Always trust your gut, people. That weird feeling of confidence all week was spot on. I just couldn’t bring myself to fear the Vikings and Sam Bradford because they’re the Vikings and Sam Bradford. Winning ugly is still winning, and a win — of any kind — was exactly what the Eagles needed to wash the bad taste out of their mouth from the last two weeks and restore those good vibes from the first month of the season. The defense got its swag back and dominated the day, relentlessly whipping the Vikings offensive line and battering Sam Bradford. The offense was a muddled mess that continued to struggle and inspires dread more than confidence, but it was able to put a few drives together in the second half and eke out some points. Overall, Sunday’s game against the Vikings was a reminder of the formula for how the 2016 Eagles are ultimately going to be successful. This is a team that will live and die with its defense while a rookie quarterback and undertalented offense try to piece things together on the fly.

THE GOOD

Defense

Hoo boy, think the humiliation of that Washington game lit a fire under their asses? Yesterday’s defense was the one we saw in the first three weeks of the season, but with the wrinkle of Jim Johnsonian blitzes as Jim Schwartz acted on the intel he got from Carson Wentz and Chase Daniel regarding Sam Bradford.

The whole unit was ferocious, swarming and opportunistic at every level, with the only glaring negative being Matt Asiata’s 3rd and 13 run for a first down. Minnesota’s offensive line is a total disaster with both offensive tackles out for the season — I mean, they signed Jake Long, who hasn’t been good in four years/maybe ever, 12 days ago and started him at left tackle — but, regardless, six sacks and 19 hits on the quarterback in 47 dropbacks is still remarkable.

Let’s break this down by position group:


Defensive Line

Brandon Graham had one of his best days as a pro and led the way with a sack and a ridiculous six (6!) hits on Sam Bradford. He was the one who set the tone early by tossing right tackle T.J. Clemmings like a child and hitting Bradford’s arm to force the interception in the end zone to keep the score 0-0. This was after the Vikings nearly had a pick-six but Wentz helped make the tackle on the returner at the 2-yard line. Suddenly that “oh no, this is where it all starts to go downhill” feeling morphed into one of hope that the defense would be able to rule the day.

Fletcher Cox looked like Fletcher Cox after an underwhelming two games that included two costly red zone penalties. He collapsed the pocket on passing downs and single-handedly derailed the Vikings’ north-south run game, especially when they foolishly tried blocking him one-on-one.

https://twitter.com/JoshPaunil/status/790580016316817416

Beau Allen not only filled in for Bennie Logan, but he also did his best impression of him! Obviously the most noticeable highlight was his nimble fumble recovery (which led the end-of-half field goal to make it 11-3), but the most important play was when he beat his blocker to stuff Matt Asiata on 4th and 1 at the Eagles’ 6-yard line early in the fourth quarter when the Vikings were threatening to make it a one-touchdown game. After a week in which Jim Schwartz publicly declared that they needed to limit Connor Barwin’s snaps (since he’s been useless), the elder statesman of the defensive line responded with four tackles and a strip-sack (one of four total, two of which the Eagles recovered). That’s how bad Jake Long is, by the way. Even Marcus Smith played well and recorded two tackles, while Steven Means (who should see more playing time) notched his first career sack.

The only regular defensive lineman kept off the stat sheet was Vinny Curry, who played 54% of snaps and is being paid a lot of money to remain a situational pass rusher whose apparent best skill is to induce holds that never get called anyway.

The Eagles then honored the defensive line’s dominance by trolling Chip Kelly and claiming Taylor Hart off waivers on Monday. While this would seem to mean that the Logan injury might keep him out some more time, I’ll stick up a little for Hart. He’ll be forever stigmatized as a Chip reach, but the truth is he was a nice player in college and always profiled better as a 4-3 defensive tackle instead of a 3-4 end. Hart’s first full year was spent bulking up for the latter, then he was lost in last season’s defense. He flashed this training camp and played well during preseason, to the point where you figured he’d be in the mix as a key part of the front four’s depth. Hart was a surprise cut when the 53-main rosters were finalized, and it’s safe to say the Eagles really didn’t want to lose him.

