinking Mayfield didn’t have the ball. Instead of having a big play for negative yards, Mayfield was able to pick up some positive yards and hurt the Eagles on the drive. This has been an issue for a couple weeks now. Last week Daniel Jones got him multiple times on the read option. Even in the Dallas game I thought he was lucky to be saved by the linebackers on the play he misread the read option. If he wants to continue to get more and more snaps, he cannot keep having this happen. It has cost the Eagles every time he gets beat on misdirection or crashes down without respecting the QBs ability to run with it. 

 

The Ugly:

1. Five years later Carson vs Browns—I remember back in 2016 when Wentz took the field, I was super excited that they handed the keys over to him and traded away Bradford the week before. I thought the Eagles finally got a QB that could be the franchise QB. He went out that day and looked the part as he put 29 points on the Browns, threw for multiple touchdowns and won the game. I had hope that the Eagles were moving along in the right direction and we finally had a franchise Qb for the first time in years. Unfortunately after today’s game, I do not know what exactly we have or don’t have. It was another bad performance in what has become the usual this year for Carson. He was 21/35 for 235 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 INTS and a QB rating of 75.3. In this game, he had multiple plays that just left me saying what the heck are you doing. First, lets go to the pick 6. I get there was pressure coming from his backside, but really he had time to get rid of that ball before that pressure got there. He held onto it too long and I have to go back watch the replay but I am pretty sure he had Reagor open on that play. Additionally, lets now go to the safety. I thought Wentz had enough time to get that pass off. He didn’t have all day, but enough that he has to have a clock in his head to just get rid of the ball. Furthermore, he didn’t go through his progressions. When you watch the replay, he only looks at half the field. You are not going to win or be very successful starring down one side of the field. You are standing in the end zone and you cannot take a safety. In fairness, his last interception looked more like Jeffery was held and mistimed his jump on top of that.  Finally, he is just missing some throws in general and making poor decisions with the ball. This has become a growing problem for him. He just doesn’t look anything close to the QB that was thriving at the end of the 2019 season. Instead he looks much like the QB that was laboring and having issues all season during the 2018 and most of the 2019 campaign. I am not sure how you fix it. I am not sure we have the right coaching in place for him to snap out of this funk. It feels like this is a snowball that is becoming an avalanche for the Eagles. Really I think Wentz is here until at least 2022 as the dead money to move on is 59 and 24.5 million over the next two years. With that said, not sure if you go into next year and you see more of this that you do not just pull the plug on him and say enough is enough. However, I think before it gets to that, the Eagles are likely going to make a changing of the guard in who is coaching him. 

2. Mighty fall for Carson; turnovers—It is really bad for Carson. He has had a turnover in 9 of the 10 games this year. He has had 2 or more interceptions in a game in 6 of the 10 games this year. Before this season started, he only had 3 multi-pick games. He has already doubled that total with 6 more games to play in the hardest stretch of the season. Add on he has a combined 107 fumbles and interceptions in 68 career games. I am not sure what is going on with Carson, but he just doesn’t look like he is playing smart football. I do not know if he doesn’t trust the line (not sure many would), the hit from Clowney changed him or if he’s lost his athleticism and ability to make plays and his confidence in himself is just gone. Again he has become a turnover machine and I am not sure if you are ever going to be able to fix him. I am almost positive that this coaching staff isn’t the staff that is going to get him fixed if you can. I still think there is a very good QB in there, but might need to tear the whole thing down to find it. 

