Seattle 24 – EAGLES 14
NOTHING I saw yesterday was familiar. Beyond the score and the results and the yards, I didn’t see the EAGLES out there yesterday. Particularly on Offense. Defensively, however I definitely saw my team. But let me talk about the Offense first.
It would be one thing to see us failing at what we’re good at, but we didn’t even seem to be trying. The biggest thing was the pace. When have you seen us look that slow under Chip Kelly? Not even the Green Bay game featured that snail’s pace. Don’t get me wrong, by normal NFL standards it was fine, but this Offense isn’t run by normal NFL standards; and last night it seemed like it took forever between plays. Worse still, there seemed to be no move to correct it after the half.
There didn’t seem to be a concerted effort to push the ball down the field either. QB Mark Sanchez (10/20 – 50% – 96 – 2 – 1) averaged fewer than 10 yards per completion, with his longest completion being a 35 yard catch and run touchdown by TE Zach Ertz (2 – 39 – 19.5 – 1). Unstack that and aside from that one completion, Sanchez was 9 for 19 (47%), while only throwing for 64 yards, with a completion average of 7.1 yards per. Not yards per pass mind you, but yards per completion.
Add to that all the east-west run plays we ran. RB LeSean McCoy (17 – 50 – 2.9 – 0) saw a decent number of carries as he quietly became the EAGLES all-time leading rusher. But even without his costly third quarter fumble, it was hardly an effective day by he or the Offensive Line.
Defensively we were who we are. We did a pretty decent job of handling RB Marshawn Lynch, but as is always the case, when we face a playoff caliber QB, everything wrong with our basic defensive concept gets lit up like Times Square. Seattle did nothing jaw dropping out there yesterday, but by playing common sense offense and not getting flustered when they made a mistake, they were able to shoulder past us.
I’ve said before that our problem on Defense is the guy who runs it. Until we replace him, we’ll be stuck with concepts that don’t work against playoff caliber teams. I said in the first article on this website, that as long as we stick with Bill Davis at Defensive Coordinator, we won’t be able to win a Super Bowl. Granted, maybe we’ll hit the playoffs, get hot and he’ll prove me wrong. However at the rate we’ve been going versus playoff caliber teams, both this season and last, it seems so far that I’m right on the money.
But again, I’m really kind of stunned by what I saw out there from our Offense yesterday.
From what I saw yesterday and against GB, I’m sorry to say we’re not going far in the playoffs (and we still have to clinch a spot) again. I am always shocked when I see people praising Bill Davis. I’ve heard Foles is getting closer and closer to being healthy enough to play. Let’s hope that’s one of our answers! PLEASE SWEEP DALLAS!!!! PLEASE sweep the Skins and the Giants, too!
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Beating Dallas should happen. When we beat them on Thanksgiving, it wasn’t close, or the result of a fluke play, or missed call, or anything like that. We took away not 1, not 2, but THREE of their primary weapons. I’d be shocked if we lost the next game.
As far as the Defense, just looking at how many times Bill Davis dialed up 3 and 4 man pass rushes, told the story of just how little he gets it. As a result Wilson broke containment ALL DAY.
It was simple: 6 man front, (5 mush rushers, and 1 spy). You could contain Lynch AND Wilson with that. Instead Davis opted for 4 and 5 man fronts. What was worse, is just like the New Orleans game, he didn’t make any adjustments at the half; so what beat us early was still beating us late.
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First and foremost I think we saw what a difference a quarterback can make. Wilson is the truth. He’s a guy who made the plays he had to make on third down. Our quarterback was incapable of doing so. Also we say Sanchez get a taste of what Foles has dealt with all season. A struggling line, struggling run game, and turnovers. What happened? He looked worse than Foles. So all this talk about him being the better option than Foles is simply nonsense. In fact I would go as far as to state if Sanchez had been starting since week one we would be in a perfect position to draft Mariota right now, cause Sanchez is not better than Foles other than his ability to throw on the run. The bottom line is we need our quarterback healthy again.
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Sanchez won’t be here in 2015. That’s why he’s on a one year deal. So anyone looking at it as Foles vs Sanchez is missing the point entirely.
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This is a Sanchez/Foles thing. Some people just after the Houston game wanted to lock Sanchez up long term. They’re out of their friggin minds.
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