Not sure about you, but I was pleasantly surprised by that Eagles performance.

Yeah, it’s preseason, and what we saw last night hardly matters in the grand scheme of things, but the Birds’ 1st units looked rather calm and composed and showed some positive flashes in limited action. The quarterback was poised, the team looked organized, and they executed a clean couple of series under a new head coach.

Said Nick Sirianni:

“I told the team, obviously I have to watch the tape and look and see everything that happened, but I thought it was a very crisp first half. A lot of good things in the first half. Again, there are things to clean up, but the first half, I thought we looked pretty sharp there. Then, the second half just got sloppy and that was my message to the team. Again, you have to go back and look at the tape, but again felt like crisp first half, sloppy second half.”

The second half sure was abysmal, but we’re not worried about that. You can take it and put it right in the bagster. Let’s recap what really matters, beginning with:

1) Jalen Hurts

He looked smooth on that first series, didn’t he? A little dime over the top to Dallas Goedert for a big gain. The safety blanket toss for Zach Ertz was good and the decision making was very sound. He threw a little low for Jalen Reagor on what was probably a dropped pass, but good first series for Hurts.

On the second series, he just missed Quez Watkins on a first down bomb. Hurts moved the sticks on a nice pass over the middle, then had a smart throwaway, a play that Carson Wentz would have turned into a 10-yard loss and/or fumble. On 3rd and 6, Hurts decided to pull the ball down and run but wound up short of the marker.

Hurts was yanked for the third series and finished his evening 3-7 for 54 yards with a 69.9 QB rating. Two drops, so a good showing for him. He looked like he had command of the offense and threw some nice passes. In a very small sample size, we should feel good about what we saw.

2) Play calling and scheme

The Birds opened with 12 personnel, using both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert on the field with Jordan Howard at the running back spot. On the second play they switched to 11 personnel, took Ertz off the field, and inserted Reagor instead. Travis Fulgham and Watkins opened the game at the receiver spots in that 12 personnel look.

One change for the second series saw Brandon Brooks exit for Jack Driscoll. Otherwise, the rest of the starters stayed in the game for that drive, before they began to come off the field.

We didn’t see anything too exotic from Sirianni and Shane Steichen in preseason game one. That quick bubble/tunnel screen was used a few times, and they got Watkins into the end zone with it.

Sirianni on that play, which he says Joe Flacco checked to:

“That’s a play right there that’s very important to our offense and there is a lot of — everybody really has to do their job. That’s why this game is so awesome, right. Everyone has to do their job for it to work, and they did. Quez made a great play, [QB] Joe [Flacco] made a great throw.

…

They brought the slot (corner) off of Quez and offensive line did a great job getting out. Again, like we’ve run that play so many times. I’ve been a part of that play so many times, and it really takes all 11 to make it go.”

Good block from Dick Rod on that touchdown pass:

3) The defense

They had to start with Marcus Epps at safety because K’Von Wallace and Rodney McLeod are both out injured. Genard Avery was in as the starting SAM linebacker in a 4-3.

On the first series, when Pittsburgh ended up in 3rd and 11, the Birds decided to rush four and drop into zone. Kind of like “sticks” defense, but not entirely the same. Mason Rudolph decided to check down and Anthony Harris blew up the receiver to force a punt.

They took out a chunk of starters for the second series, but left Alex Singleton out there. That may have to do with him missing some camp time and the need to catch up.

Later, they showed a bunch of two-deep zone looks, and the back ups really struggled to get off their blocks. But there wasn’t anything crazy from a schematic standpoint. It was a pretty vanilla four-down deployment without a lot of shuffling or mixing things up.

Rookie Milton Williams essentially confirmed that postgame:

“(Jonathan Gannon) let us know he was going to keep our calls simple, some stuff that we’ve been going over since day one. Most of us knew what calls were coming in; everybody knew their job and knew what to expect when we lined up, so communication was really easy tonight.”

4) Nick Sirianni 

Another visor guy. That’s two straight visor coaches. Chip Kelly also wore the visor but mixed in the hat as well, so I’m not sure if we can count him.

RE: analytics, there was a 4th and 5 from the 30 yard line and Sirianni decided to kick instead of going for the first down. That resulted in a 47-yarder that was good, and I couldn’t help but think that Doug Pederson would have gone for it there. Maybe Sirianni just didn’t want to show his hand when it comes to data-based decision making in preseason game one.

I also found it curious that he let Shane Steichen call plays in the second half. You’d like your offensive coordinator to have experience doing that, but Sirianni is a first-time play caller himself, so I thought he’d do that exclusively in game one to get into this new head coaching groove.

After the game, Sirianni was asked about his debut as the #1 guy, and if it felt any different:

“Honestly, it felt business as usual. Really did. Again, I’ve said this all along, like what’s the difference? I’m adding job titles to what I already do, so it just felt like business as usual. It was great communication on the offensive side of the ball. As far as with [Eagles offensive coordinator] Shane [Steichen], myself, [Eagles passing game coordinator] Kevin Patullo, [Eagles run game coordinator/offensive line coach] Jeff Stoutland, [Eagles tight ends coach] Jason Michael all the way around. Just really did feel like business as usual.”

5) A violation

Maybe I sound like Angelo Cataldi, but this was disappointing:

DeVonta Smith wearing a green Yankees hat in the suite is a violation. He’s not from New York, he’s from Louisiana. At least when Hurts showed up with the Astros hat he was supporting his home town team. But this cap looks like something you’d see at the Seaside Heights St. Patty’s Day parade, and therefore it should go in the trash can.

Other notes, in no particular order: 

  • Quez Watkins returned the first kick, then Jason Huntley went back there for the rest of the game.
  • No injury for Miles Sanders, they just decided to hold him out.
  • Jordan Howard laid a massive block on the 3rd and 7 pass that Ertz dropped.
  • Jake Elliott had a fantastic game. 3-3 on field goals with a converted 50 yarder.
  • Reagor was back to return punts. He watched two go over his head as one bounced at the six yard line and the other landed just inside the five.
  • Javon Hargrave looked really good in that first series. Big bull rush for a QB hit.
  • Arryn Siposs punted four times for a 55.8 yard average.
  • Penalties? They didn’t commit one until 11:24 in the second quarter, a Brett Toth hold. There was an illegal formation in the second quarter but the starting units were very clean out there.
  • Nate Herbig played center on the second team.
  • The D looked totally gassed in the second half (all backups in there), though Elijah Riley had a nice night.
  • Nick Mullens looked liked shit, but most QBs would playing with the third stringers in preseason game one.