3. Doug still a huge part of the problem—While Carson has been bad more the majority of this season, Doug has been equally as bad for much of the season. I am not saying Wentz is not a massive problem or not at fault, but anyone who thinks Doug has done a good job or hasn’t regressed over the last couple of years needs a reality check. They are equally underperforming and equally as bad. Lets start off first with the personnel decisions. I do not get why the Eagles are sending out Jason Peters to play at LT. He is nowhere close to the same player he once was and he is not going to be here for the long haul. So why is Doug just trotting him out there? Mailata deserves to start as he has played better than Peters for much of the season. Add on he might have a future with the Eagles as Peters should be retired at the end of the year. Furthermore, I have to here the stupid comment about how it’ll help Mailata to watch from the sideline and take a step back. That is pure BS at its finest. Have some balls and do the right thing. Second, why the hell aren’t the Eagles rolling Wentz out until late in the game? This is maddening and makes no damn sense. It has been shown over and over and over again this year and last year that when Wentz is rolled out and outside the pocket that is when he is at his best. Yet, we just continue to refuse to do it until the game is out of hand or out of reach. It should not be this hard to understand who your QB is and isn’t right now. Third, this team is undisciplined. You see it week to week when guys are making the same penalties and mistakes. There really is no accountability. And you are seeing cracks in the foundation as guys are putting things out to the media and calling one another out. That is a sign of losing the locker room and guys not keeping it in house or teammates accountable. Finally, my issue that I have discussed for the greater part of Doug’s tenure, this offense never seems to have a rhythm. It feels like we are picking plays out of a hat and just going with that play. There is no complimentary building of plays to set up other plays. We might gind a rhythm for a series or two, but it evaporates pretty quickly. Furthermore, I do not think Doug understands his personnel’s strengths and weaknesses. This was an issue back into 2016 after the first three weeks of the season. We didn’t have great personnel, but we were using it completely wrong and not very creative as the year went on. Skip over 2017, it had been a problem in 2018, 2019 and now this year. Over the last two years, Doug was able to rectify the issue by figuring it all out in December and having an epiphany. However, I do not see that coming this year. You are facing arguably your hardest schedule of games in quite awhile. Furthermore, you don’t have Foles or Wentz playing the way he did down the stretch last year to save the Eagles. Feels like this is going to be as ugly as the Lions and Bucs games during the end of the Chip era over the next couple weeks. 

4. Who survives…. Doug or Carson or neither-- I went back and watched some of the Eagles games from 2016 from week 5 to about week 10. When watching those horror shows, it felt very reminiscent of this season and down to the calling of trick plays at the wrong time when the offense is moving the ball. Carson just struggled with minimal weapons and a makeshift offensive line that he really didn’t trust. It was a pitiful offense that really just couldn’t find a rhythm. I have felt this way for a while, that I believe Doug or Carson will not be back after the 2021 season. If I had to guess, it would be Doug for the simple reason that Carson’s dead money and if Doug failed with Carson they likely wouldn’t take the chance on him with Jalen Hurts and get someone in the mold of what Kingsbury is with Murray. 

5. First half offense over the last 5 weeks—They’re a lot of reasons why the Eagles offense has looked bad for much of the season. One of the major issues with the Eagles offense over the last 5 weeks has been the lack of scoring in the first half. The Eagles offense over the last 5 games dating back to the Ravens game has scored 0, 10, 7, 3 and 0 points. That is an average of just 4 points per game in the first half. It gets even worse when you look at how the offense just completely becomes anemic after the first 15 scripted plays. For instance, the first two drives of the game against the Browns, the Eagles moved the ball for 124 yards and yet came away with 0 points. Furthermore, the next 11 possessions the Eagles were only able to accumulate 156 yards until they got a meaningless touchdown at the end of the game. It is going to be virtually impossible for the Eagles to win football games having to play from behind every week. Their passing game is simply not good enough to play from behind. The thing the Eagles can do well is run the ball so getting out to an early lead is vital. The Eagles haven’t had the lead at the end of the first half over the last 6 weeks. It is a recipe for disaster. 

6. 3^rd down offense— Last week was one of the worst 3^rd down performances I have seen from an Eagles team in quite some time. They were 0-9, which we haven’t seen an Eagles team do since 2004. This week it wasn’t much better as they were a mere 2-12, which is 16.7%. This is the fifth consecutive week the Eagles have been downright atrocious on third down. Over the last 5 games, the Eagles are converting at just 22.2% on third down (12-54). Again this really comes down to the fact that the Eagles are in third and long about half of the time. In this game, the Eagles had 12 3^rd down attempts, they were in 3^rd and 7 or longer in 6 of those 12 attempts. On the season, the Eagles have had 128 3^rd down attempts and 63 of them have been 3^rd and 7+. That is an astounding 49.2%. 

7. Maddox is not a good corner— I will continue to keep saying this, but Maddox is not a good outside corner. I am not so sure he is a good slot corner either. He had issues last year in the slot before he got hurt. He has regressed every year since his rookie season. That said Maddox’s had a PI penalty in the end zone where if he just turns his head around to the ball he is able to see it and likely pick the ball off. Instead he just runs into the receiver and is called for a penalty, which gave the Browns the ball at the 1-yard line. It isn’t just that one play, teams are using his lack of size against him. They are matching up bigger WRs and just outmuscling him.  Additionally he gave up a big 43-yard completion on the Browns second drive of the game. A lot of the time he gets lost in coverage and loses his man. If that wasn’t bad enough, he isn’t coming close to making plays on the ball. This is the 4^th game in a row he has failed to have a pass deflection. I thought it was a big mistake that the Eagles didn’t give him any real competition this offseason at the outside corner spot. Sidney Jones and Douglas were not good enough competition cause one couldn’t stay healthy and the other was in Schwartz’s doghouse. I thought the fact that Hodges and Higgins combined for 138 yards on 6 receptions was a reflection of how poor Maddox is at outside corner as well as some issues at safety. If we had someone better I would say go to them and lets see. Frankly I would still like to see Jacquet over Maddox. I like his upside more than what I already know in Maddox. 