Linebackers

Jordan Hicks had a 2015 Jordan Hicks game and was everywhere. He stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of 11 tackles (2 for loss), 2 passes defended, 1 sack and 1 quarterback hit. I think he might be a fit for this defense after all since he’s, you know, a really good player and talent has the tendency to transcend scheme, much more than culture beats scheme. Hicks had been quiet for the last month, but it turns out picking two plays from a game in which the entire unit sucked to support your hypothesis might not be the strongest way to support a flimsy hypothesis. This was an auspicious way for Hicks to enter into Dallas week, seeing as how he acquitted himself as a Cowboy killer in his first two games against them and will be charged with spying Dak Prescott. Add in that Dallas is where his season ended last year (after changing the game with an electric pick-six), and let’s cross our fingers it’s set up for a 2016 coming out party on the national stage.

Like Hicks, Nigel Bradham was excellent and seemingly in on every play. He finished with 7 tackles (1 for loss), 2 passes defended, 1 sack, 2 quarterback hits and resembled the intimidating physical presence we’ve come to expect, instead of the guy who whiffs on a scrambling Kirk Cousins.

Mychal Kendricks is nowhere near the caliber of player as his brother, but he had a legit impact in his 24 snaps (32%). He recorded 3 tackles and Schwartz tapped into his blitzing ability, which resulted in 2 quarterback hits — one that came at the same time Rodney McLeod forced a fumble (see next section). Kendricks isn’t going to be a guy they can trust to play a lot, but he could certainly be a valuable weapon if Schwartz is able to build on this and decides to incorporate more blitzing into game plans.

Secondary

Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod both had their worst games against Washington, but they were back to their old tricks against the Vikings — and then some because of their deployment as extra pass rushers. Jenkins was sent on an astounding 10 blitzes (or one every eight plays), which resulted in four hurries. McLeod made the huge pick against Bradford in the end zone, and Schwartz had him looking like Brian Dawkins flying around the edge on blitzes.

Speaking of McLeod, the Eagles’ marquee free agent signing is on pace for 115 tackles, 11 passes defended, 8 interceptions, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles. He’s ok, I guess.

The cornerback trio of Nolan Carroll, Leodis McKelvin and Jalen Mills held court against a sub-average receiver corps, and Mills got away with pass interference when the flag was picked up. To Mills’ credit, he responded and didn’t let the Washington game send him into a spiral. In fact, he was so emboldened by the defense’s performance that he moved his finger wagging to Twitter:

The position group’s depth took a hit as Ron Brooks suffered a ruptured quadriceps (yikes) that’ll end his season. Jaylen Watkins, who is way better than Brooks, came in and played a hell of a game, recording 2 tackles and 1 pass defended; on the Vikings’ touchdown drive late, he blew through a Kyle Rudolph block on third down to make the tackle on Cordarrelle Patterson. I grow more and more confident that he is developing into another Malcolm Jenkins. With Brooks’ roster spot opening up and Aaron Grymes being signed to the practice squad, preseason darling C.J. Smith will be thrown into the fire. No doubt he will be targeted by opposing offenses when he gets on the field.

Let’s face it, the corners weren’t exactly tested by Minnesota’s receivers. The Vikings share the Eagles’ paucity at the skill positions, maybe even more so because of worse secondary options. Stefon Diggs would be the Eagles #1, but he had just two catches and looked like a guy coming off an injury. After that the next two threats are Kyle Rudolph and Adam Thielen. Not exactly next week’s daunting task of going up against Dez Bryant (scheduled to return), Jason Witten, Cole Beasely and Terrance Williams, all of whom torture the Eagles.

