The Eagles are sadly slowly slipping out of the playoff race, especially with everyone else in the division else winning this week. With this year slowly reaffirming that it is indeed a rebuilding year, the least that the team can do can offer glimpses of optimism to show that there is some good on the Eagles. Draft season is here earlier than expected.
Almost Plays
Sweat’s Stolen Sacks
The name of the game today seemed to be “almost.” Josh Sweat ‘almost’ had two more sacks on the day. The Eagles offense ‘almost’ had three touchdowns that weren’t called back by penalty. There’s a reason I’m somewhat numb to this season. It’s going to take a year or two before I can say assertively whether or not Hurts/Sirianni/Steichen/Gannon are the guys for the future. Of the three touchdowns the Eagles missed out on, two of them were due to lack of discipline, one was a phantom PI call on JJAW in the end zone, and one was the referees missing out on the DB pushing Smith out of bounds. Overall, a lot of frustration and questions of ‘what if’ against an opponent that could have earned Hurts & Co. lots of respect.
Group Plays
Quick Passes
The team tried to emphasize longer passes last week, and it didn’t work as well as one might’ve hoped. So… Sirianni went back to what worked for him in Atlanta: short, quick passes that emphasize getting the ball out fast . There were definitely longer passes, but it seemed the offense today put more emphasis on attacking the middle of the field. Garbage time or not, the offense scored 30 points today, and that’s not including the golden sombrero of touchdowns that were called back due to penalties. The offense, I now feel better about. That defense though… Good thing we don’t play Kansas City every week.
Hargrave/Sweat sack
Javon Hargrave and Josh Sweat have been two of our most pleasant surprises over the last half year. Both were unknowns in the first half of the 2020 season, got hot in the second half when the season was lost, and proved over these first four games to be stalwarts of our defense (especially Hargrave). Gravedigger was the first one who blew up the lineman and got pressure, but Sweat came in for cleanup duty, sealed off the edge and prevented Mahomes from breaking contain.
Group interception (Wilson/Sweat)
One of the main gripes that Eagles fans had with the Jonathan Gannon defense is how few turnovers have been forced. Eagles fans were also irritated with how little of an impact Eric Wilson has made this season. Well, both of those gripes were fixed in this play. Josh Sweat delivered good pressure against Mahomes, which forced an errant throw and killed a Chiefs drive that was knocking on Eagles territory
Individual Achievements
Arcega-Whiteside Strip Sack
On one hand, this could be considered an “almost play” since Kansas City recovered. On the other, Arcega-Whiteside was the one who actually forced the fumble, as opposed to jumping on a fumble that resulted from miscommunication. Either way, the former second-round pick did a good job of getting low on his tackle and forcing a fumble. Given that Philadelphia had just scored and had a three-point lead, recovering a fumble would’ve been a great opportunity to take some wind out of Kansas City’s sails.
Devonta Smith: 2 Minute Man
Smith was quiet for the first half. When the old Alabama connection of Hurts-Smith started warming up, that’s when the fireworks began, much to the glee of my contemporary, Noah, who had Devonta Smith on his fantasy team. Also, shoutout to Devonta Smith for earning his first 100-yard game as a pro. I know a receiver named Justin Jefferson that had a 100-yard game in his *checks notes* third game as a pro. If Smith can match Jefferson’s trajectory from last year, we might have a pro bowler on our hands.
Jake Elite
Last week, it was Tommy McDonald. This week, Elliot passes Brian Westbrook to become 7th in scoring (and Paul Mcfadden for 3rd in FGs) in Eagles history. Elliot has been nearly perfect on the season, and continued that streak today by going 3/3 in extra points today, a far cry from his 81% accuracy last year.
Greg Ward Walkoff TD…Kinda
Scores>everything, even in garbage time. Apparently, it’s a running joke that Ward always gets garbage time TDs from Hurts (it happened last week vs. Dallas and this week against Kansas City. Ward’s catch was admittedly more impressive than Goedert’s touchdown, as there was more field to cover, but has the asterisk of coming down 19 points with five seconds left. Nevertheless, effort is still to be encouraged even when the game is lost.
Dallas GoaTDert
Speak of the devil. Today was not a good day for me to bench Goedert in Fantasy. 5 catches, 56 yards, and one touchdown. The most impressive aspect of Goedert’s lone TD, however, is that he had a defender right next to him, so the ball placement had to be perfect. At the very least, it had to be very good. Fighting through contact, Goedert caught one of what should have been three touchdowns to give the team the lead.
KG Gains Well, Scores Better
I’ve been saying for years that this team should be run-first. The Eagles have one of the best run-blocking offensive lines in the league, but still somehow insist on resisting the cheat sheet right in front of them (although, I’m not sure it’s a cheat sheet if 60,000 people are screaming it at you every week). The Eagles have unfortunately struggled to score in the red zone this year for multiple reasons. Funnily enough, as soon as you give the ball to Gainwell, good things happen. The touchdown was arguably garbage time, especially given who the quarterback on the other end was, but hopefully, this is a wake-up call for Sirianni/Roseman/Lurie to run. The. Ball.
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Dylan Patrowicz is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Dylan, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
Image Caption: PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 03: Philadelphia Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell (14) celebrates his touchdown during the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs on October 3, 2021 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire)
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