8. Personnel decisions— I just really don’t get it with the Eagles. I do not understand this fascination to continue to play Jason Peters and Alshon. Both were injured and both saw their replacements look much better then they have for much of the last couple seasons. Yet, the Eagles decided it was a smart move for both of them to just come back and be part of the offense as if they were going to magically regain their form from seasons ago. As for Peters, he is not the future of the Eagles organization. He is not even playing well outside of one game this year. I much rather see what we have in Mailata for the future of this team and organization then seeing an over the hill Jason Peters struggle to look average week to week. As for Alshon, I do not need to see a slow, deteriorating wide receiver who frankly is only here cause the Eagles refuse to just IR him and get him out of the building and locker room. Furthermore, this seems to also be an issue even last year where they just refuse to play the young guys until the injuries and decision is forced upon them. I am not saying Greg Ward is any good, but he should have been an opportunity last season way before the end of November and beginning of December. Frankly with Davion Taylor it shouldn’t be until a week before December that he sees the field over a guy like Gerry and Riley. I get he is not very polished but we aren’t exactly winning a super bowl with this roster so see what he has. Additionally, why not try and incorporate Watkins into the slot position. You are getting minimal production and big plays out of the slot. I think Ward is a great story, but Watkins I need to see if he can be the future at that position. Add on he has speed that a simple route can turn into a big time play. The Eagles need to quit thinking about just winning the division this season and begin to think and see if these guys are good enough for the future. 

9. Jason Peters should be paid to sit on the bench— I do not know how the Eagles could justify sending Peters out there next week as the starting LT. If they do I might just lose it. He was awful today. It was like his feet were stuck in cement. I fear how much worse it could have been if the Browns didn’t have Garrett on the covid-19 list. On the day he gave up two seconds. Yes Wentz could have thrown the ball away on the safety, but Peters was firmly beat and on the other sack was beaten once when he had help. I will always be grateful for Jason Peters coming to the Eagles and being one of the best LT in the league for as long as he was, but at this point he isn’t helping the Eagles as much as he is hurting them this season and even the future. If I hear Doug or the Eagles justify Mailata being on the sideline watching with their idiotic quote about it helping him see it from a different perspective then I might completely explode. 

10. Lane Johnson starting becoming Peters— One of my favorite Eagles players over the past couples years has been Lane Johnson. He has been one of the  best in the business when he has been on the field and healthy. However, he left today’s game like he has most of the year with another injury. This time it was his shoulder. As much as I love Lane when he is healthy and on top of his game, it is getting to the point where he has reached Peters territory in the way he is always leaving the game. I think his body is just starting to break down. I am hoping with a full offseason to recover he can come back and be the player he once was, but it is getting harder and harder to envision him being able to make it through a full 16 game slate. If we are being honest with ourselves, the Eagles have to start looking at the offensive line and realizing that we need to inject more youth into the position. I like Mailata, Driscoll and even Herbig (has grown on me), but I do not think any of them are locks as starters. IMO we need to invest some higher round picks at the position. Yes we have Dillard, but we need more than just Dillard. And Dillard isn’t a lock. Also I am not sold on Driscoll or Herbig as long-term viable starters. As great as Stoutland is at building up lineman, I would love to give him some more talent. To me Lane’s injury, Brooks injury and now even Kelce’s arm injury are telling the Eagles that we seriously need to address the OL and get some more talented young players in here as maybe Lane, Brooks, Kelce’s times are here sooner rather than later. 

11. Fulgham novelty disappearing— I understand the league has a way of catching up to players and will adjust. Players then have to counter with their own adjustments. I think we are seeing the league go with more man coverage against Fulgham and he has yet to really counter it. On the day, he had 7 targets and caught just 1 for 7 yards. I do think him failing to adjust to the adjustment the league has made is part of the reason why Fulgham has struggled over the last couple weeks. He has also had some poor routes at time and footwork as well. Additionally he has had some passes where he failed to haul it in for a catch or just dropped the ball. I still believe he has a chance to be a solid outside WR, but the Eagles really are doing him no favors as well. Over the last two games, he has had 1 target in the first half of each of the games. The Eagles even going back to the Ravens game, really didn’t target him until later in the game. I would like to see the Eagles try to get him more involved early in the game and build up some confidence in the young kid. Unfortunately, it feels like the same situation every week where he doesn’t see any type of significant targets until minutes left in the 3^rd quarter. I find it difficult for any player to be phased out for most of the game and then just asked later in the game to just step up. I am not saying it is impossible just much harder for a young kid learning the game and offense.