 

Special teams

Josh Huff’s kick return got the momentum flipped around pretty quickly following the Vikings’ field goal. Getting the ball in hands is always something we’d love to do because he has such explosive ability, but it’s hard to compromise the rhythm and functionality of the offense by trying to shoehorn him in. Being able to take advantage of increasingly rare kick returns is a big wildcard the Eagles have over every other team in the NFL right now. Back-to-back weeks with kickoff return touchdowns while no other team even has one. Obviously the NFL’s rule changes that limit a crucial phase of special teams are no match for Dave Fipp’s wizardry.

Caleb Sturgis nailed both field goals while Donnie Jones was pivotal in the field position battle and averaged 50.5 yards per punt, including one downed inside the 20. The punt coverage unit not only held the dangerous Marcus Sherrels under 10 total yards on two returns, but they also recovered his fourth quarter muff at midfield that gained the offense 42 yards and led to the final field goal to put the game out of reach.

 

Halapoulivaati Vaitai

The entire offensive line played much better from a protection standpoint, but it was vitally (sorry, couldn’t resist) important that Vaitai reward the coaching staffs’ faith and respond to his rude introduction as an NFL starter with an impressive performance. He did just that, and every Eagles fan let out a sigh of relief. For one week, at least. Vaitai actually battled Ryan Kerrigan tooth and nail after settling in and got less help in the second half of the Skins game. He quite clearly built on that against the Vikings, only getting beat noticeably a few times and otherwise helping stonewall a pass rush that came into Sunday leading the league with 3.8 sacks per game. In fact, after a false start on the second play from scrimmage, we didn’t hear Vaitai’s name again. Perfect. Pederson said they gave him less help than last week; the Eagles did indeed leave Vaitai on his own a lot, and he handled everything the Vikings threw at him. However, it should be noted that “everything the Vikings threw at him” wasn’t a lot. I’m surprised they didn’t come with a lot of edge pressure and overload blitzes. I expected Zimmer to be much more aggressive.

Vaitai had his ups and downs and missed a few blocks in space, but he shined on a number of run plays and enabled the Eagles north-south game to be effective.

 

Penalties

Only seven for 53 yards. Progress!

 

North-South run game

The Eagles looked really good between the tackles and were able to consistently pick up chunks of yards on first and second down.

 

Going for 2 on the first touchdown

I love that Doug Pederson took advantage of the penalty on the extra point and decided to go for two following the first touchdown. And even if everybody in the stadium knew a draw to Wentz was coming, I was still elated to see it happen.

 

THE BAD

Carson Wentz

The Vikings were able to get some pressure early on and Wentz looked like a rookie for the second straight game. This was his worst performance yet. He had the yips, locked onto his first read, made some poor decisions and was very inaccurate. Of course, he didn’t have any help, per usual, but he was shaky regardless. At one point, he was 9/20 for 53 yards and 2 interceptions. Granted, Wentz finished 7/8 for 85 yards and a touchdown, but a bunch of those were short passes where the receiver picked up yards after the catch. There’s not a lot you can do to sugarcoat 16/28 for 138 yards (4.9 YPA).

Wentz has been locking onto receivers all season and that’s an issue that continues. It resulted in the first interception on a pass intended for Brent Celek (though props to Wentz for making a touchdown-saving tackle on the return), as well as him targeting Zach Ertz and not seeing a wide open Celek streaking down the seam for a touchdown. Then there was Wentz’s first really terrible, inexplicable decision, which was the throw over the middle to a triple-covered Nelson Agholor that became quadruple coverage by the time the ball arrived and was intercepted. Yet overall, it was the inaccuracy Sunday that was most concerning. Wentz was a beat late and throwing behind receivers or too far out in front of them. He missed easy, uncontested throws, including a two-yard toss to Trey Burton on 3rd and short that he could’ve underhanded for a first down. Wentz made up for that on the next play by turning a botched snap on fourth down into a six-yard scramble. Pretty sure I’d rather he just complete the easy pitch-and-catch on third down.

