Game Review – PHI 38, DET 35

[time2rock]

Game Review – PHI 38, DET 35

Posted: September 14th, 2022 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

The 2022 season opener was a fun game. The Eagles jumped out to leads of 21-7, 31-14 and 38-21 before the Lions cut the final score to 38-35. Like most season openers, there was sloppiness, but both teams played hard and made some big plays. The Eagles made more big plays and that turned out to be the difference.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen pushed enough of the right buttons for the offense to pile up 455 yards and score 31 points. There are still areas to clean up. The Eagles didn’t do well vs the blitz. They tried WR screens and didn’t have success with those. There were other plays that took too long to develop. The passing game in the red zone wasn’t smooth. I’m not sure if that is more on scheme or execution, but it needs to be fixed. The offense was up against the playclock throughout the game and it caused some problems. That needs to get fixed.

Jonathan Gannon didn’t have his best day. In his defense, the players didn’t help him out. There were times the design worked and someone blew an assignment or missed a tackle. On some plays there were run fit issues. You had guys in the same gap or getting out of position. I don’t know if Gannon didn’t coach that well enough or the guys just got sloppy in the heat of the moment. That does happen. Gannon blitzed a little, but mainly relied on his primary rushers. Gannon did mix in a few creative looks. I’ll get to personnel usage later in the review.

Michael Clay did a good job in having his guys prepared. Zech McPhearson was ready for the surprise onside kick. Rookie punt returner Britain Covey did a good job of catching punts and getting what yards he could.

Sirianni made good strategic decisions. The Eagles were 2 for 3 on 4th downs, including one late in the game that let the Eagles seal the win. He challenged a play that should have been overturned, but wasn’t. The Eagles looked rusty at times (opening game issues), but handled the tough situations that came their way.

MISC

The Lions had the emotional advantage in this game. They were at home and really fired up. They got off to the hot start, but Sirianni’s guys stayed focused and outplayed Detroit.

Detroit threw a real curve ball at the Eagles by continuing to run the ball even when they fell down by 17 points in the 2nd half. Most teams get pass happy. Detroit best offensive player was D’Andre Swift and they wisely kept feeding him the ball. I was highly frustrated with how draw plays kept catching the Eagles by surprise.

The Eagles gave up an early TD and then forced 3 straight 3 & outs. That was follwed by a pick-six. The defense was rolling at that point. The Lions then scored TDs on 4 of the next 5 possessions (forgetting the kneel down late in the half). I think part of that is the Eagles getting sloppy and the Lions getting into a desperate situation. That brought out the best in them.

Detroit’s defense was aggressive. They played with a bit of an edge. We saw them hit/pile on Jalen Hurts several times in the game. Calling it dirty is going too far, but it was headed in that direction. Hurts is very good about sliding or going out of bounds. He tries to be smart to protect himself. The Lions wanted to get contact on him as much as possible. There were a couple of flags, but felt like there could have been more. Hurts never got too emotional. He stayed focused.

The Eagles kicked a FG late in the 1st half and then opened the 2nd half with a TD. That turned a 21-14 game into a 31-14 game. Your chances to win go up substantially when you double-dip like that.

OFFENSE

*QB

Jalen Hurts had a good game. He was 18-32-243 though the air and 17-90-1 on the ground. He protected the ball well, which proved to be critical in this game. Hurts threw the ball better than last year. He worked the whole field and threw with better anticipation. Hurts was mostly accurate and that helped receivers to get yards after the catch. The Eagles are 8th in the league in that stat right now. They were tied for 22nd last year.

Hurts best throw came late in the first half when he hit AJ Brown down the right sideline with a deep ball. The throw was right on the money and Brown turned that into a gain of 54 yards.

Hurts almost had a terrible moment. After that long bomb, the Eagles were inside the DET 10. With 14 seconds left in the half and no timeouts, Hurts threw the ball to Kenny Gainwell inside the 5. Luckily, the ball bounced to him. Had Gainwell caught it, he wasn’t in good position to score or get out of bounds. Hurts has to know in that situation that he can only throw into the end zone or out of bounds. He almost cost the team three points, the difference in the final score.

There is a lot of discussion about Hurts running. The coaches called RPOs, designed runs and QB sneaks. There were also scrambles. 16 runs(there was one kneel down) is more than you want from your QB on a regular basis. I thought Hurts bailed too quickly from the pocket a couple of times. Detroit did mix in some aggressive blitzes so there were times he had to take off. Hurts was only sacked once and he wasn’t getting hit hard in the pocket.

The Eagles didn’t exactly know what to expect from the Lions so Hurts ability to make plays turned out to be a huge asset. Moving forward, the Eagles will have game tape to study and will have a better idea of what defenses are going to do. That could cut down on Hurts running.

*RB

Miles Sanders has talked about wanting to have a big season. He got off to a good start, going 13-96-1. All the noise about him not scoring a TD can now go away. Sanders has had an issue with dancing too much in the past. I thought he was more decisive in this game and he generally made good reads. He ran hard and got the yards in front of him, rather than looking for huge holes. On 3rd down late in the game he tried to go up the middle, but there wasn’t a hole. He bounced that outside and sprinted for a 24-yd gain. Sanders had another 24-yd run earlier in the game. He caught 2 passes for 9 yards.