12. Offside Penalties—Graham talked about the Eagles jumping offsides and having dumb penalties. Well Graham and the Eagles continued to do this. I want to say the Browns got the Eagles 2-3 times and would’ve had another if not for the 2 minute warning. Really these penalties just tell me this team lacks focus and are not being held accountable. 

13. Ward the returner—Every week it feels like the same situation for Ward as the returner. Has a chance to catch a ball and instead he allows it to go over his head and downed inside the 5-yard line. This is becoming a bigger problem with the passing weeks. The offense is not good enough to overcome Ward’s mistakes as a returner. His poor decision to not field the ball led to an Eagles safety. At this point you might as well activate Watkins or have Reagor back there to see if they can give you a spark in that area. 

14. What’s Lurie thinking— I cannot imagine what Lurie is thinking. He cannot look at this team, FO and coaching staff and think that this organization is close to a SB. Even at the end of the Kelly era, the Eagles had some young promising players who were entering or in the prime of their career. They really just needed new hope in the form of a QB and a more creative coach that the players respect. It felt when they got Wentz there was this renewed hope going forward and that better days were ahead. Now I do not feel that way whatsoever. This feels worse than 2016 because you knew we had something to build towards and things would get better around Wentz. Now the team is playing bad football, he cant seem to correct the issues going on with Wentz and they are just not a very smart football team. At some point the injury excuse runs out and frankly even if this team is healthy they don’t look like a playoff caliber team. I know as a fan I kind of saw (outside of Wentz’s major regression) this organization heading this way. I really didn’t like any of the offseason moves the Eagles made. I thought they were naïve and stubborn not to address the WR position before the draft and just rely on JJAW turning it around and DeSean coming back and being healthy. I thought they needed a proven veteran to come in and help contribute. It is why I screamed from the mountain top for Robbie Anderson. My reason for not just relying on rookies was it is hard for you to get consistency from rookies week to week especially in a pandemic. Add on it wasn’t like the Eagles were great at drafting WRs to begin with. Furthermore, the Eagles signing Hargrave was ridiculous considering you had a bunch of money invested in Cox and Jackson. I get Malik was coming off a major injury, but you just paid him the season before. You didn’t need 3 DT making big time money. That money should and could’ve been used at other areas on the defense and offense. The fact he is underperforming just makes that realization hurt even more. Add on just moving Mills to safety wasn’t fixing the issue at safety. Jenkins might not be what he once was, but having Mills isn’t even where he was now. Then you throw in the QB factory pick and quote, continuously giving up draft picks for veterans and no competition at the corner position opposite of Slay it had the recipe for a disaster. I thought they were a 8-8 or 7-9 team, but this team cause of Wentz’s regression has become maybe a 5 win team. Lurie cannot sit there and not notice this team has major offensive issues outside of the 2017 season. While the SB was awesome and the offense was magical that year, it has been bottom 10 for much of the other 4 years. It is averaging just 17.8ppg over the last 4 games. Furthermore this team has failed to score 20 points on offense in 6 of their 10 games. We are in an offensive driven league and the Eagles cannot do much on offense. It is a broken team on offense and the lack of creativity and ingenuity is astonishing. The majority of Doug’s tenure the offense has been in the bottom half of the league. A GM who continues to just keep giving out poor contract and restructuring ones he should. The Eagles are in a bad situation. I thought they would take a step back this year and even likely next year, but if they drafted well and used cap space wisely could build themselves back up to SB contenders. I think it is more dire than that. I think this is going to be 2-3 year rebuild and that is if you have something in Wentz or hurts then you still need to find your QB. That said, I don’t think Lurie fires Doug or Howie this offseason, but I think if you see much of the same in 2021 that the honeymoon period from the SB is over and might be a cleaning of the house in order. 

