As Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season wraps up tonight, let’s take a look at the state of the Eagles after yesterday’s game.
Recap
The Eagles took on the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season on the road in Atlanta. Coming into the game, the Eagles were 3.5 point underdogs, and from what I saw, every NFL analyst picked the Falcons to win. The Eagles didn’t let that phase them and absolutely routed Atlanta with a score of 32-6. The Eagles had 434 total yards of offense to Atlanta’s 260 total yards. Philadelphia was also able to produce a few chunk plays that were essential in their victory on Sunday; they averaged 6.5 yards per play over the course of the game. Though this is completely unrelated, I thoroughly enjoyed Greg Olsen’s thoughts while on the broadcast during the game.
Offensive Observations
1.) Jalen Hurts looked really good. I’ll be honest; I was on the Carson Wentz train last season. I didn’t think that Hurts had shown us enough through four games to hand the keys of the franchise over to him and name him the starter, but boy was I wrong. In only his 5th(!) NFL start, Hurts looked poised and comfortable and did a good job of escaping the pocket when it collapsed. A big knock on Hurts from last year was his completion percentage, and he all but put those questions to rest by completing 77% of his passes on Sunday in addition to throwing for 264 yards as well as three Touchdowns. Hurts is clearly winning over his teammates.
2.) DeVonta Smith balled out; his first NFL reception was a touchdown, and it seemed as if his chemistry with Hurts from Alabama rolled over into the NFL. Smith led the Eagles in receiving with six receptions for 71 yards and the aforementioned touchdown. The Heisman winner hit the ground running in his first professional game; it feels good to have a legitimate WR1 on the outside.
3.) Big shoutout to the offensive line! After watching last year’s joke of an O-line, it was refreshing to see the line hold up and play well. They allowed only one sack and, for the most part, held their own against Atlanta’s front four. In addition to this, the offensive line did a fantastic job of opening up holes for our backs to run through. Overall a great performance by them this week.
Defensive/ST Observations
1.) As any true Eagles fan, I do feel the responsibility of pointing out a negative aspect of Sunday’s game. Penalties were a massive issue for us this week; we saw too many offensive drives stall due to penalties backing us up as well as giving up 4 first downs off of penalties, although the majority of these penalties should be cleaned up this week in practice.
2.) I also need to give major props to our defense; after letting the Atlanta offense drive down the field on them during their first two drives of the game, the defense held their ground. The defense held Atlanta to 2 field goals and never looked back. A fact about this game that I absolutely love is that the Eagles defense did not allow a play of 20+ yards during the entirety of the game; this is a stark difference from last year, and I’m here for it. Gannon certainly had our guys ready to play. In addition, a big shout out to our LB’s, CB’s, and Safety’s; after watching 4th overall pick Kyle Pitts all year last year at the University of Florida, I assumed that he would shred our defense due to his size and speed. Our defense held him to 4 receptions on 8 targets with only 31 yards. This is a massive step up from last year, and I, for one, love to see it.
3.) I had to give Darius Slay his own section; he was absolutely incredible yesterday. So much for him being “washed.”
4.) The special teams units were decent this week; new punter Arryn Siposs had a few beautiful punts downed inside Atlanta’s 20. Jake Elliott made his lone field goal of the week; nature is healing.
Standings
I am proud to announce that THE Philadelphia Eagles are in sole possession of first place in the NFC East after Week 1. Dallas, Washington, and New York all lost to their respective opponents. I will not lie, Dallas looked pretty good against Tampa Bay; they are certainly a team to watch out for in this division. Washington’s defense also looked great against the Chargers, but with Fitzpatrick getting injured, they have an uphill battle to fight to stay close to first place. The Giants were the Giants; I’m not super worried about them, to be frank.
Upcoming Game
With the Falcons in hindsight, let’s focus our attention on our Week 2 opponent: the San Fransisco 49ers. The 49ers are 1-0, winning yesterday in a shootout game against the Detroit Lions with a (nice) score of 41-33. The Eagles enter this game yet again as underdogs, but honestly, I can see why. The 49ers looked electric offensively against the Lions. With that being said, the 49ers defense gave up 33 points to a Jared Goff-led team surrounded with “elite” WR talent such as: Tyrell Williams, Kalif Raymond, and Amon-Ra St. Brown. I certainly believe that our WR room is better than the Lions’, so we should expect our offense to keep us in the game. In addition to this, the 49ers will be without RB Raheem Mostert and CB Jason Verrett.
This is definitely a winnable game, but time will tell. This game will be played at Lincoln Financial Field, which should work in the Eagles’ favor.
Conclusion
As I said earlier in this article, the Eagles actually looked good this past week. Sure, some things need to be improved; however, this was the first week of the season. I fully expect Sirianni to continue to get our guys right moving forward. Coming in as underdogs on the road and leaving with a Week 1 W is certainly reason to feel good about this team. With that being said, this was only Week 1; I’m not buying Super Bowl tickets just yet. In the words of my good friend Alec Bowman: “The Eagles could always Eagle.” Though I fully loved seeing us win with such dominance yesterday, it’s important to keep our eyes forward & be realistic. This is a young team with a brand new Head Coach in Sirianni; the odds are certainly stacked against them. With that being said, Sunday was the first time in a long time that the Eagles were actually fun to watch; I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the season. Go Birds!
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Nate Eichner is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Nate, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
Image credit: “Military Appreciation Day at Lincoln Financial Field” by PANationalGuard is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
