OUR ten point lead, just flu away.

EAGLES 17 – Seahawks 20

EAGLES STATS:

Passing: QB Jalen Hurts (17/31 – 54.8% – 143 – 0 – 2)

Rushing: QB Jalen Hurts (13 – 82 – 6.3 – 2 – 0)

Receiving: WR A.J. Brown(10 – 5 – 56 – 11.2 – 0)

Offensive Line Report: (TFL: 4/ Sacks: 0/ Scrums Won: 3/ Scrums Lost: 0)

Drive Killer: N/A (TD: /Int: / FR: / 4^th down stops: / FF: )

Sack Leader: DT Jalen Carter/Fletcher Cox (Sacks: 1.0/ FF: 0/ Tackles: 1)

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: SEAHAWKS did the Eagles actually get around to doing? Well let’s see:

1) Run the Ball: Tire out Seattle’s defensive front. Don’t be one dimensional. Get 75 rushing yards for RB D’Andre Swift (18 – 74 – 4.1 – 0 – 0). We did those things, and it helped to keep Hurts from being sacked. (DONE)

2) Deploy the Kerrigan Plan: Didn’t get within a 80$ cab ride of this. There were four RB Screens thrown, but because of the constant WR and TE Screens, no one was in the Flat. So Seattle’s defense just hung around looking for screens, like horny boys outside of a girl’s Catholic school. (High school was fun.)

Making things worse, it seems like Hurts either doesn’t see crossing routes, or just refuses to throw to them. It also seems like opponents have figured this out, because again this week, there were plenty of gimmies left on field. Both of the uncovered and loosely covered variety. (NOT DONE)

3) Peter Out Their Line: This couldn’t be done because OT Jason Peters didn’t play. As a result, the left side of the Eagles Defense was gashed by the run, and no sacks were generated from there. A few times the Eagles went to a five man line, and were effective when not rushing in straight lines.

The reality is that OLB Haason Reddick (2 – 0.0 – 0 – 0) is too small to keep lining up at DE. He’s at his best as a stand up rusher, playing outside of a true DE. When he lined up at DE in this one, he just got washed around vs the run and, was a non-factor rushing the pass (NOT DONE)

4) Just Make the Tackle: We were doing a great job of this in the first half. In the second half there was rare edge setting, guys weren’t in their run fits, and watching DT Jordan Davis (2 – 0.0 – 0 – 0) repeatedly driven off the line, was something I didn’t understand. (NOT DONE)

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So this week we did 1 of the Four Things and surprise surprise, we lost. Next week the giants come to Philly to gift us with a win on Christmas day.

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Game Hero: RT Lane Johnson – Coming back into the game after twisting his ankle, was a big time move. Psychologically the Eagles don’t stay in this game, if Hurts is sick and Johnson is sidelined.

Game goat: QB Jalen Hurts – Running Back Jalen Hurts threw 2 interceptions, and was off all night, with his passing. Yet at no point was he selfless enough to admit that he wasn’t getting it done. While RB Hurts scored twice, QB Hurts turned the ball over twice. What’s that, two straight games without a passing touchdown?

On The Whole:

Hear me out.

The loss was stunning, but this game wasn’t nearly as bad as it seemed. While the replacing of Sean Desai with new Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia, may have felt like “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”, it really wasn’t.

There are only so many changes that can get made in eight days. Postgame, it was said that Patricia changed nothing. Supposedly, the only thing that changed were the people. This is smart, because Patricia needs to figure out if the problem was Desai, or the players. Players suddenly asked to do unfamiliar things, just means new mistakes.

For example, the go-ahead touchdown thrown on CB James Bradberry (5 tackles). He said that he was playing the sticks (the first down marker), and not expecting Safety help. Well then, he shouldn’t have let his man get behind him. Regardless of what the called defense was, Bradberry should have made that mental adjustment.

With Bradberry not making that simple adjustment, it says in this case the error is player not scheme. On the other hand, watching Reddick at DE, being repeatedly washed out against the run, says in that instance, the issue is scheme. Patricia now gets to evaluate and make his adjustments.

Offensively, having a sick QB run the ball 13 times, and absorb the beating that goes with it, was a sign that our coaching staff suffers from CTE. The extra fatigue from the beating he was eating, showed up in Hurts ball placement. Note how he didn’t put the ball where only his guys could get it.

There had to have been six Screens thrown in this game. None of them good. Unless it’s to a RB, we should knock that shit off. What creates room for a Screen, is moving players away from the line of scrimmage. Stacking receivers, who then cluster at the line like a doo-wop group, only attracts defensive players. Like it did in this game.