WE earned this loss.
EAGLES 14 – Jets 20
Passing: QB Jalen Hurts (28/45 – 62.2 – 280 – 1 – 3)
Rushing: QB Jalen Hurts (8 – 47 – 5.8 – 1 – 0)
Receiving: WR A.J. Brown (9 – 7 – 131 – 18.7 – 0)
Offensive Line Report: (TFL: 2/ Sacks: 2/ Scrums Won: 0/ Scrums Lost: 0)
Drive Killer: LB Zach Cunningham (TD: 0 /Int: 0/ FR: 0/ 4th down stops: 1/ FF: 0)
Sack Leader: OLB Haason Reddick (Sacks: 2.5 / FF: 0/ Tackles: 5)
Special Teams Ace: N/A
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I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these Four Things articles. It’s to point out what we need to address BEFORE the game. Then AFTER the game, there’s a no-bullshit assessment of whether or not the Eagles did any of what they needed to do, to ensure the win.
So how much of what I mentioned in Four Things: JETS did the Eagles actually get around to doing? Well let’s see:
1) Kill Their Run Game: Our Defense held the Jets to 89 yards rushing, and with the exception of an 18 yard reverse, kept them to 3.5 yards per carry. (DONE)
2) No Quick Throws: We did a decent job of this early and their QB clearly was uncomfortable and frequently off target downfield. As the game wore on however, law of averages took over; and while their QB never got into a “rhythm”, he was able to do enough to provide his team with helps, not HURTS. (NOT DONE)
3) Run the Ball Downhill: The Eagles handed the ball off just 14 times in this game. Four of those were on the final drive. Despite leading nearly all game long, our dipstick Offensive Coordinator chose to be cute by calling 45 passes, and a handful of empty backfield QB runs, against just 10 functional handoffs.
Incidentally, 14 handoffs and four turnovers was exactly how we lost to Washington last year. So I don’t put this loss on our idiot OC, who can’t call plays in the redzone. I put this right at the feet of Head Coach Nick Sirianni.
It’s on Sirianni to learn lessons, and lead his staff by them. Instead, he keeps needing to be re-eductated on the same shit, repeatedly. He had to learn to buckle in and lean on the run in 2021, followed by a 6 -1 win streak. He had to re-learn it in 2022 after that Washington game. Now in 2023, here he is again. It’s like he’s too simple, to keep it simple. (NOT FUCKING DONE. AGAIN)
4) Motion Slot to Brown: I saw this happen just once all game long. It worked out as the A.J. Brown catch that was challenged. That said, with the lack of running, it might not have meant much even if the Eagles had done it. (NOT DONE)
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This week we did 1 of the Four Things and it showed. Next week, the circus known as the Dolphins comes to Philly, and our players don KELLY GREEN for the first time in decades.
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Game Hero: OLB Haason Reddick – The man has been on an absolute tear since he got his cast off. His 5 tackle, 2.5 sack performance today, clearly make the case that his slow start had to do with that thumb injury. Now that he’s got it going and will command attention on the edge, it might open things up inside (like it did today) for our DT’s.
Game goat: QB Jalen Hurts – Three turnovers. I get that a couple of them were a little fluky, but with his number being called at least 47 times in this game, you would think that a GOOD leader, would ask for help from his team.
What things could he have asked for? Maybe he calls a few audibles to a run play? Maybe doing more than pouting in his seat, on the sideline? Maybe bootlegging left, away from the two back-ups that now comprise the entire right side of his Offensive Line?! These are just off the top of my head.
After the game, I heard a term used that I haven’t heard here in couple of years: Hero Ball. That’s sounds like the hounds are about to be released. Hurts has at times been a prickly with a local media that has largely treated him with kid gloves. I’m not sure how he holds up, if the media’s tone shifts on him.
On The Whole: You know that part in movies when the the bad guy has a gun and the hero doesn’t; then (because of the script) the bad guy decides he doesn’t need a gun and wants to fight the hero hand to hand? That’s Nick Sirianni and our run game.
Sirianni has the Eagles run game, but in the heat of battle, doesn’t tell his staff to dial up the runs. Makes no sense to me! (Then again, I’m the kind of villain that shoots you in the knee, puts the hot gun muzzle in your crotch, and THEN says “Give me the codes.”) If you have an unfair, induplicable advantage, why not go to it often?
As a result, everything about the Offense is devolving into a shitshow. Weapons (players) that go under-utilized for weeks. Red zone execution regression. Now we’re looking at dropped passes, and our QB has become Dak Prescott??! At what point do these things become concerning to people inside the Eagles organization?
For weeks, the Eagles attitude has been “Shut up. Yeah we stunk, but we won! How can you complain about being undefeated?” There’s a sports axiom that states “Winning is great deodorant.” Okay, but losing to the Jets is like bathing in a landfill. Maybe now that we’ve seen a loss, we can stop glossing over our problems.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 