THANK YOU @CrossingBroad! pic.twitter.com/50rOUuGnqH

— Alicia (@aliciae25) October 11, 2015

Here he has Jason Peters pulling and complete daylight ahead of him, if he can turn the corner. Nope:

[Jim: I was also at the game with an end zone view, and therefore saw most holes when they opened. My whole section was exasperated as Murray made a sprint for the sideline every time. He was obsessed with hitting the edge, and he couldn’t even do it. The few runs he made up the middle, when he hit holes, he did well with. A couple of those holes collapsed right on him, though.]

Now, let’s compare Murray to Darren Sproles and Ryan Mathews.

Sproles:

I NOT SEE A HOLE! But Sproles found one, zig-zagging his way for a solid gain.

On a similar run, at almost the exact same spot on the field…

… Murray somehow got himself gummed up in defenders for only a short gain:

And here’s a play where Mathews was fast enough to utilize what was admittedly very good blocking and get around the corner before a diving defender could reach his feet:

Big gain for Mathews. Twice yesterday, Murray was tripped up by diving defenders, something Mathews eluded here.

There were other plays where Murray had open space that a quick running back – say Sproles or Mathews – would’ve been able to take advantage of. But Murray… well, he got himself cornered:

Derp.

And other times where he was tripped up by the turf monster:

Screenshots maybe don’t tell the best story, but the point is that multiple times yesterday, Murray had space, lanes, or just one defender to beat for what could’ve been huge gains. And frequently, he wound up with little or no yards to show for it. The better back, by far, yesterday was:

Ryan Mathews

Not sure what to say, he’s just quicker, more efficient, and all around better than Murray so far this season. He had 73 yards rushing on eight carries to Murray’s 83 yards on 20 carries (!). He also caught five passes for 44 yards to Murray’s 37 yards on seven catches (!!!).

There was one series late in the first quarter where Mathews was virtually unstoppable. Looks at this play calling:

Note the Murray no gain, one yard plays compared to Mathews’ domination.

This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Before Murray, Mathews was going to be the number one back. And he clearly benefits from Murray handling the load. It’s a good combination of backs, and a good problem to have. But it’s telling that inside the five it’s Mathews and Sproles, not Murray, lining up behind Sam I Maybe Am. Chip Kelly told the WIP Morning Show today that Duce Staley decides which back is out there on which plays, and maybe that’s true, but it’s obvious that the team feels better about Mathews, or even Sproles, punching the ball in than their high-priced free agent running back.

Josh Huff

Chip Kelly sounds like he wants to murder Huff, not for the flip…

… but for carrying the ball in the end zone with one hand just before it. Otherwise, Huff had a great day, starting with the opening kickoff return, and it was all maybe because of his training. Chip told reporters after the game that he knew Huff would have a big day because he had a great week of training (not practice, training— love it). “You sync to your training,” Chip says. This is the sort of dark matter that outsiders don’t see and can’t account for. The Eagles monitor players’ conditioning very closely. They saw something in Huff this week – that he was set up for optimal performance – and sure enough… big day for Huff. He was one of several players who gave:

Extra effort

Jordan Matthews, Ryan Mathews, Josh Huff, and even Riley Cooper once or twice, gave great extra effort and fought through contact. Often times it did nothing more than delay the inevitable tackle, or gain just an extra yard or two. But on one play, Huff fought for an extra two yards near the goal line and on the next play Mathews barely got his arm (and the ball) over the line for a touchdown. This sort of thing doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but sometimes just that little extra effort can pay off. But sometimes there’s no effort at all, like when you’re:

Miles Austin

He fucking sucks. Look at this play. The interception in the end zone. It was a bad throw by Bradford, no doubt, and there may have been pass interference, but Austin was actively falling away from the defender and ball:

This is a theme with him. It is so maddening that seemingly every time he’s targeted, he either pulls up, makes a token effort, or downright falls away from the ball. THIS IS THE END ZONE. GO GET IT!

There was a flag thrown on the play, but officials picked it up. I imagine their conversation going like this:

Official 1: Whattya got?

Official 2: PI.

Official 1: Pretty sure he just fell over.

Official 2: But h…

Official 1: How can an NFL wide receiver fall away from a possible touchdown pass?

Official 2: Yes.

Official 1: It’s Miles Austin. He sucks.

Official 2: But w…

Official 1: Why would you not go for the ball, lean forward, and dive toward pay dirt?

Official: 2: Yes.

Official 1: Boggles my mind. Damned if I know. I’ve been around this game a long time and I ain’t sure I’ve ever seen a bigger lady part than Austin. Now, pick up the flag! I got the under.

But maybe giving no effort is better than:

Dropping balls

Both of these passes, directly into the midsection of starting wide receivers, were dropped. Inexcusable. Both Jordan Matthews and Riley Cooper had good games, but they could’ve, and should’ve, been better. Can’t happen.

Sam Bradford

He was better yesterday. Far from great, but better. He still has a habit of underthrowing receivers and bastardizing routes on certain plays. He still overthrows receivers, too. This ball was not even close to Cooper…

… this throw was listed as intended for Josh Huff, but it appears to have been thrown high to ghost man on the outside Miles Austin:

… and this just blows chunks:

But, Bradford settled in nicely in the second half, kept up momentum and pace, utilized tight ends very well all game, and led running backs on the many, many swing passes the Eagles threw.* Sam is awarded 1.8 headlights this week.

*In Madden, this is the best way to utilize the Eagles’ offense, and indeed it’s proving to be true. They have a horizontal passing attack, and that’s fine… if the running backs (ahem, DeMarco Murray) can better attack the holes vertically.

Cox all over the place

.@fcoxx_91 doesn't care about Sunday's domination. "Most importantly, we won the 🏈 game." http://t.co/9xmYfmhyT8 pic.twitter.com/7c3MsaQ1tp

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 12, 2015

Fletcher Cox flashed 6 ABC a little message before the game, saying he would dominate, and indeed he did. Let’s measure Cox:

Cox was all over balls. Cox was all over Brees. Cox was coming for you. Cox was huge for the Eagles yesterday. I don’t know what else to say about Cox. But I love Cox!

Jimmy Kempski wrote glowingly about how much he enjoyed Cox.

Tony Siragusa

I don’t hate his existence as much as some other people, but he looks ridiculous here. Like Anthony Gargano fused with Mike Pereira. Wow, that person would be fun at parties.

Chip penalty

Not sure why everyone – the media, and everyone but Keith Jones on the WIP Morning Show – was confused over what Chip was mad about yesterday. He was LIVID over the picked up flag on the pass interference call against Darren Sproles:

I was watching him. For several minutes he wouldn’t lay off several officials, who seemed like they wanted to reverse engineer the missed call. First they picked up the flag, forcing the Eagles to punt. And then they awarded the questionable reviewed Brees fumble to the Eagles, which would’ve put the Birds in near-automatic field goal range. And then, gave Chip the penalty, which essentially backed the Eagles close to where they would’ve been had officials called the pass interference against Sproles in the first place. Make up call, atop makeup call.

Anyway, Chip was furious over the missed call. Understandably so. He’s adorable when he’s mad, though.

Brent Celek leap

White men can’t jump.

Play count

The Eagles were ranked 29th in the league after last week with only 60 plays per game. Yesterday? 84:

Here are the snap counts from Sunday's game: pic.twitter.com/uwJb9HarXw

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) October 12, 2015

Stat

Sam Bradford games with at least 333 passing yards:
3 in 49 starts with Rams
2 in 5 starts with Eagles

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) October 12, 2015

Blackout next Monday Night?