Happy AJ Day

Posted: October 30th, 2022 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

Brown went 6-156-3, catching TDs of 39, 27 and 29 yards. He was a stud.

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

https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1586768106709405696

Wow. If you’re old enough, you flashed back to TO. Brown is that level of receiver, a guy who can make tough catches and big plays on a regular basis. The Steelers had no answer for him. He would have posted even bigger numbers if the Eagles hadn’t sat their starters for the final nine minutes. It was that kind of game.

Jalen Hurts was fantastic. He went 19-28-285 with 4 TDs and no turnovers. The other TD was a 34-yarder to Zach Pascal. Hurts took advantage of a weak secondary by throwing the ball downfield. He threw some absolute dimes.

The Eagles offense was so explosive that they scored 35 points and only ran one play in the red zone. I’ve never heard of something like that. The offensive starters were only in the game for 43 snaps. That’s almost one point per play. Again, that’s insane. I can do that on SuperTecmo Bowl, but the Eagles doing it in a real game is beyond impressive.

Wow.

The Eagles defense had 6 sacks and 2 takeaways. They allowed 300 yards, but only 4.3 yards per play. The Steelers had to try to put together long drives. They did a couple of times. The Eagles held them to 1 of 12 on third downs. PIT did go 4 for 4 on fourth downs. Their lone TD came on fourth-and-goal.

There was one bit of bad news.

Ugh.

The good news is that Davis should be back this year. The Eagles can live without him for a while, but it would be great to have him back for the final month and then the postseason.

Javon Hargrave had 2 sacks and a FF against his old team. CJ Gardner-Johnson had 7 tackles, an INT and a sack. He has proven to be the kind of playmaking safety you need to be a top flight defense (Wes Hopkins, Brian Dawkins, Malcolm Jenkins). CB James Bradberry was the standout in coverage. Rookie Kenny Pickett wanted no part of Darius Slay so he threw at Bradberry several times. That led to a couple of penalties, but that’s about it.

New DE Robert Quinn did get a QB hit and got some pressure, but didn’t make any plays.

The Eagles led 21-10 at the half. We all wondered if the team would be able to solve the lack of second half scoring. The Eagles went 75 yards in 5 plays to open the third quarter and that grew the lead to 28-10. The game was basically over at that point. The Hargrave strip sack set up the final TD drive. That one was just two plays for 54 yards. Game over.

This wasn’t a perfect performance. There was some sloppy tackling at times. The Eagles allowed PIT to convert on a fake punt and that helped lead to a FG. Hurts took a couple of bad sacks. The Eagles gave up 144 yards on the ground (58 by QB/WRs). The RBs had some good runs on draw plays.

Some people might be critical of the Eagles for not running more than 20 times in a blowout. That was by design. The Eagles saw a chance to exploit the Steelers secondary when they went with one-high safety. When PIT did give two-high looks, the Eagles ran well. Miles Sanders was 9-78-1. The Eagles ran for 111 yards in the game.

If there were any questions about the Eagles being distracted by the bye, the Phillies, Halloween, the return of the McRib, etc., the team answered them definitively. They were locked in from the start. Nick Sirianni talks about dawg mentality. Today the Eagles played like the big dogs. You see some teams play down to the competition. The Eagles knew they were the better team and played accordingly.

They now have a short week with Thursday’s game against the Texans.

The Eagles are 7-0 for the first time since 2004. You may remember TO helping that team to get to the Super Bowl. AJ Brown could help this team to do the same. This feels like a special season.

http://igglesblitz.com/2022/10/happy-aj-day/