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Nice, We Won – 20 Immediate Observations from Eagles 24, Titans 20
Published:
The Eagles won.
How?
They didn’t even play that well! They were down 20-17 with two minutes left and no timeouts. Then Jalen Hurts said “I got this” and led a nine-play, 65-yard drive to not just get the field goal and tie it up, but win it OUTRIGHT with some brilliant playmaking from DeVonta Smith and Darius Cooper.
The Eagles are 2-0. We can, and will, pick apart an inconsistent and sometimes-disastrous performance, but save that for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. For now, we go to the observations.
1) Birds fans took over that stadium. Holy cannoli. You could hear the Titans being boooooooooooooed as they ran out of the tunnel. It was loud on television. It looked like the crowd in the lower bowl behind the Eagles bench was 97% green.
2) After all the offensive line talk this week, Saquon Barkley was blown up on the first offensive snap and had to go to the blue medical tent. Then they lost yardage on a Tank Bigsby screen before throwing the ball down the field and converting on third and long. It’s head-scratching high ceiling/low floor offensive stuff, exemplified by the terrible red zone interception that Jalen Hurts threw to bring that drive to an end. Even if that ball got through, DeVonta Smith was covered:
3) First tush push of the season was technically N/A. Doesn’t get logged in the stat sheet because Tennessee lined up offside and the refs flagged it. But they converted on their later attempt in the fourth quarter and are officially 1 for 1 on the year.
4) Makai Lemon – that was a really nice catch on 3rd down to keep the second drive alive. Took a hit and held on to the ball. He also hauled ass to get back and make the tackle to prevent a pick 6. Other than that, he was quiet. They have to find a way to get him going. He’s a first round pick!
5) It has to be said that Bigsby’s north/south running is nice to see. He plays a much more linear game than Saquon does and sometimes he’ll just put his head down and get that ugly yard or two. He should be more involved in the offense whether Saquon is healthy or not.
6) Shout out to Calvin Ridley for killing off the 3rd Tennessee drive. Bonehead stuff after a couple of good runs for the Titans. But the Eagles were lucky when Moro Ojomo got a piece of that Tennessee lineman and got away with what could have been a defensive holding call.
7) Hollywood Brown got the touch he was looking for. A designed sweep just for him, and it went for eight yards. He got another one in the fourth quarter and it was called back for holding.
8) Drew Brees didn’t like Hurts sliding short of the sticks on the 3rd drive instead of lowering his shoulder and trying to bulldoze three Titans. Maybe Jalen does that if this is the 2nd quarter of the NFC title game, but, in addition to not getting himself killed here, he probably knew he’d have 4th and short in an area of the field where the Birds typically go for it. They converted to keep it moving.
9) The screen game is terrible. They are so bad at it. You have one guy whiff on a block and the play goes nowhere. And what was funny about the 1st half in particular on Sunday is they weren’t throwing bubble screens to the receivers. They threw two screens to the running backs that went for negative yardage.
10) The Smitty touchdown came on 2nd and 19. Cam Jurgens got walloped on a stunt, and run over by Jeffery Simmons, but Drew Kendall and Tyler Steen did a nice job squashing the other lineman, John Franklin-Myers, and giving Hurts enough time to pick out DeVonta in the corner:
It was nice that FOX picked up the shot of Hurts giving props to Kendall and Steen after that TD. Good stuff!
11) Didn’t like the lack of urgency at the end of the 1st half from the defense. Basically conceded a field goal there in what was already a one-score game. They played that 3rd and 13 like it was 3rd and 30.
12) Sloppy drive to open the 3rd quarter. Holding. Illegal formation. Hurts running for his life. Then a sack to cap it off. Good opportunity there to extend the lead and they didn’t do anything with it.
13) It didn’t count, but that was a hell of a catch from Smitty. Insane.
14) Jake Elliott hit from 58, which was incredible, but that drive featured another screen pass that went for 0 yards. They couldn’t even complete the pass to Saquon. I think when you take that end zone shot on 1st down, which is perfectly fine, you gotta come back with something easy on the ensuing down, which they did not do. It put them in 3rd and long after a good initial set of downs on that drive.
15) Couldn’t think of anything to write after the Titans marched down the field to tie it at 17. The Eagles defense just… didn’t show much resistance there.
16) Losing Dallas Goedert was a big deal. That 3 and out following the Tennessee score featured targets to Johnny Mundt, Darius Cooper, and Johnny Mundt. Cooper probably should have made that play. But at that point you were wondering: where’s Makai Lemon? Where’s Tay Wicks? Was Smitty quadruple teamed on that possession?
17) There are no words in the dictionary to describe how much I hated that orbit motion/swing pass/screen call to Lemon on 2nd and 7. They ran it twice last week for negative yardage, and lost five more this time around. That put them in a 3rd and 12 and Hurts underthrew Smith for his second interception of the day. He had Simmons in his face and that’s probably why he didn’t get enough on the pass.
18) 3rd and 22 and you give up 27 yards? For who? For what?
19) Hadn’t heard Jalen Carter’s name all day long until he sacked Cam Ward on 1st and goal. Ended up being the key play to force a field goal attempt.
20) Final Eagles drive:
- Wicks drop
- Smitty 5-yard out
- Wicks 20-yard gain (on 3rd and 6)
- Smitty for 9 yards
- Smitty toe tap
- got away with an almost intentional grounding
- Hurts scrambles for some yards
- MOTHERFUCKING SMITTY! (can’t believe he got that second leg down somehow)
- DARIUS COOPER!
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com