Hello and happy football season.

The Eagles defeated the Lions 38-35 on Sunday. Every media member who pushed the “Eagles aren’t practicing hard enough and won’t be ready for week 1” narrative now has to run suicides until their legs fall off.

Sure, they got the ball run down their throats on the first drive, but responded with 21 unanswered points, so regardless of what you think about the overall defensive performance on Sunday, which was poor, we can dispel the myth that they weren’t going to be ready to match Detroit from the jump. The Birds actually started the game well, built up a first half lead, and then got progressively worse towards the end, so whatever Negadelphia people were pushing in the offseason turned out to be incorrect.

Anyway, this year I’m scrapping the Ten Takeaways column in favor of something a little more straightforward. That column did well, but the honest truth is that it was a bitch to write and took way too long, so I’m switching it up this year. After every game I’ll give you a random number of shorter takeaways instead of 10 longer ones, and we’ll try to cover everything that just happened in a more free-flowing, stream of consciousness type of way. This column is basically modeled after a Ghostface Killa Wu Tang verse.

 


1) The defense made some plays and also gave up 35 to the Lions. I’m sure WIP will be talking about the latter all week long. The Birds will get it figured out though, I honestly believe that. It’s week 1. Regardless of how you practice in the offseason, every team is gonna look like a work in progress in the first game. I just can’t put too much stock into it until we get 2-3 games in.

2) James Bradberry with the whiff on that huge D’Andre Swift run in the first quarter, but if you go back and watch it, Marcus Epps totally tripped and took himself out of the play. Good blocking scheme from Detroit as well, getting three guys up to the second level to eat up the linebackers:

3) Jalen Hurts started 0-5 through the air and the only reason that first drive wasn’t a total disaster is because of his scrambling ability. Ultimately, 18-32 for 243 yards and 17 runs for 90 yards on the ground and a score is a good game for him. They had a bunch of goal line running scores where they just punched the ball in, or else he would have had a better looking stat line.

4) Definitely the right call to go for it on 4th and 5 from the 40 yard line. You punt that ball you’re not getting much for net yardage.

5) OBVIOUSLY the right call to go for it on 4th and 1 from the goal line. Since they scored the TD it was a good call. If they didn’t score the TD it would have been a bad call. I don’t make the rules, that’s just how the flow chart works:

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6) That tackle from Marcus Epps on Amon-Ra St. Brown was awesome. Looked like he was shot out of a cannon. He seriously hit the guy before he even landed on the ground after going up to catch the ball. Epps was also responsible for the huge 3rd and 1 stop right before halftime (before the 4th and 1 where they all got manhandled).

7) Britain Covey returning punts? Listen, anybody is an improvement over Jalen Reagor. Reagor probably would have fumbled that kick where Zach Pascal bumped into him.

8) Let it be known that A.J. Brown’s first Eagles catch came on a tunnel screen. Great idea there to get him going with a designed target. He is a legit WR1 and probably the best receiver they’ve had since Terrell Owens. Brown had six catches for 128 yards at halftime, then hit 143 with more than ten minutes remaining in the 3rd:

He finished with 10 catches for 155 yards. Fantastic debut for A.J. Brown.

9) That Noah Togiai drop on 2nd and 1 was annoying. The Eagles committed a penalty on the ensuing play, then the Lions blitzed the shit out of Hurts and a promising drive stalled and resulted in a punt. Apparently Jack Stoll was off the field at that time which is why Togiai, in for the inactive Grant Calcaterra, was on the field for that play.

10) Not sure what was up with Detroit helping the Eagles with a timeout there before halftime. The Birds immediately hit a deep shot on the ensuing play for 54 yards and got extra points on the board. If Detroit had held, they would have ended up with two timeouts and something like 35 seconds on the clock with the ball in their own territory following a punt. Didn’t seem worth it.

11) Thoughts on the Lions’ onside kick? Zech McPhearson played it really well, just stayed calm and looked it in. That could have been a huge momentum swing while down 10, so I guess I can’t blame Dan Campbell for trying it.

12) Lovely drive to open the 2nd half. Just a methodical, lengthy drive to extend the lead to 17 and hit Detroit with a liver shot. Balanced playcalling, just churning it up nicely on a sustained scoring sequence.

13) It really felt like Hurts was taking some late hits on those slides, which finally culminated with two penalties on the same play at the end of the third quarter. I know some people want him to protect himself a little bit more, but with the frequency in which he’s going to have to use his legs, him taking those shots is gonna be a theme this entire season. It’s unavoidable.

14) No issue with that screen call on 3rd and 11 in the fourth quarter. They had plenty of blockers out in front and if this ball isn’t batted, you’re looking at a chunk play because they’ve got five blockers for three defensive backs:

15) Detroit was just brutal on the following drive. They dropped a big pass, then Goff fumbled the snap on 3rd down and the Birds got a sack and forced a punt. Sloppy shit on both sides at times.

16) Hurts was living dangerously with a couple of intentional grounding calls that ended up not materializing. On this one though, just a smart play:

17) Good for Miles Sanders to find the end zone. I can’t believe the guy didn’t score a single touchdown last year. And in the fourth quarter with the game on the line, this play was all him:

18) Bad passes for Hurts? That goal line series right before half he probably wants back. He threw short for Kenneth Gainwell, then had his 3rd down pass batted down. There were some underthrows here and there, but this is the stuff to really focus on when we talk about his development and growth:

19) Nick Sirianni lost the challenge on the T.J. Hockenson catch, but it seemed like a decent spot to go for it. Winning that challenge would have forced a 3rd and 10 with the Birds up 17.

20) Not enough snaps for Jordan Davis in the first half. You traded up in the first round for this dude and you knew that run defense was something you needed to improve. Get him on the field and/or figure out your defensive front. Jonathan Gannon should get the brunt of the criticism for that performance.

21) Specific concerns after one game? Early on, they really needed to finish the pass rush and get a sack. Run defense was Swiss-cheese like at times. They maybe could have had a second pick as well and there were plenty of missed tackles, but if you watched any other games on Sunday, you saw a lot of that across the NFL. It’s week 1. There was a lot of bad football taking place.

22) Gotta hand it to the Detroit crowd. They sounded loud as shit on television. That team has stunk for years but if they ever get it going again, that’s a good football town. I think. I’ve never been there. I’m just guessing they’re like every other midwestern city when it comes to football.

23) Surprisingly, we made it through a game with no Derek Barnett penalty. We’ll hand Fletcher Cox the honorary “dumbass penalty” award for the 3rd and 8 neutral zone infraction and two-handed shove on Goff, which resulted then in a converted 3rd and 3.

24) Four targets and zero catches for DeVonta Smith. 13 targets for A.J. Brown. I expected a discrepancy, but not that big.

25) 10-17 on third down is a beautiful number. They put up 455 total yards and went for 6.3 per play.

26) Eagles D gave up a 9-14 number on third down, which is pitiful. That’s 64%.

27) Ten penalties for 61 yards is shit, but 0 turnovers for the offense and a takeaway for the D. Some good, some bad, it’s week 1.

28) Adam Amin and Mark Schlereth with Kristina Pink on the sidelines. It’s a serviceable trio. They do a professional job. I think the thing with Schlereth is that he loves analyzing the position he played (O line) but seems less enthused by everything else. That’s probably natural. I had no issues with the broadcast for this game.

29) Finally, I’ll leave you with this: