Welcome back to 2023.
After blowing three games last year that they led with two minutes left, the Eagles did it again Monday night.
A nightmare last minute after the Eagles took a six-point lead with 65 seconds left turned what looked like a dramatic comeback win into a horrifying 22-21 loss in the home opener at the Linc.
Here we go with our 10 Observations.
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1. That last drive Kirk Cousins – who can’t move – needed only 65 seconds to drive the Falcons 70 yards for the game-winning touchdown. The Eagles got away with some really bad defense much of the game, but it all caught up to them on the final drive. Bad coverage. Bad tackling. Bad everything. They didn’t put up a fight. You really want to think that the way last year ended was out of this team’s system, but this is a game that if you want to call yourself a Super Bowl contender, you just can’t lose. In your own building? In your home opener? Against this team? This was inexcusable. And until the Eagles prove that it’s not 2023 anymore, until they prove they have the mental toughness to win a game like this, until they make the plays to finish a game, that shadow of last year’s disastrous 2023 Eagles finish will loom large over Nick Sirianni and the 2024 Eagles.
2. It’s hard to be too critical of Saquon Barkley. The guy is a beast. A flat-out beast and for two weeks in a row now he’s produced in a big way. In his Eagles debut against the Packers he had 132 scrimmage yards and added 116 Monday night. Some huge plays. But he’s got to catch the football. He just has to. There’s no excuses for that drop. Catch the ball, fall down, ballgame. It’s over. Third-and-3. Eagles up 21-15 with 1:46 left. Ball on the Falcons’ 10-yard-line. Nobody near him. At the sticks. Easy first down. I mean, the game is over as soon as he catches it and falls down at the 7-yard-line. Barkley plays so hard and has been so good. But that just can’t happen. That’s not the only reason the Eagles lost Monday night, but, man, that was just a terrible drop.
3. OK, we have to talk run defense. Two weeks in a row now they’ve gotten gashed. Just obliterated. The Eagles escaped São Paulo with a win in the opener, but they allowed 163 rushing yards and 7.8 yards per pop. On Monday night, they allowed 152 more and 5.4 yards per pop. What’s the issue? Everything. They’re getting pushed around up front. They’re missing tackles in the second level. They’re allowing backs to build up a head of steam before they even get touched. The Eagles have now allowed 316 rushing yards and 6.5 per carry in two games. It’s the most rushing yards they’ve allowed through Week 2 in 38 years - since 1986, Buddy Ryan’s first year as head coach, when they gave up 403. Also the first time since 1986 they’ve allowed 150 or more rushing yards in each of the first two games. And that 6.4 yards per carry allowed? That’s the 8th-worst since the merger in 1970 and worst in franchise history. What’s scary is that there’s no help on the way. They drafted Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter with top-13 picks to be forces against the run, but it’s not happening. Tackling has been horrible, and that’s everybody. I don’t know how you fix this. I don’t know if it’s fixable with the personnel they have. I know one thing. You’re not going to win very many games giving up 6 ½ yards per carry.
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4. Just as concerning – and related – is the astonishing lack of pass pressure. Zach Baun got a couple sacks blitzing vs. the Packers and interior lineman Milton Williams had a huge sack on a 3rd-and-4 from the Eagles’ 8-yard-line that forced a Falcons field goal Monday night. But the edge guys? Invisible. Josh Sweat, Bryce Huff, Nolan Smith and Brandon Graham still have no sacks this year, and Sweat is the only edge that even had a hurry Monday night. Going back to last year Eagles edge rushers have four sacks in the last 10 games – three by Haason Reddick, one by Brandon Graham - and none in the last six games. How do you go six games without a sack by an edge rusher? Huff still hasn’t gotten close to a quarterback this year. Like he’s not even in the frame when you watch the game. You don’t see him. It’s only two weeks, but he is starting to look like a $51 million mistake.
5. One encouraging thing to come out of this game is that Jalen Hurts looked … fast? Yeah, really fast. This is as well as we’ve seen him run in a long, long time. Fast. Powerful. Elusive. Tough. And most of all, making good decisions with the ball in his hands while also protecting the football. His 23-yard run on a 4th-and-3 in the second quarter was his longest in his last 15 games and matched his entire total of runs from scrimmage of at least 23 yards in his previous 20 games. He followed it up with scrambles of nine and 15 yards, which means he had more rushing yards on that drive – 47 – than in 16 of his last 20 entire games. Hurts looked sluggish running the football last year – most likely due to injuries that were never officially revealed – and also on opening day – most likely due to indecision and maybe a lack of comfort in his first game under a new offensive coordinator. Honestly, it was a concern that Hurts seemed to have lost a step. He can be a very good quarterback without running, but his legs add such a dangerous dimension and one we really haven’t seen much of since 2022. But he ran when he took off Monday night he looked decisive, confident and quick. He finished with 85 rushing yards – 5th-most of his career and most since late in 2022 – along with a touchdown on a tush push and six rushing first downs. I wasn’t sure we’d see that Jalen Hurts again.
6. Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Nolan Smith so far through two games: Two solo tackles, one quarterback hurry, no sacks, no big plays. When are these guys going to start making plays? When are they going to show up? Carter hasn’t played close to the level he was playing at early last year, and that’s been really surprising. I expected a lot more from him. Davis has been invisible. He just doesn’t show up. Smith hasn’t either. The Eagles spent 1st-round picks on all three Georgia guys, top-13 picks on both Carter and Davis. When you devote those kind of resources to anybody on either side of the ball, you expect significant contributions as a rookie and a big jump in Year 2. Carter’s first six weeks or so last year were fantastic, but where’s it been since then? It’s still early. Week 2. But it’s not that early. Davis is now in Year 3, Carter and Smith in Year 2, and we just haven’t seen it. When are they going to start looking like what the Eagles expected when they drafted them?
7. I think Kellen Moore is a very good play caller and has a nice flair for keeping defenses off balance. But this is what I don’t get: Saquon Barkley’s first four carries looked like on the Eagles’ first drive: 9-yard-gain, 9-yard-gain, 10-yard-gain, 11-yard gain. It was the first time in Barkley’s seven-year career he’s had four runs of at least nine yards on the same drive and the first time he’s had four runs of nine yards or more in the same quarter since the third quarter of a game against the Bears in 2018. The Falcons couldn’t stop him. So what happened on the last four plays starting with 1st-and-10 from the Atlanta 15-yard-line? Two Kenny Gainwell runs for six yards, a pass in the end zone to Johnny Wilson – who’s never caught an NFL pass – and then an incompletion on 4th-and-4 to Dallas Goedert. Saquon’s SHORTEST run on the drive was nine yards. His LAST run on the drive was 11 yards. I’m not saying give Barkley the ball every snap, but it’s hard for me to believe he wasn’t the best option on any of those four plays in the red zone. Sometimes you just have to ride the hot hand.
8. Jahan Dotson had an early six-yard catch on his only target but really wasn’t a big part of the offense, which left DeVonta Smith as really the only experienced wide receiver on the field for the Eagles. Britain Covey caught six passes and it was good to see him contribute, but those six catches went for only 23 yards. So Smith had 76 of the Eagles’ 105 wide receiver yards. And it's tough to have an explosive offense with one real wide receiver on the field. And while I don’t blame Dotson, I think a big part of the issue is that the guys Howie Roseman hand picked to compete for the third receiver spot in training camp – Parris Campbell and John Ross – just weren’t good enough. You could see pretty early they weren’t the answer, and while Roseman may have been looking for help throughout the summer, by the time he traded for Dotson, camp was over and opening day was about 2 ½ weeks away. So now A.,J. Brown gets hurt and the Eagles just don't have a legit backup wide receiver on the roster. Campbell was a game-day elevation, but he doesn't seem to have a lot of juice. Maybe Dotson will develop some chemistry with Hurts and get going, but right now the Eagles just don’t have a legit backup if one of the starters gets hurt. Brown really needs to get that hammy healed quickly.
9. I’m not sure what Darius Slay was looking at on that last Falcons touchdown, but he has to be better. He was nowhere near Drake London. What was he thinking? On the pivotal play of the game, half a minute left, game on the line, you turn to your five-time Pro Bowl superstar big-money cornerback to make a play. But Slay was so far out of position it was probably the easiest touchdown Kirk Cousins has ever thrown. Slay is one of the few guys on defense that you felt really confident in going into the season, but he is 33 and in Year 12 and it’s a little scary facing the prospect that maybe one of your best defenders is slowing down. I’m not sure that’s the case, but he hasn’t been great these first two games, and the Eagles need him to be great.
10. A peek ahead to next Sunday, and the Eagles are going to be on the road on a short week against a Saints team that’s scored 91 points in wins over the Panthers and Cowboys. That’s the 4th-most points any NFL team has ever scored through Week 2 and the 2nd-most since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. How are the Eagles going to stop Alvin Kamara, Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave and Derek Carr? You’re talking about a historically bad defense through two weeks facing one of the highest-scoring offenses in history through two weeks. It sure looks like a mismatch. We’ll learn a lot about the Eagles down in New Orleans Sunday afternoon because this looks ominous. If you can’t stop Kirk Cousins and Drake London and Bijon Robinson, how do you expect to stop Carr, Kamara, Olave and Shaheed? Maybe the Eagles will bounce back in a big way and come up huge and turn the season around. But after what we all saw at the Linc Monday night, it’s hard to be real confident.
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