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The Eagles acquired punched within the mouth, recovered, and punched again in Week 1 in a high-scoring 38-35 win over the Lions. The primary seven-ish minutes have been regarding, after which after that issues principally went in line with plan… with a hiccup or two.
However the Eagles’ offense appeared actually good! It was good!
(The protection… we’ll get to that.)
It is laborious to get too thrilled a few win in opposition to a crew just like the Lions, however among the issues we noticed Sunday afternoon have been fairly thrilling – and in some instances worrying – so let’s overreact to a small pattern measurement of 1 (1) recreation and draw some conclusions that will or is probably not right:
1. I am anxious about DeVonta Smith
A.J. Brown is nice. Like, actually good. Professional Bowl-level good. He is perhaps… too good?
If you happen to’re DeVonta Smith, it in all probability feels that means.
Smith’s rookie yr was uneven however in the end productive, and Eagles followers got here away from his first 18 video games as an expert feeling just like the crew had lastly made a superb draft decide at large receiver after a number of whiffs.
However all of the coaching camp chatter about Hurts’ friendship with Brown, and his affinity for throwing the ball Brown’s means, got here to life on Sunday in Detroit. Of Hurts’ 32 go makes an attempt, 13 focused Brown… whereas simply 4 focused Smith.
Smith dropped his first goal of the sport, a simple play that ought to’ve been a catch on the left sideline within the first quarter. Hurts solely focused him one time over the following two quarters, and there have been lengthy durations of time after I merely forgot that Smith was on the sector. That is not nice!
Between Brown because the clear reduce WR1, Dallas Goedert as a borderline elite tight finish possibility, and Jalen Hurts’ capacity to create together with his toes… precisely how a lot room is left for Smith? You normally see an enormous soar from yr one to yr two for go catchers, whether or not it is at tight finish or large receiver, nevertheless it seems like Smith’s progress might be stunted if Nick Sirianni retains calling his offense like this and Hurts retains trying Brown’s means on each dropback.
It isn’t an issue for the crew, to be clear. Brown is a famous person with huge play capacity and an unrelenting motor, and he raises the Eagles’ ceiling immensely. I simply do not love the scenario for Smith.
Clearly this is only one recreation. We’ll see what Week 2 brings. Nevertheless it’s one thing to observe.
(Severely although, A.J. Brown is so good.)
2. Why cannot the Eagles deal with or defend?
I do know it is simply Week 1 and the vast majority of the Eagles’ starters did not actually get a preseason, however I did not love what I noticed from Jonathan Gannon’s protection and their tackling. The efficiency was sloppy on quite a few fronts, however the incapability to wrap up on comparatively routine tackles was disappointing.
James Bradberry whiffed on a deal with on the primary drive of the sport to spring D’Andre Swift on a large 48-yard run, an unpleasant first second from the brand new Eagle. (He greater than made up for it afterward.) Avonte Maddox had his ankles taken by Jared Goff of all individuals within the third quarter on a pink zone scramble. Swift made a lot of Eagles miss on a 25-yard catch-and-run to start out the fourth quarter:
It was somewhat ugly on the market!
The Eagles have had this downside for some time now, and it appeared somewhat higher on Sunday – Kyzir White made a pleasant open-field deal with, Marcus Epps had an ideal submarine deal with for loss – however the lack of consistency on pretty fundamental performs cannot hold occurring. In opposition to the Lions, it will not burn you. In opposition to a superb crew, it would.
Pair iffy tackling with a still-too-soft defensive method from Jonathan Gannon (the Lions have been shifting the ball means too simply on a number of drives Sunday) and you’ve got the proper equation to let groups again into video games that might in any other case be no-doubter wins, similar to Sunday.
The Birds have expertise, however expertise is simply half of the equation. I want Gannon to be higher, each in teaching and in technique, or we’ll have some issues down the road.
3. Nonetheless ready for the Jalen Hurts leap
This would possibly simply be who Jalen Hurts is.
He makes extremely helpful performs together with his legs. He can throw a stable deep ball. He takes somewhat too lengthy to make choices. Generally he misses straight-up large open guys down the sector.
He is a ok quarterback. Can he be nice? I am nonetheless ready.
Hurts had a stable recreation Sunday – 18-of-32, 243 yards, 90 rush yards and a landing on the bottom – however he wasn’t spectacular, and I felt like I used to be watching re-runs of his video games from final season in each the great and the unhealthy.
We heard a lot through the offseason about how he would profit from being in the identical offensive system for a second yr, how he would have the ability to step his recreation up with an improved supporting solid. However I am unable to say I noticed any of that on Sunday. He nonetheless appears to be like just like the No. 15 quarterback within the NFL, and that might be ok to win 11 video games this yr however I am nonetheless not satisfied it is ok to win a number of playoff video games.
Once more, like I mentioned earlier, it is a small pattern measurement. We’ll see what the following few weeks convey. The crew continues to be gelling. Possibly in Week 5 he’ll be making sooner choices. Who is aware of? All I do know is what I noticed Sunday, and it was completely advantageous.
