Stopless

[time2rock]

Stopless

Posted: November 7th, 2021 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

The Eagles battled a good team on Sunday and came close, but lost 27-24 on a last second field goal. The run game was outstanding and the passing game came alive in the second half. This week it was the defense that failed to do its part. For the second time this season, the Eagles opponent did not have to punt.

Ugh.

For fans who have seen good defenses from Marion Campbell, Buddy Ryan, Bud Carson, Ray Rhodes, Jim Johnson and Jim Schwartz, this is torture. Pure torture.

Jonathan Gannon did blitz some. He did mix in some aggressive fronts. Unfortunately, he had his DBs playing passively and the Chargers ate that up.

Not good.

To be fair, QBs across the league are completing more passes than ever so that stat is skewed a bit, but it is still horrible no matter how much context you give it. I would say the Eagles coverage is Charmin soft, but Charmin might take offense to that and sue me.

Gannon has got to have his DBs play more aggressively. He is correct to fear explosive plays, but he’s too obsessed with them. You have to mix in press coverage more than he has. Herbert and his receivers were not challenged and they picked apart the Eagles D.

It would have helped if the Eagles DL showed up. They didn’t. No sacks or even QB hits (per the gamebook). This wasn’t a case of pressure being there, but not showing up on the stat sheet. You don’t go 32 for 38 if you’re being pressured.

With the lack of an effective pass rush, Gannon should have mixed in more blitzes or just rushed 3 and dropped 8 into coverage. What he was doing was not working. At all. But he stuck with it.

There were a pair of fourth down stops that kept the Eagles close, but the defense could not get a stop on the Chargers final drive. They came close, but could not get the job done.

The Eagles offense played pretty well. They gained 331 yards (176 on the ground) and scored 24 points. The offense started slow, but once Nick Sirianni committed to running the ball, the offense came alive.

It is funny how good Jordan Howard has looked the last two weeks. He was 17-71-1 today. Howard played for Miami for part of the 2020 season and was 28-33-4 for them. He averaged 1.2 yards per carry over a 5-game stretch. He’s almost at 5 yards per carry this year with the Eagles. Howard is a perfect fit for the Eagles downhill run game. They need to put him on the roster.

Jalen Hurts was excellent as a runner and pretty good as a passer. Unfortunately he wasn’t good enough.

On the opening drive, Hurts had Dallas Goedert open for a long TD and missed him. Hurts was under pressure, but those are the plays you have to make if you want to be a starting NFL QB. There was also a third and goal play where DeVonta Smith came open and Hurts missed him. Those errant throws cost the Eagles 11 points.

Hurts was 11-17-162 with a TD as a passer. He showed improved pocket presence and threw the ball to the left side multiple times. You can tell the coaches really preached to him to settle down in the pocket and to use the whole field. He still needs to get a lot better in those areas, but we did see some improvement.

Hurts was 10-62 as a runner and he had to avoid free rushers a few times. He made good choices about when to run and where to run. There was one real highlight play.

That is great effort from Hurts. He was going to do everything possible to win this game.

DeVonta Smith played one of his best games, going 5-116-1. There weren’t any drops, just good catches. Goedert was 3-43 and played well.

The Eagles never trailed by more than seven points in this game. They traded blows with the Chargers all game long. That’s a good sign. The Eagles had a habit of falling way behind in most other games.

vs SF trailed 17-3
vs DAL trailed 41-14
vs KC trailed 42-23
vs CAR trailed 15-3
vs TB trailed 28-7
vs LVR trailed 30-7

This was very different. The Eagles made enough plays to stay close. They even led 17-16 in the third quarter. They just couldn’t make enough plays to win the game.

Baby steps, I guess.

The offense has shown real potential the past two weeks. The defense showed promise last week, but could not get the job done on Sunday. Gannon needs to get more from his DL or figure out how to adjust the back seven. Something has to change. Teams are throwing the ball way too easily against his defense.

When do we play the Lions again?

