We call this win Progress. Doug Pederson has evolved. With two minutes remaining in the game and the ball at the Falcons’ 31, Pederson made the decision to kick the 48-yard field goal and go up two scores rather than go for it or, worse, punt, the latter of which he inexplicably did at the end of the Cowboys game and likely cost the Eagles a win. Doug, it seems, possess the ability to learn. He made the right call yesterday, and the Eagles won.

I thought the Eagles would win yesterday. When you consider that they effectively beat the Cowboys and Giants on the road – only to take the loss each time because of poor coaching decisions – this team is good enough to be 7-2. The Falcons are much better at home than on the road, and they’re due for their mid-season collapse. The Eagles, meanwhile, have been FANTASTIC at home using a legitimate home-field advantage on defense to stop offenses of all shapes, sizes and Browns. Pederson has me pulling my hair out at times (more on that in a second), but he should be commended for extracting points out of this offense and relying on Jim Schwartz and the excellent defense to keep them in every game.

Game plan

This town makes the Eagles hard to watch. The media feeding frenzy that is whipped up on Twitter every Sunday and in screeds and bloviations on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-a little bit on Thursday-and not so much on Friday takes the fun right out of watching football. We key on every play, and anything short of perfection yields searing scorn. I got caught up in it yesterday. Though Ryan Mathews was terrific, I thought his success was a product of the Falcons’ terrible and banged up defense and wished openly that Pederson would’ve utilized Darren Sproles and Bryce Treggs more in the first half. Pederson clearly wanted to control the clock and keep the high-powered* Falcons offense off the field – a sound strategy – but he played it a little too safe, as is tradition, and failed to utilize his two biggest playmakers. Sproles I think got two touches and was hardly on the field in the first half – when he did start getting the ball in the third quarter, he chunked off over 30 yards on three consecutive plays – and Treggs, who showed that he is legitimate deep threat last week, wasn’t targeted at all. As a result, the Eagles, despite dominating the ball, came away with only seven – SEVEN! – points in the first half and found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter. Even slightly more aggressive play calling would’ve had them up double-digits.

All of that being said, the Eagles won and I’m nitpicking, and I realized that I’m part of the problem. I became part of the mob mentality that jumps all over EVERYTHING the Eagles do. I stand by my opinion that I would’ve spread the ball around more in the first half, but yeah, I hated me too yesterday.

*Usually. They’re much better at home, Julio Jones is an all-or-nothing receiver, Tevin Coleman is hurt, Devonta Freeman has been dealing with a hip thing, and after that there’s not much of anything. This is just not a very dynamic offense.

Carson Wentz, rookie

These last few weeks, we’ve started to see signs that Carson Wentz is a rookie. He doesn’t force bad throws and shows a ton of poise behind the line and in the pocket, but his decision making is more than suspect. Besides a delay-of-game that he completely missed yesterday, there was this poor decision to throw the ball out of bounds – for no reason – on fourth and 1 with a few seconds left in the first half, giving the Falcons one last chance to score. You can see Doug Pederson shaking his damn head after the play. There’s simply no excuse for this and it’s the kind of thing we’ll have to deal with for the next year or two as Wentz learns to be a little more situationally aware.

Drops

Jesus Christ. This can’t continue. It just can’t. Nelson Agholor is absolutely terrible. Even when he makes the catch, it always seems like there’s a rub– either a penalty, a blown call, or, in this case, a bobble that forced the play to be reviewed:

Yeah, he caught it, but the next time a ball that almost hits a player in the nuts has to be reviewed to determine if it was a catch, I move that we just rule it incomplete. They don’t deserve the stat. Agholor didn’t deserve one of his… two catches yesterday, the other of which came on a screen pass. Oh, and was there a crushing third down drop-suplex combo? You bet there was!

Meanwhile, Jordan Matthews, who is a PPR stud only because he roams a farm for castrated or gay equine, had the most egregious drop of all, negating a beautifully executed Carson Wentz throw and costing the Eagles three points:

John Lynch after the play: “He has really good hands.” That was just the icing on top of this horseshit 3.14.

Officiating

The NFL is bad. I know it’s cliché to just complain about the refs and blame the sport’s sinking ratings on them, but the two blown calls on the Eagles’ fourth quarter drive could’ve cost them the game. The missed pass interference on Darren Sproles was slightly excusable, if only because the defender did play the ball, while grabbing Sproles’ back arm:

But not calling a helmet-to-helmet hit on Jordan Matthews (who of course managed to have the ball poked out of his grip) on a play that will likely lead to a fine is inexcusable. Look. At. This. Shit:

Matthews came away with it bleeding from the mouth. After the game, he wondered if the officials were watching the game or thinking about going to Chickie’s and Pete’s:

#gratuitousplug

Penalties

False start, number 86, offense.

Zach Ertz almost made me forget that that Jason Kelce (who actually had a good game) doesn’t need to hold to be a consistent and effective NFL center. Almost.

And then there was this by Naj, Naj, Not So Good:

Boner e tu?

I briefly commended Dan Quinn when the Falcons used their timeouts before the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter, something Doug Pederson seems allergic to. Of course, that was before Quinn used his third timeout after the Eagles’ third down play and failed to consider that the clock would stop on change of possession. LOOK AWAY, DOUG. LOOK AWAY.

Bryce Treggs

?

Seahawks next week. Fly now.