FINALLY, after what seemed like a 12 month offseason, we got a look at our team. After a long wait, we had a chance to get a real idea of how they measure up against other NFL teams. Better still, this was against a team that made the playoffs last year. A real test! So of course the Packers rested key players.
It was just as well that we didn’t get the Packers best punch. We spent so much time hurting ourselves, that they hardly needed to show up at all. 73 plays run, 54 passes to 19 rushing attempts. That put the play selection here at 78% pass to 22% run. No NFL team can put together a successful season with that kind of imbalance. The Eagles uneven and frankly, hard to watch 9 – 24 loss, was proof of that.
But what about the stuff that the stats don’t reveal? That’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. To have an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that we’re forced to honestly answer questions AFTER the game.
So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?
1) Which WR has QB Carson Wentz’s eye: Turns out it seemed to be WR Jordan Matthews. Matthews caught two balls from Wentz that he turned into much better plays on the field than they could have been on paper. No ball was thrown to WR’s Nelson Agholor or Torrey Smith. However, at least Wentz was looking for WR’s not backs or TE’s. (DONE)
2) Covering our bets: The CB’s continued to play with huge cushions and surrendering inside releases, like the starters from last year did. A 61% completion percentage will kill any Defensive scheme, regardless of how great the front seven is. (NOT DONE)
3) Timmy, Timmy, Timmayyyyy: DT Timmy Jernigan didn’t see much action last night, but on the handful of downs he played, the interior looked impenetrable. I’m sure it’ll seem more human next week and the week after. However, for now it was good to see dominance. (DONE)
4) Getting carried away: We didn’t get the (5 – 24 – 4.8) with a long run of 10, kind of night that I was hoping for from RB Corey Clement. What we got, was a (7 – 13 – 1.8) with a long run of 8 kind of night. He was however, the Eagles leader in rushes and yards, as no RB was able to find any help from the Offensive Line. (NOT DONE)
That starts the preseason off with a low-key 2 out of 4 benchmarks met. That being said, I want to see more from the running game and from our coverage next week vs Buffalo at the Linc.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 