15. Starting Hurts—I am not one of the fans that believes that if you bench Wentz and put in Hurts it is going to just magically make the offense better. I frankly do not think the Eagles offensive staff is good enough or creative enough to run the offense that is catered to what his strengths are. They’d still try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Hence why we refuse to get Wentz rolling out of the pocket til the 4^th quarter. If they were then we wouldn’t have some of the issues we have seen with Reagor and Goedert over the past couple of weeks. If we had coaches like in Arizona that understood Murray his strengths and built the offense that way then I would be more confident making the move and thinking the offense would have any sustainable success. I am not saying Hurts would even be as bad as Wentz, I just think poor adjustments and game planning is still going to look pedestrian. Add on the personnel imo is still not very good. We have had packages for Hurts we could adapt, expand upon and adjust over the course of the season and yet those have become stale. So I imagine the creativity in the building wouldn’t maximize the player they have in Hurts. While I think Wentz is a major problem, I think benching him you’d like see that the coaching is also a major issue. 

16. Hiring an OC this offseason—I am still confused on wtf the Eagles were doing this offseason when hiring the offensive coaching staff. All you had to do was hire an offensive coordinator. Instead we got a potpourri of different coaches and guys doing all sorts of different roles. The Eagles couldn’t just have hired an OC and called him an OC. Feels like they have like 6 different chefs all doing something else and then throwing it into a pot and expecting it to work and Doug to put it all together. The Eagles tried to be the smartest person in the room and this feels like they are paying the price for it. I really want more structure in the coaching staff with defined OC and I really would love to see Doug give up play calling next year to see if that makes a difference. I do not know if it does, but I am willing to see after watching this offense for 4 out of the 5 years with him calling it. 

17. Fipp ST regressing—For the second consecutive week in a row it feels like ST has let the Eagles down. Ward allowing balls to sail over his head, which led to a Browns safety as the Eagles were pinned against their own goal line. Additionally right after the safety, we allowed for the Browns to have a nice return to get the ball just around midfield. So not only did ST help contribute to a safety, but they also put the defense in a bind by not being able to cover on the kick. I remember even during the 2016 season that the Eagles had great special teams. It feels like every aspect besides punter has decline and regressed over the last 3 years. It isn’t talked about as much cause the offense has been bad and the defense plays up and down, but it definitely has not been good.  

18. Complimentary football—I feel like the defense played well enough to win today, but an issue that is becoming more and more of an eyesore as the season has gone along is their inability to get stops after the offense puts points on the board. In this game, the Eagles defense gave up a field and touchdown right after the Eagles scored points. Heck it took the browns just 5 plays to march 47 yards for the FG and 4 plays to go 79 yards for the touchdown. So far this year, the Eagles have scored and the defense has given up points on the very next possession 11 times. 

[Godfather]

Maybe change the ugly to fugly this week

[Captain F]

1 minute ago, Godfather said:

Maybe change the ugly to fugly this week

I thought they were already fugly? What's the next level? 

[Dwide Schrude]

As always, you summarized everything really well. Only a couple things:

I’m giving Sweat a pass on the one play today, I think Baker sold the handoff extremely well. 
 

I also think the run defense was a plus today. Chubb’s run was bad, but I chalked that up as a quality player just making a quality play. Sometimes that just happens. 

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

2 minutes ago, Dwide Schrude said:

As always, you summarized everything really well. Only a couple things:

I’m giving Sweat a pass on the one play today, I think Baker sold the handoff extremely well. 
 

I also think the run defense was a plus today. Chubb’s run was bad, but I chalked that up as a quality player just making a quality play. Sometimes that just happens. 

I would’ve been less upset with the run if they didn’t have like five or six missed tackles on that play. The stiff arm I can understand but they have like three or four other players just miss tackles on them. Specifically maddox as one the biggest culprits 

[Jeep_man]

OP forgot to mention: RIP To Joe Ostman's career after the stiff arm....

 

Trevor Lawrence or BUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MagicMoment]

You put more effort into your posts than this eagles team does on the field. 

[Dwide Schrude]

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

I would’ve been less upset with the run if they didn’t have like five or six missed tackles on that play. The stiff arm I can understand but they have like three or four other players just miss tackles on them. Specifically maddox as one the biggest culprits 

That’s definitely valid. But also when you look at size comparison, and the fact you got a CB trying to tackle a big RB, it doesn’t bother me as much. 

[Road to Victory]

I know you wanted Robbie Anderson but don’t feel bad, he wouldn’t have been successful here. Wentz either wouldn’t have enough time to hit him downfield or he would overthrow him. Better yet, he might throw to him into triple coverage. 
 

The team is a disaster right now and has been heading in the wrong direction since the SB. Next year will be even worse if Howie and Doug are back. It’s time to hit the reset button. This is an aging, overpaid roster with very little young, cheap talent. 

