Goals Accomplished

Posted: January 8th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

The Eagles primary goal for the regular season was to win the division. Done. They also wanted to be the top seed in the NFC and earn a bye week. Done. They accomplished both by beating the Giants today. The Eagles got out to a 19-0 lead and then held on to win 22-16. It wasn’t an ideal day, but the team won and there weren’t any major injuries. That makes it a good day.

Jalen Hurts returned after missing the previous two games. I thought he was sharp early. Hurts hit AJ Brown for a gain of 35 to open the game. Last week the Eagles didn’t get a first down until there were 34 seconds left in the first half. Welcome back, Jalen. He finished the first half 12-18-140 and the Eagles were up 16-0. I thought he threw the ball well and looked pretty good.

Nick Sirianni said after the game that Hurts was still sore. Jalen confirmed that in his press conference. He knew his team needed him so he played through the discomfort. The Eagles did change the gameplan from a normal week. There was only one designed run (QB sneak). They didn’t seem to mix in RPOs. The offensive gameplan was pretty vanilla.

The Giants played backups, but still played aggressively. They blitzed a lot and gave the Eagles some problems. That led to some throwaways and a few sacks.

A lot of people were frustrated that the Eagles didn’t run the ball more. We know this staff likes to throw early and run later. They want to put points on the board early on. That means passing. I think the coaches also wanted Hurts to knock the rust off and get back into game shape. The way to do that is by throwing the ball. They’ll need to be able to throw the ball to win in two weeks.

The offense moved the ball pretty well. The big problem was struggling in the red zone. Coming into the game, the Eagles were the best red zone offense in the league. Part of that is Hurts ability as a runner. Defenses have to account for him or risk Hurts running for the score. The Giants weren’t too worried about him today and the Eagles offense wasn’t good near the goal line.

It wasn’t one thing. There were blocking breakdowns. Hurts took a bad sack. Hurts threw a bad INT. There were penalties. It was a group effort. The Eagles were 1 for 5 in the red zone. If they convert two of those, the score is 30-16 and the game feels different. But that didn’t happen. The Giants scored late to make it 22-16 and the Eagles needed Reed Blankenship to recover an onside kick to seal the deal.

The Eagles defense had an odd day. They only gave up 77 yards in the first half. No points. It seemed like the Giants might not score (and you know how happy that makes me). The second half was different. The Giants put up 207 yards and 16 points. They let the Giants back into the game. Davis Webb was 14 for 18 after halftime and he ran for a TD. Not ideal.

Give the Giants some credit. Brian Daboll sat starters, but called a very aggressive game. They tried a fake FG and two onside kicks. They used a trick play. They went for it on fourth down three times. That aggressive spirit got the players fired up.

The Eagles defense was sloppy. They dropped a pair of INTs and came close to several others. TJ Edwards failed to make a tackle on fourth down that would have ended a drive. The Eagles went into the game as the #1 defense in the league. They gave up too many yards and will slide down a spot or two.

It wasn’t the smoothest or prettiest performance, but the Eagles won and finished 14-3. They had a better season than I hoped for. The past 18 weeks now fade into the background and we enter the postseason. The Eagles have a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl. Sirianni won’t let the team talk about that, though. He’ll have them focused on fixing mistakes from the Giants game and staying in the moment.

One day at a time. One game at a time.

That mentality helped the Eagles have a great regular season. Now we’ll see how it does in the playoffs.

http://igglesblitz.com/2023/01/goals-accomplished/

9 hours ago, time2rock said:

The Eagles primary goal for the regular season was to win the division. Done. They also wanted to be the top seed in the NFC and earn a bye week. Done.

Sorry but this team did not have serious aspirations to be the top seed. Every team would like that at the beginning of the season but that's not reality for most teams. And that wasn't the reality for this team headed in to the year. This team was focused on winning the division and anything above that was a bonus. This year was about progressing and seeing if Hurts was the long term answer. 

6 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Sorry but this team did not have serious aspirations to be the top seed. Every team would like that at the beginning of the season but that's not reality for most teams. And that wasn't the reality for this team headed in to the year. This team was focused on winning the division and anything above that was a bonus. This year was about progressing and seeing if Hurts was the long term answer. 

Maybe he meant the latter became a goal later when they were 10-1, 11-1, etc.

13 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Sorry but this team did not have serious aspirations to be the top seed. Every team would like that at the beginning of the season but that's not reality for most teams. And that wasn't the reality for this team headed in to the year. This team was focused on winning the division and anything above that was a bonus. This year was about progressing and seeing if Hurts was the long term answer. 

Their goal was winning the division. That was their primary focus as stated. They also wanted to be the top seed and earn a bye week. That was an aspiration. 

Later in the season when the ability to get the top seed was in their grasp, then it became a goal.