The coaches got touches to all three of the key RBs. Kenny Gainwell was 5-20-1 and Boston Scott was 4-10-1. The coaches showed how much they trust Gainwell and Scott by how/when they used them. Both guys got goal line runs. Scott also got the ball with the game on the line. Gainwell had multiple blitz pickups. He also caught 2 passes. Both Scott and Gainwell scored on inside runs where they fought to get into the end zone.

*WR

AJ Brown had a spectacular debut, going 10-155. He didn’t score a TD, but he was the key to the offense. Brown got open on a consistent basis and caught the ball well. There were no drops or sloppiness issues with him. You could see just how big, strong and physical he is after the catch. The Lions struggled to tackle him. Brown showed you the value of having an elite WR. He is a game-changer.

DeVonta Smith didn’t catch a pass. He had one catch wiped out by a penalty. There were 4 passes that did go his way. I don’t think this is a big issue. The offense just worked out this way. As teams now focus on Brown, Smith will have more opportunities.

Zach Pascal only caught one pass for 7 yards, but it came on 3rd and 2. He caught the ball with his fingertips. Clutch play that kept alive a TD drive. Pascal could prove to be a really valuable role player.

I was surprised to see Quez Watkins have such a quiet game. No catches and he wasn’t targeted.

*TE

Dallas Goedert got off to a strong start. He blocked well all game long. The Eagles have a great OL, but don’t underestimate how important Goedert is to the run game. He took on #1 pick DE Aidan Hutchinson and locked him up. I guarantee you Hutchinson didn’t get blocked like that by college TEs. Goedert did miss one block near the goal line that might have led to a TD. Goedert was 3-60 as a receiver and just missed scoring a TD on a TE screen. Terrific RAC skills, as usual. Stud TE.

Jack Stoll played 28 snaps and the coaches seemed to trust him. He didn’t get a pass thrown his way, but he was on the field in some key situations and blocked well when he was out there. Excellent effort. Good size, strength. He was the lead blocker for Hurts on the opening play and just flattened a DB. Curious to see how he does as a receiver.

Noah Togiai had a short pass thrown his way and just dropped it. Ugh. He had a really good preseason and I thought earned a roster spot. He won’t get to play much if he blows opportunities. Togiai is just keeping the seat warm until the coaches think Grant Calcaterra is ready to play.

*OL

The OL has caught flak from some people who think they had a bad game. I disagree with that. You don’t run for 216 yards, throw for 243 more and only allow one sack if the OL is flat out bad. They weren’t.

I did think the Lions were able to get the pass protection out of sync at times. They lined up with some creative looks. They had some heavy blitzes. They created some confusion.

Jason Kelce had an excellent game. As always, he was great out in space. There is a clip of him getting hip-tossed by a LB, but that didn’t really affect the play. Kelce got his revenge on LB Malcolm Rodriguez on a goal line run. Kelce put a shoulder in him that had some real force, and the Eagles scored on that play. The Eagles used Kelce creatively in some pass pro situations, having him go outside to pick up any rushers from the back side. Might be a new twist.

I thought Issac Seumalo had a good game in his first start at RG. He got pushed back on some plays but was able to re-set and anchor. Lane Johnson was his usual self.

Jordan Mailata was sloppy, especially early. He seemed confused on a few plays. I don’t know if that was due to this being the opener or the Lions doing things he hadn’t seen. He did settle down and play better.

I was disappointed in Landon Dickerson. Jeff Stoutland said he was the most improved player on the OL. We didn’t see that on Sunday. Dickerson missed some blocks. He didn’t sustain well. There were certainly some good moments. He got good push on Gainwell’s TD run. He got out in space and mashed on a couple of DBs on an outside run. I just thought Dickerson was the weak spot on the OL overall.

If you want to see the Big Sexies getting the job done late, here you go.

[NOTE: click on link to article below to view videos]

DEFENSE

*DE

Brandon Graham made his return. He didn’t start, but had a solid game. He had half a sack. He drew a holding call on a run play. BG was stout when the run came his way. He chased the ball when it went away from him.

Josh Sweat was in on 3 tackles and credited with a couple of QB hits. He beat the OTs a few times, but couldn’t make a play. He wasn’t as disruptive as I hoped to see. Derek Barnett tore his ACL in the game, but didn’t stand out while he was in there.

*DT

Fletcher Cox had an up and down game. He started s-l-o-w. There were a couple of runs where double teams really moved him. I’m not used to seeing that. Eventually he got fired up or pissed off or something. When the Lions single-blocked him, Cox got good push on pass plays. He and BG split a sack. He was more disruptive as the game went along, but certainly not his best game.

Javon Hargrave had a weird game. The stat sheet shows 2 tackles and that’s it. The game tape is certainly better than that. Hargrave was disruptive at times, but he could not make a play. He was always just a step away from getting to the QB or RB. He played hard and really worked to get to the ball. He got more pressure in the 2nd half.