[Madriver]

What's shocking to me is how lost Doug appears to be after the scripted calls, which you allude to. It's as though he cannot think on his own two feet, or unless he has a strong personality in his ear (i.e. Reich or even Foles in the SB) telling him what to do. Getting other opinions and then formulating an opinion from them is not his strength. I don't know what his strength as a HC is frankly, but I'm starting to believe he is just a dumb jock yes-man with a low football IQ.

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

12 minutes ago, Madriver said:

What's shocking to me is how lost Doug appears to be after the scripted calls, which you allude to. It's as though he cannot think on his own two feet, or unless he has a strong personality in his ear (i.e. Reich or even Foles in the SB) telling him what to do. Getting other opinions and then formulating an opinion from them is not his strength. I don't know what his strength as a HC is frankly, but I'm starting to believe he is just a dumb jock yes-man with a low football IQ.

After the 2016 season I reassessed and thought he didn’t have the pieces and he didn’t have personnel to make that offense functional. They built some momentum at the end of the year and I thought well Maybe the offense is going to get going in the right direction. Now 2017 the offense was phenomenal outside of like two or three games but it’s reverted back to how it was in 2016 and I would argue even with injuries the last three years they had better personnel now than they did in 2016. Just go through the seasons over the last three years the first three months of the season the offense is a bottom half of the league offense and then December they get hot for three games and then revert back the next season. 

when they hired Doug I said I was willing to give them a chance when a lot of people hated the hire. But after the last two seasons I sit there and I say to myself we are in year three, year four and now you’re in year five and the offense for the majority, like 75% of Doug‘s tenure in Philadelphia has been a bottom half of the league offense. Now we can put some of the blame on Carson because he hasn’t been great all the time either but I think to myself this offense is so uncreative, it’s not innovative and it’s stale. That’s a huge problem. You are going to have hard times winning in this league offensively if people know what’s coming or you can’t get your offense into a rhythm. 

I don’t know what Carson Wentz is. He might wind up being a bust from what we thought he was gonna be. However I don’t think if you put any quarterback on this roster in this offense right now that doug is going to maximize them. I’m more worried if they trade away Carson Wentz and they have Doug coaching hurts he might ultimately ruin another quarterback because he’s not that creative. Say what we want Jared Goff isn’t a elite quarterback but McVay get a lot out of him because he’s creative and put them in the best position for him to succeed. I look at Kyler Murray, kingsbury  plays to the strength of Murray. Even the bills with Josh Allen have adapted their offense to do what he does best. They built the offense around his strengths. The Eagles just build this offense as a we need to do this offense because it works instead of building the offense around the personnel you have to make it work to their strengths

[315Eagles]

Doug's offense hasnt looked good outside of 2017 and that was probably because they had a run game with Blount, Clement and later Ajayi and committed to it.  Even when Foles came in at the end in 2018 for the playoff run the offense wasnt great by any means.

Lane should just call it a year and get ready for next year.  He's trying to play thru injuries but he's better taking the rest of the season off.

Maddox should be at Safety instead of Mills.  

JP and Alshon should be done.  JP needs to retire and Alshon can join another team to get injured again next year.  Mailata should be playing LT.  Fulgham, Reagor, Ward, Hightower and Watkins should be your WRs.

I agree about Jacquett(hope I spelled his name right).  He should be playing more.

 

 

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

4 minutes ago, 315Eagles said:

Doug's offense hasnt looked good outside of 2017 and that was probably because they had a run game with Blount, Clement and later Ajayi and committed to it.  Even when Foles came in at the end in 2018 for the playoff run the offense wasnt great by any means.

Lane should just call it a year and get ready for next year.  He's trying to play thru injuries but he's better taking the rest of the season off.

Maddox should be at Safety instead of Mills.  

JP and Alshon should be done.  JP needs to retire and Alshon can join another team to get injured again next year.  Mailata should be playing LT.  Fulgham, Reagor, Ward, Hightower and Watkins should be your WRs.

I agree about Jacquett(hope I spelled his name right).  He should be playing more.

 

 

Don’t disagree that they committed to the run and they ran the ball well. We can say whatever we want the last four weeks the Eagles running game has gotten better and better each week. They’re opening holes and Scott and Sanders have look good running the ball. The second half was not pretty running the ball but when you basically made it so you can’t throw the ball with any consistency teams are just going to gear up to stop it. 

I would say Lane should do that but this is a new injury. This is his shoulder. It feels like his body is just deteriorating in front of us. Now some of that might be the fact he played even more amount of plays early in his career do to chip Kelley‘s offense and some of it is his body is just breaking down. 