*****

• Watching with the naked eye, this looked like Davion Taylor’s best game so far. He’s still got a long way to go, but it is encouraging to see young players improving. Taylor led the team with 6 solo tackles and had a TFL. You can see how athletic he is. Still has to learn how to play LB.
• TJ Edwards led the team with 12 total tackles. He made a great stop on fourth down to end a Chargers drive.
• Derek Barnett had another one of his costly penalties. He jumped offside and turned 3rd/6 into 3rd/1. Ugh. I don’t think he’ll be an Eagle next year.
• Boston Scott had another solid showing, going 10-40.
• Eagles CBs did not tackle well overall.
• The Eagles ran a WR screen. It lost 6 yards. Ugh.
• The Eagles were 8 for 12 on third downs. Very impressive.
• The Chargers were just 3 for 6 in the Red Zone. One of  the few positives for the Eagles D.
• The Eagles were only penalized three times. They won that battle and have been much better since the first month of the season.

http://igglesblitz.com/2021/11/stopless/

[hoosierdaddy]

I would like to know how many yards we've gained on WR screens this season.

-100?

[birdman#12]

Can't blame the D-backs........you can't let an NFL QB stand back there all day......any QB will have a high completion percentage......

 

[time2rock]

13 hours ago, birdman#12 said:

Can't blame the D-backs........you can't let an NFL QB stand back there all day......any QB will have a high completion percentage......

The pass rush was non-existent.  Tommy hit the nail on the head ... Gannon needs to either get more out of the DL somehow or switch things up to try to get pressure from the back 7.  Also, having the CBs give the WRs so much cushion is crazy.  Thought we'd be seeing more man press under him.  

[birdman#12]

5 minutes ago, time2rock said:

The pass rush was non-existent.  Tommy hit the nail on the head ... Gannon needs to either get more out of the DL somehow or switch things up to try to get pressure from the back 7.  Also, having the CBs give the WRs so much cushion is crazy.  Thought we'd be seeing more man press under him.  

Barnett just needs to be benched and let Milton Williams play more at defensive end....or even Jackson.  

And the cushion the CBs give is contributing to that ridiculously high pass percentage.  I always hated that bend don't break bullsh--.....if Gannon continues that nonsense, he needs to go.

[time2rock]

40 minutes ago, birdman#12 said:

Barnett just needs to be benched and let Milton Williams play more at defensive end....or even Jackson.  

And the cushion the CBs give is contributing to that ridiculously high pass percentage.  I always hated that bend don't break bullsh--.....if Gannon continues that nonsense, he needs to go.

Yep, I said that a few weeks ago when Barnett was a penalty machine that they needed to bench his arse and play Jackson.  Hard to believe Barnett will be an Eagle past 2021 so may as well play the young guys and give them some valuable play time to help expedite their development.  

[PoconoDon]

3 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Yep, I said that a few weeks ago when Barnett was a penalty machine that they needed to bench his arse and play Jackson.  Hard to believe Barnett will be an Eagle past 2021 so may as well play the young guys and give them some valuable play time to help expedite their development.  

Siri defending him in the presser was weak. "He plays hard and is tough." As if that's enough or that there's some other acceptable way to play? He's not good enough, plain and simple. He better be gone after this year.

[time2rock]

4 hours ago, PoconoDon said:

Siri defending him in the presser was weak. "He plays hard and is tough." As if that's enough or that there's some other acceptable way to play? He's not good enough, plain and simple. He better be gone after this year.

Another swing and miss in the first round by our boy genius GM.  I know he wasn't terrible ... but he sure never lived up to his 1st round draft status (like Agholor and so many others Howie drafted in the 1st).  Seems Reagor is on that path now too.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

On 11/8/2021 at 5:50 PM, time2rock said:

Hurts was 11-17-162 with a TD as a passer

As much as I want him to succeed... That just isn't going to get it down in the NFL. 

[brkmsn]

The defense was bad Sunday. No turnovers created and couldn't even touch the QB, but it wasn't "stopless." Just because we didn't force any punts  doesn't mean we should completely ignore stopping them on 4th down twice (turnover on downs). Those are stops. We just needed more.