Jordan Davis was up and down. I thought he started off well, but I wonder if he got tired. His pad level wasn’t good later in the game. Lions C Frank Ragnow was able to single-block him for most of the 2nd half. How could a guy get tired on only 22 snaps? Maybe he wasn’t tired, but his play was sloppy. Early on, I thought he was good vs the run and showed some good athleticism.

I thought Milton Williams was the Eagles best DL in the game. He was credited with 2 tackles, but he got good push throughout the game. I thought he handled double teams better than anyone else. Williams played hard. He battled every snap he was out there. Williams went up against LG Jonah Jackson most of the time. Jackson is one of the better young OGs in the league.

Good start to 2022 by Williams.

Marlon Tuipulotu played 29 snaps. I was shocked by that. He had a hand in the biggest play of the game. Gannon said Tui beat the block of the RG to go hit Jared Goff. That’s being generous. The RG made a bad attempt to block Tui and Goff paid the price. Tui leveled him. That pressure led to the errant throw and pick-six. Tui was in on way too many pass plays. He is not a good pass rusher and shouldn’t be on the field that much. Maybe Gannon was using him since Tui is in game shape from playing a ton in August. I could see that, but this isn’t something that should continue moving forward. Good effort vs the run, but not a pass rusher.

*LB

Haason Reddick made his Eagles debut and I hoped to see a big game. Didn’t happen. He was in on 2 tackles and did have one TFL. Reddick was good when the run came his way. He got off blocks and was disruptive. I was surprised to see how physical he was. RT Penei Sewell controlled him most of the game. There were times when the Lions chip blocked to help Sewell out.

Sometimes you have to give the other guys credit for playing well. Gannon did move Reddick around. He played DE and SAM. Reddick also lined up at ILB and blitzed up the middle. The Lions did a good job in keeping him under control.

Kyzir White had a good debut. He had 5 tackles, a TFL and a PD. He was physical and tough on the inside. He showed the speed to chase plays outside. The highlight play was when White deflected a pass that was picked off and returned for a score. Game-changing moment.

There was a lot of hype on TJ Edwards this summer. I was excited to see him in action. I shouldn’t have been. He wasn’t awful or anything close to that, but I was disappointed in his performance. He did have 7 tackles and a PD. There were a couple of impressive stuffs on inside runs. There were just too many plays where he was stuck on a block or a step late.

*S

Marcus Epps got a lot of hype this summer and I thought he lived up to it. He led the team with 10 tackles and had a TFL. Epps was fast and physical. He was one of the Eagles better tacklers. Epps really attacked the ball. He did fall down on Swift’s long run early in the game. That hurt. Epps also failed to wrap up on a tackle attempt on Swift’s first TD run. Epps hit him hard, but wasn’t able to get Swift down.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson didn’t have a great debut. He had 5 solo tackles and a PD, but looked out of position on a few run plays. He gave up a key 1st down to the TE Hockenson. CGJ stumbled on the play and that left the TE open just enough. CGJ is a physical player, but I was disappointed by his tackling.

*CB

Darius Slay was up and down. He dropped an INT and gave up a TD. To be fair, both were tough plays. Slay didn’t see the ball until the last second on the INT play. He got his hands on it, but couldn’t secure the ball. The TD was just a terrific throw and catch. Give the Lions credit for that. Slay hustled and played the run hard. He was in on 6 tackles. Generally covered well.

James Bradberry made a huge play when he picked off a deflected pass and ran it back for a TD. Great hands and awareness. Bradberry had other good coverage moments, the most notable being on a pass in the end zone. He was awful vs the run. Ugh. The coaches have to tell him that is unacceptable. Most of the big runs came to his side and Bradberry was unblocked. Poor effort and technique.

Avonte Maddox missed 3 tackles by my count. On one, Goff used a juke move on him in space and Maddox fell for it. Oof. I think Maddox started slow last year before taking off.

STs

Jake Elliott made his only FG, a short one. He was perfect on extra points.

Arryn Syposs averaged 45.7 per punt. Unfortunately his shortest punt came late in the game when yards were at a premium.

Britain Covey caught punts well. His long return was 11 yards. Good showing by him.

Quez Watkins returned three KOs. The longest went for 17 yards. The blocking wasn’t good so he didn’t have much to work with.

Zech McPhearson had the STs play of the game when he cleanly fielded a surprise onside kick in the 3rd Qtr. Great job by the young Eagle.

http://igglesblitz.com/2022/09/game-review-phi-det/

[EaglesAddict]

3 hours ago, time2rock said:

Jordan Davis was up and down. I thought he started off well, but I wonder if he got tired. His pad level wasn’t good later in the game. Lions C Frank Ragnow was able to single-block him for most of the 2nd half. How could a guy get tired on only 22 snaps? Maybe he wasn’t tired, but his play was sloppy. Early on, I thought he was good vs the run and showed some good athleticism.

Man...I hope that's not what it was.  That was one of the knocks on him during draft season and he even admitted to getting tired later in games.  I hope Davis doesn't turn out to be one of those dudes who "trained for the combine" to post freakish numbers, then gets lazy.  Obviously way too early to tell on this, but certainly something to watch for as the season goes.