I don’t know. I don’t think Maddox is very good. Even if you put him at safety he’s going to need time to adjust. I much rather see Wallace play the position that Mills is. You would need to have maddox play Roddy McLeod’s safety position as the deep safety. Mcleod hasn’t been great but he’s giving you average play which is more than anyone not named slay in the secondary. 

At this point I want to see what Quez Watkins can do in the slot. Ward is A nice fourth or fifth receiver. But he doesn’t have any explosiveness whereas Watkins can take a 2-3 yard route and use his speed to take it to the house. Also I don’t get why we just gave up on hightower. Yes he had some growing pains but he also had some big plays for this offense at times this year. I don’t need to see Alshon Jeffery gimping around the field and not able to jump to make a play on a ball. The guy is done. deal with the fact you guys Fed it up and restructure his contract when you shouldn’t of done it. Move on and admit the mistake. 

[Cochis_Calhoun]

Honestly as much as it pains me to say it they should cut Peters at this point, he's embarrassing himself out there and the temptation will always be to stick him back in in tricky spots as long as he's on the roster. Stick Mailata in as starter, let him take his lumps and thank Peters for the memories, whatever he had is gone and it's not coming back.

Apparently the last Eagles corner to make an interception is still Sidney Jones, 10 games into the season after we cut him, let that thought marinate a while, good lord how do you end up with corners this ordinary by design? 

[Traveler Vic]

1 hour ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

Honestly as much as it pains me to say it they should cut Peters at this point, he's embarrassing himself out there and the temptation will always be to stick him back in in tricky spots as long as he's on the roster. Stick Mailata in as starter, let him take his lumps and thank Peters for the memories, whatever he had is gone and it's not coming back.

Apparently the last Eagles corner to make an interception is still Sidney Jones, 10 games into the season after we cut him, let that thought marinate a while, good lord how do you end up with corners this ordinary by design? 

Dude I been screaming for weeks now. Do not let JP start at LT.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Always a good read @e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! so thanks for writing this up! It must be getting harder every week to try and find positives with this team.

I agree though I thought they got Goedert involved more and that needs to continue to happen. Even when Goedert isn't targeted if he is a heavy part of the passing game then he opens things up for the TE #2 and Richard Rodgers is playing well. And they did get Reagor involved and they do seem to want to use him. That said they do need to get him out in to space more and use his athleticism more. They seem to want to use him in the short and intermediate game where I actually think they should use him in the intermediate and long game with the odd short pass or run play to get him involved.

Yesterday from the offense was just so bad and that's now at least 3 weeks in a row we have said that. This offense has barely played well all year but there have been some good moments but it is actually getting worse.

[SNOORDA]

2 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

 

Apparently the last Eagles corner to make an interception is still Sidney Jones, 10 games into the season after we cut him, let that thought marinate a while, good lord how do you end up with corners this ordinary by design? 

Slay had perfect position and both hands on one and still came up empt today.  
 

It’s almost like this team doesnt want to win or care when they suck. And that reflects directly on the head coach 

[time2rock]

The Good: 

::crickets::

[nipples]

18 minutes ago, time2rock said:

The Good: 

::crickets::

Sanders, outside of the fumble, Singleton, and Slay would really be the only ones I’d put on the "Good” list. Maybe Kelce for being a damn warrior. 

[brkmsn]

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

 

11. Fulgham novelty disappearing— I understand the league has a way of catching up to players and will adjust. Players then have to counter with their own adjustments. I think we are seeing the league go with more man coverage against Fulgham and he has yet to really counter it. On the day, he had 7 targets and caught just 1 for 7 yards. I do think him failing to adjust to the adjustment the league has made is part of the reason why Fulgham has struggled over the last couple weeks. He has also had some poor routes at time and footwork as well. Additionally he has had some passes where he failed to haul it in for a catch or just dropped the ball. I still believe he has a chance to be a solid outside WR, but the Eagles really are doing him no favors as well. Over the last two games, he has had 1 target in the first half of each of the games. The Eagles even going back to the Ravens game, really didn’t target him until later in the game. I would like to see the Eagles try to get him more involved early in the game and build up some confidence in the young kid. Unfortunately, it feels like the same situation every week where he doesn’t see any type of significant targets until minutes left in the 3^rd quarter. I find it difficult for any player to be phased out for most of the game and then just asked later in the game to just step up. I am not saying it is impossible just much harder for a young kid learning the game and offense.

