I’ve come to talk with you again 🎵
🎵 Hello football, my old friend
It can’t be understated how pivotal early games are for setting the tone. It’s hard not to overreact, but it’s hard not to treat it as an extension of things that bled from one season into the next. The Eagles didn’t fix everything despite their personnel moves. Finders crossed things improve as the season progresses, but as for week 1, most of the playmakers were probably who you expected.
Group Play
Pick Six
It feels dirty putting a score this far down the totem pole, but watching the scoring replay, it’s impossible to say that one person would have been able to make this play without the other– Kyzir White with the deflection and James Bradberry with the pick. With the position White was in, he would’ve gotten a PBU at most, maybe an interception. That’s nice, yes, but it doesn’t hit the same as putting points on the board.
Individual Plays
Marcus Epps TFL
While “best LB on the Eagles” wasn’t a high bar to clear last year, but one that Marcus Epps nevertheless earned for himself. To be fair, however, he did what he had to do and took care of business behind the LOS. Seeing a good play is nice, but feeling it is even better. I’m not a huge fan of how Epps went low, but whatever it takes to force an incompletion, I suppose.
Hurts Using His Legs
I will not lie, the beginning of the game had me panicking. Hurts was 0/5 and he was still pulling the ball and running, struggling to go through his reads. In the morning after, however, people rewatching the game/All 22 see how much the offensive line was struggling early. Hurts was one of the only people doing their job offensively. It wasn’t pretty, but it was positive yardage, nonetheless, and kept us in the game long enough for his arm to wake up.
AJ Brown Catch Radius
Speaking of Hurts’ arm waking up, when he had time to find someone, it was normally Brown on the receiving end. My condolences to all the Devonta Smith owners that were left out in the cold, but at least we now know that Brown won’t lose a step on the Eagles. I highlight his catch radius, but there was really only one catch where he had to dig down for. The other nine were well thrown, and a couple even threaded a really tight needle.
Jalen Hurts 55-yard Bomb
On the topic of tight needles, this was a perfectly placed shot by Hurts. These are the type of plays I want to see the o line give Hurts the time to make. The ability to make these types of plays, combined with Hurts’ mobility, is what wins football games. With how beautiful this pass was, one can only imagine how good this team would be if they could have these big plays consistently.
Boston Scott TD
Not bad for his first touch of the day. I know people that had Scott shares were getting a bit fidgety with Gainwell and Sanders absorbing the brunt of the touches, but rest easy, he took care of business on the one-yard line, picking up what ended up being the last, and arguably most important, points of the game. If the defense held water, perhaps this would have been more buried on the list of positives, but I can only judge what was, not what might have been.
Kenneth Gainwell TD
Back when I thought the game wouldn’t be close (the same can sadly be said for a later touchdown, as well). On a personal level, this was my favorite play of the night due to how it got me some tasty fantasy points, but on a more serious note, this was one of two points where the game seemingly should have been over. For some reason, the Eagles needed every point, but that is moreso the fault of the defense than the offense. Like Sanders and Scott, Gainwell forced his way for the required yardage.
Miles Sanders Conversion
It was nice to see Miles Sanders make his return. I had/have questions about Sanders’ durability, but it didn’t seem to matter today. This was the most important non-scoring play of the day, to me, not just due to the return of Sanders, but because it was what iced the game that was way too close for comfort, and way closer than it should have been. Also, Miles clearly saw a certain tweet from our own Mike Maher.
Miles Sanders TD
The tweet wasn’t unprompted. Miles Sanders went all of 2021 without a touchdown run, so it was critical for him to make the most of his opportunities as the de facto RB1. After the injury, last year, some fans (myself included) forgot how dangerous Sanders is. Some fans (myself included) thought that his production was replaceable. Well, 13 touches for 96 yards and a touchdown on an off night for the offensive line is sure a good way to silence any doubters.
Hurts TD
I was both nervous and curious what we’d do here. The first half wasn’t at all something I wanted to reflect on. The offensive line was getting eviscerated and Hurts had no time to throw, so I was uncertain if we’d get in scoring position again if we didn’t do something on this drive. Early drives like this are so critical for setting the tone for the rest of the game, let alone the rest of the season. I was honestly ready to cancel my Super Bowl plans when I saw that Hurts was 0/5 passing. When you have legs like Hurts does, though, you can open a lot in a red zone situation, as this conversion was evidence.
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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.