Now, even though he played poorly, Wentz never lost his composure. That’s the one thing that seems to be a theme: He’s unflappable. There were a bunch of low snaps that he dropped but calmly picked up the ball, got his eyes downfield and made a play (see: fourth-down scramble on before-half field goal drive, 19-yard completion to Darren Sproles on the third-quarter touchdown drive). That’s become a Wentz signature, but it’s terrifying and will definitely result in disaster if the poor snaps continue. Let’s not have to rely on that component of his skill set, ok?

 

Jason Kelce’s snaps

How many bad/low snaps did he have in this game? At least three or four. This has been a theme all season in addition to his poor play, and we’re beyond crisis level. Relying on Wentz to be cool, calm and collected and pick up the ball and make a play while the world is crumbling around him isn’t exactly sustainable.

 

Zach Ertz

Invisible yet again, with one catch on three targets. He was paid like a top-tier tight end but is coming up small. Nothing about his game has changed. I know Minnesota’s defense is top-level and they have excellent coverage linebackers, but, come on, rise to the occasion. Do something, and don’t wait until December.

 

East-West Run Game

It’s so infuriating when your interior linemen are getting movement but then the play call following a five-yard run up the middle is a stretch to the outside where you’re playing to the strength of an athletic, rangy defense.

 

Ryan Mathews’ late-game ball security

He was exactly what the Eagles offense needed between the tackles and averaged 5.0 yards on 11 carries. But the carelessness with the ball can’t be tolerated and should cost him playing time. Luckily it wasn’t a one-score game late in the fourth quarter like it was in Detroit. The Eagles won’t be so lucky next time.

Seriously, what’s it going to take to give Wendell Smallwood and Kenjon Barner more touches? There’s no reason to be this loyal to Mathews, and the fumbles make it irresponsible to keep giving him the ball.

 

THE UGLY

Offense

It’s like watching a clogged toilet right now when the Eagles have the ball. There’s no flow, nothing is smooth, and you feel like you need a stick to push them forward. Every yard gained feels like a minor miracle. They’re really struggling to get anything going and managed just three drives (out of 11) over 40 yards. The offense mustered a meager 239 yards and 15 first downs on 54 plays, with a long of 27 — and over 20 of those 27 yards came after the catch. It’s fairly unwatchable right now. Pederson and Reich can only scheme so much, especially with a lack of playmakers, but it certainly feels like things are going to get worse instead of better.

 

Wide receivers

The Vikings secondary is legit, but it was yet another brutal day for the Eagles’ receiving corps. All week we heard about how they were going to get Green-Beckham more involved and he got his first touchdown as an Eagle by one centimeter. Still, he had just two catches for eight yards and a would-have-been-first-down drop on the first drive. Agholor descends deeper into bust status each week and the one time he wriggled free, Wentz overthrew him. Then there’s Jordan Matthews, who has just 12 catches in his last four games and has barely been a factor. I mean, Josh Huff was the team’s leading receiver against the Vikings with four catches for 39 yards. Nobody can make a play.

 

Turnovers

Four for the Eagles in this game, which tripled their season total and almost always means a loss. Fortunately the Vikings were in a giving mood as well and literally didn’t want the football. I get the feeling other opponents won’t be as charitable.

 

WHAT’S NEXT

It’s Dallas week and as much as I had a good feeling about the Vikings, I’m fearing Sunday night’s game at Jerry World. Not having Bennie Logan will be a crushing blow, as I have nightmarish visions of: 1) the Cowboys offensive line opening massive holes and Ezekiel Elliot running wild 2) Our corners (especially Mills) getting abused by Bryant/Beasley/Williams/whomever 3) Witten converting huge third downs despite the Eagles covering tight ends so well this season and 4) Dak Prescott scrambling when not picking apart the secondary. Let’s see what Jim Schwartz has to say about #4.

Hopefully the bye week ruins the Cowboys’ momentum, brings them down to Earth and they’re sluggish at the start. In order to take advantage, the Eagles have to pounce immediately, which they didn’t do against Minnesota and simply don’t look like they’re capable of doing.

Here’s to me being very, VERY wrong. Go Birds.