 

I really don't think this is about adjustments. When you really look at his targets, the passes aren't really in a favorable spot. I mean, he's somehow almost making unbelievable grabs, but just barely failing to secure the ball. These aren't really "drops." But the throws ... they aren't very good.

When I saw the weather before the game, I knew the conditions would only make our passing game look worse. If we had an accurate QB or even one that was generally playing well, the wet conditions wouldn't have been a problem, but nobody is going to make a poor playing QB look good in that rain. 

[Dweedlebug]

How do you rush for almost 100 yards in the first half then decide, in a torrential downpour, to pass every down except for 6 in the 2nd half?  I just don't understand the thought process that is going on here.  It's mind boggling.

[toolg]

Turnovers kill. The Sanders fumble ruined a good drive at the beginning of the game. Then Wentz threw a pick-6 that resulted in the only points scored by either team in the first half. (The Eagles first TD was even set up by a Mayfield sack-fumble.) The INT late in the 4th quarter iced the game. The first one is on Sanders. The second one was on Wentz. The last INT, what is Jeffery even doing on the field? Wentz threw it up there for Jeffery to play. Albeit it was high, Wentz always throws high.... I thought Jeffery had a chance to go up for it, but it looked to me like he gave up.

If one play defines the Eagles offense currently, it's the Safety. Peters and Seumalo couldn't even double-team Vernon, and that's not on the backups. They're supposed to be the good blockers. Wentz is holding the ball too long. And why are they running such a long-developing pass play on the goal-line? If you're going to pass there, run a quick-screen or slant, where Wentz gets the ball out and doesn't even have to think about progressions. Bad play call, bad blocking, bad QB decision, leads to disaster.

The Browns did a good job running the ball. I thought the Eagles D held up well at first. But the Browns stuck with it and they wore them out. And they protected the ball better than the Eagles. That's the ballgame.

[GeorgeM37]

Always look forward to these well written write ups....great job as usual....

My own thoughts?

Wentz is just not the guy. I know we say Fulgham has disappeared and maybe I need to watch his targets again but wentz is throwing the passes off target just about every time. Occasionally he gets lucky and puts the ball where it needs to be but an elite QB will put that ball where the receiver has a chance to catch it. I honestly do not blame Fulgham at this point. 

I have said this for three seaons now: JP needs to retire because I felt embarrassed FOR him yesterday.....he is destroying his legacy being out there at this point...

Agreed on why they have just given up on Hightower....its mind boggling that because AJ is back that we just dont see him anymore...

Doug is doing his best AR 2.0 impression. I remember being frustrated about them giving up on the running game when its working...its THE dumbest thing I have ever seen. Even the commentators were gushing about Sanders....and isn't he number one in the league as far as yards per carry??

I still hate Mills and always have but now we can add Maddox to the mix....they both need to go...

I dont get why winning this division is a big deal this year.....I just don't get it.....all it means is we have one more painful game to watch after the regular season...

Sidenote: I now EXPECT wentz to throw a few interceptions per game....it is just what he does and what he is......not a good QB

Another sidenote: I hate to have to watch other games just to see a competitive football game, QB and coach....

[GeorgeM37]

17 minutes ago, toolg said:

Turnovers kill. The Sanders fumble ruined a good drive at the beginning of the game. Then Wentz threw a pick-6 that resulted in the only points scored by either team in the first half. (The Eagles first TD was even set up by a Mayfield sack-fumble.) The INT late in the 4th quarter iced the game. The first one is on Sanders. The second one was on Wentz. The last INT, what is Jeffery even doing on the field? Wentz threw it up there for Jeffery to play. Albeit it was high, Wentz always throws high.... I thought Jeffery had a chance to go up for it, but it looked to me like he gave up.

If one play defines the Eagles offense currently, it's the Safety. Peters and Seumalo couldn't even double-team Vernon, and that's not on the backups. They're supposed to be the good blockers. Wentz is holding the ball too long. And why are they running such a long-developing pass play on the goal-line? If you're going to pass there, run a quick-screen or slant, where Wentz gets the ball out and doesn't even have to think about progressions. Bad play call, bad blocking, bad QB decision, leads to disaster.

The Browns did a good job running the ball. I thought the Eagles D held up well at first. But the Browns stuck with it and they wore them out. And they protected the ball better than the Eagles. That's the ballgame.

To be fair to Jeffrey....to me, it looked like he just totally mistimed the pass and his jump. If you look at it, he is coming down while the defender is just going up....it was a timing issue, in my opinion

[PoconoDon]

The Good: Draft position improved.

The Bad & the Ugly: Everything else.