One and Done - 23 Immediate Takeaways from Cardinals 35, Eagles 31
Ironic that Jonathan Gannon was coaching a game in which the Eagles defense couldn’t stop anything in the second half.
He was in charge of the other team this time around. Arizona put up 449 yards and 35 points on an Eagles defense that gave less resistance than a paper bag left to soak overnight in an Oregon Avenue puddle. The Cardinals controlled more than 39 minutes of clock and the Birds couldn’t hit, couldn’t tackle, and couldn’t get a stop. Other than that, the defense played great!
Expect the remaining holdouts to jump off the bandwagon as we head to the observations:
1) Not a fan of throwing the ball on 3rd and 2 on the opening drive. You start with a couple of decent runs, and you know you only need a yard to bring the shove into play, yet Jalen Hurts ends up throwing behind the line of scrimmage instead. That shouldn’t have been a three-and-out.
2) The defense allowed conversions of 3rd and 5 and 3rd and 6 on the Cardinal’s opening/scoring drive. Couldn’t stop the run either. Arizona went right down the field, and if it wasn’t for that immense tackle for loss from Milton Williams, they’re probably in the end zone instead of kicking the field goal.
3) Crazy how fast that first quarter went. Don’t think we had a commercial break until the clock hit 5:03. It’s such a better product when the network isn’t shoving ads down our throats.
4) Bubble screen to DeVonta Smith? Remove that page from the playbook and put it in the shredder, then dump the shredded pieces into the incinerator.
5) That pull and short toss to the tight end coming across the formation? It’s been one of the Eagles’ most consistent plays this season. It’s really effective on 3rd down in particular, when you need an easy pitch and catch to move the chains.
6) It’s hard to get a true gauge for crowd noise on television, but you do notice the volume increase during the shove. You can see the players asking the fans to bring it down a notch. Of course, none of that matters now. They stink, so they can’t say anything about fans.
7) The Julio Jones game meant nothing. Sad!
8) 98 yards for Sydney Brown was awesome. Big momentum swing. You had Arizona driving with no real issue, so you’re looking at 10-7 or 7-6 possibly. Instead, Kyler Murray and his receiver are on complete opposite page and Brown is barreling forward with blockers out front. Nice move on Rondale Moore also.
Eagles safety Sydney Brown reached a top speed of 21.52 mph, the fastest play by an @Eagles ball carrier in over two seasons.
Brown traveled 126.7 yards on the play, the most distance traveled on pick-six since Week 5, 2018 (Marcus Maye, 140.7 yards).#AZvsPHI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/2uaXFexJCR
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 31, 2023
9) Fill in the blank: That illegal contact penalty against Kelee Ringo was ___________________________
10) Jonathan Gannon running a pitch off the Brotherly Shove for a first down. What an asshole! Nick Sirianni/Brian Johnson one-upped him though, with the Kenny Gainwell pass. Moose Johnston’s commentary was right, by the way. Andre Chachere was in position to make a play there, but he took a weird angle and that allowed Smitty to come down with it and move the chains.
11) Eli Ricks… ooof. Same thing for Shaq Leonard 1v1 in space on the Michael Carter touchdown. What was that?
12) That 3rd and 5 bomb for DeVonta was tough. Jalen should have/could have thrown a better ball, but that’s also something we’ve seen Smith haul in before. Could have really used that one considering the way the Cardinals marched right down the field to begin the second half. Instead, three-and-out, then another long Arizona drive with the defense unable to get off the field.
13) Leonard might be cooked. He looks like a husk of the player we saw in Indy.
14) Time of possession was whack in this game. The pick-6 wiped out what would have been an extra Eagles possession, but even then, with the defense unable to get off the field, it finished 39:39 to 20:21.
15) Okay, that James Conner touchdown reception was sick. Not sure what else you can say. Josh Sweat had a chance to bring down Kyler Murray and couldn’t get it done. Sometimes you gotta just give credit where it’s due.
16) Good things usually happen when D’Andre Swift is featured. On the scoring drive after Arizona tied the game, he touched the ball 6 times on the first 10 plays for 44 yards. Then they inexplicably shifted to Hurts after the pair of shoves, and the seven-yard loss resulted in 3rd and 9 and the burning of a timeout. Yeah, they got the touchdown on 3rd and 4, but isn’t it wild how quickly they can fluctuate between looking terrible and looking like a Super Bowl contender?
17) That Goedert touchdown catch wasn’t easy. Nice toe tap with not a lot of room to spare.
18) Gannon doesn’t have a ton of talent in Arizona, but those guys play hard for him. I’m really curious to see what they do in the draft this offseason.
19) Fill in the blank: That pass interference penalty against Kelee Ringo was ________________________
20) Ringo got worked on the 4th down touchdown pass. Maybe that’s our fault since we were talking him up on the site earlier this week. Guess we got too far ahead of ourselves. At the same time, the Eagles sent the house and didn’t get home.
21) Some people asking why Gannon didn’t go for two after that score, but at the time there was 5:25 on the clock and Arizona had all three timeouts remaining. So they tried the onside kick instead and didn’t get it. That’s an interesting discussion for later this week. Try for two? Or onside kick and get the ball back? The latter would have been a total backbreaker, considering TOP and how bad the Eagles defense was. And even if Philly scores with that good field position, you’re probably getting another possession with a chance to tie it up, or win. We all saw how it played out.
22) With the game on the line, Jordan Mailata got flagged for holding, the Eagles couldn’t get their offensive personnel set, and then they ran a QB power for a short gain and option play for a loss. Boom! 3rd and 20. Then they followed it up with a bubble screen. Absolutely hideous.
23) No words for that Greg Dortch play up the sideline. Avonte Maddox was bad, Reed Blankenship was bad. Everybody was bad. They made Greg fucking Dortch look like Wes fucking Welker.