Eagles

It Was Never in Doubt – Ten Takeaways from Eagles 34, Giants 10

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 27th, 2021 · 7:46 AM EST

---

The Eagles won. It was never in doubt, even after the worst first half of football you and I have watched in many years. Both teams stunk. The quarterbacks stunk. My toddler was trying, unsuccessfully, to poop. And the four-month-old baby kept losing her pacifier.

But the second half?

All good. One of the most enjoyable halves of Eagles football in a long time.

The Birds picked off the absolutely atrocious Jake Fromm on the first drive, then proceeded to drop 31 points on the G-Men in the 3rd and 4th quarter. New York brought in Mike Glennon, who also stinks, and the Birds rolled to a 24-point win that bumps them up to 8-7 and above the .500 mark for the first time since Week 1.

It’s more than we could ask for from Nick Sirianni in year number one. They are in position to make the playoffs during a transitional season, and that would be a nice feather in the cap after starting out 2-5 this year. Talk about a brilliant turnaround that should give you confidence in the head coach going into year number two.

 

1) Hurts so good, once he gets over his early brain farts

I feel like a broken record writing this portion of the weekly column, but Jalen Hurts comes out sometimes looking like the second coming of Christian Hackenberg, then he straightens himself out and plays like a franchise quarterback. You just keep thinking to yourself something along the lines of “they can’t start like this against a good team,” because you aren’t getting Jake Fromm if you earn a wild card berth.

Here’s one sequence that bothered me:

Jalen Hurts throws an ugly interception on third down pic.twitter.com/DYkfNFKTIW

— DIE-HARD 🦅 REALTOR® (@Eaglesfans9) December 26, 2021

That was overturned, but it’s a three-man rush on 3rd and 3 with a QB spy, and Hurts saw a ton of that bullshit in the Big 12. He should be able to make something happen there with his legs, bum ankle aside.

The other big talking point play was when he missed Dallas Goedert wide open in the end zone:

Dallas Goedert open in the corner of the end zone on that 3rd-and-goal play. pic.twitter.com/BY3Pg9SW8R

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) December 26, 2021

Hurts went into a TON of detail explaining what happened here:

“Well, put the play in and we’re respecting ‘seven bracket.’ So basically, [Giants CB Xavier McKinney] from Alabama, he’s bracketing Reagor and they’re playing kind of in-and-out, right? But they’re in quarters, Cover 7. So, have to find the single, maybe. But in that play, what I was coached to do is go through it as a pure progression. Work the shallow to the running back coming, only throw that against a certain look. My shallow popped and McKinney fell off and shot through the ball after I threw the ball, so McKinney made a really good play and they busted the coverage back side, so he was wide open over there. So, my pre-snap look did not give me what I wanted, to throw the corner to Dallas, but definitely looking after the fact, it’s easy to say, ‘Throw him the ball,’ but you’re going to miss some like that, you know? As a quarterback, you want to play on schedule and get the ball out on time and try your best to do that. Just trust your preparation and your reads and your progressions and you’re going to have guys that pop, but you have to try to stay on schedule and do those things. Those happen.”

Love that, and Sirianni also confirmed that as well. These answers HELP clarify sports radio and Twitter talking points, or else we’re just saying things like “he missed a wide-open receiver” for weeks on end. Educate the media and the fans without giving away your secrets. You benefit from this.

2) DeVonta Smith

Five catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. He now has 821 yards and five scores as a rookie.

It’s just nice to see a receiver who will go up and attack the football. The Birds haven’t had a good “high pointing” receiver since God knows when. Maybe 2017 Alshon? He was a good target receiver. A Mike Evans type of player.

The big viral video play was the toe tap touchdown:

https://twitter.com/BrodesMedia/status/1475200332510736396?s=20

He’s so good at dragging the feet. Wonderful talent right there.

Believe it or not, they reviewed that twice before allowing the touchdown…

3) 2x reviews

…but why?

Why was that play reviewed twice? Zach Berman was the pool reporter tasked with speaking to NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Walt Anderson:

“It was really just a communication lapse on our part. We originally were seeing a heel down. So, the original communication between the replay booth and the referee was that it looked like it was going to be an expedited review. And I know the referees are trying to make those announcements quickly. By the time we could say there are additional angles, he had already made that announcement. And then we said, no, we’re going to stop play and look at this because we had multiple angles relative to was it a continuous step. By rule, if the toe comes down first and then the heel comes down in one continuous step, then it’s out of bounds. But if there’s any kind of a drag with the toe, then that toe drag gets credit for the second step, in this case.”

…

“There are always a lot of things that you have to look at. We just wanted to make sure that we got it right. And obviously, we always start with the ruling on the field, and unless we have indisputable evidence to the contrary, then that’s what we’re going to stay with and that’s why we stayed with the ruling on the field.”

Zero problem at all with this. We can bitch and complain about the reffing all day long, but at the end of the day it’s less about the process and more about getting it right, and in this case they did. Good job by the zebras.

4) It’s a quarterback league

This year, the Eagles have defeated the following quarterbacks:

• Matt Ryan, Sam Darnold, Jared Goff, Teddy Bridgewater, Trevor Siemian, Zach Wilson, Garrett Gilbert, Jake Fromm/Mike Glennon

They have lost to the following:

• Jimmy G, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Derek Carr, and Daniel Jones

Nothing profound here, but the Eagles have beaten some crappy QBs this season, and benefited from injury and COVID absences. It’s a funky year, and and this recent stretch reminds me of 2017, when they got that string of games against C.J. Beathard, Brock Osweiler, and Mitch Trubisky. You can only play who is in front of you, and the Birds have done a nice job dispatching the teams with smelly QB play. You can’t play down to the competition, and the Birds have done a pretty good job of avoiding that outside of the first Giants game.

5) More Joe Judge please

Joe Judge doesn’t have much to work with this season. Injuries and all of that, but believe it or not, the Giants said they’re sticking with him, according to Schefty:

The New York Giants are planning to bring back head coach Joe Judge and quarterback Daniel Jones for the 2022 season, league sources tell ESPN.

The Giants believe both Judge and Jones deserve the opportunity to demonstrate their talents next season, even though New York already has been eliminated from the playoffs and has clinched a fifth consecutive season with double-digit losses.

If the Giants change their mind and Judge is fired, we’re setting the odds on him taking the Methacton job at -125. But for real, Judge (a fake tough guy and disgrace to the great borough of Lansdale) can stay in NY as long as he wants.

6) Mistakes and breaks

I went back and checked, and this is the longest mistake list that I have compiled this year:

Mistakes:

• Kenneth Gainwell fumbling the opening kick off*
• Goedert drop
• illegal touching penalty on the first punt
• Hurts fumbling on the second drive**
• Miles Sanders 3rd down drop
• Fletcher Cox neutral zone infraction on 3rd and 5
• Goedert illegal block in the back
• Derek Barnett resuming his “one dumbass penalty per game” routine
• Darius Slay dropping a pick
• Reagor 2nd and 10 drop
• DeVonta Smith blocking before Reagor caught that screen pass
• Jake Elliott missed field goal (had made 17 in a row, seemed like a low snap)
• Jordan Howard drop
• defensive holding on a 3rd and 12 (no replay, of course, thanks FOX)
• Quez Watkins holding to wipe out a touchdown
• Jordan Mailata false start
• Tyree Jackson drop
• Marcus Epps flagged for some bullshit

Gotta clean this stuff up. Can’t pull that in the playoffs and expect to win against the Cowboys or Rams or Bucs.

Breaks:

• Eagles recovering the Gainwell fumble*
• Hurts’ opening drive interception overturned
• Goedert falling on the Hurts fumble**
• Giants running the ball on 3rd and 4, then acting like they were gonna go for it only to punt instead
• NY illegal hands to the face
• Fromm interception to open second half
• illegal snap on Mike Glennon’s first play
• “grabbing the helmet opening” penalty on NY

The biggest break was that they played against two quarterbacks who are atrocious. Glennon has been stealing money in this league for years.

7) Ancillary wins and losses

Some good and some bad:

• lost time of possession 29:08 to 30:52
• +2 turnover margin
• 5-13 on third down (38%)
• 0-1 on fourth down
• Giants 8-20 on third down (40%)
• lost 5 yards on one sack
• 3-6 success rate in the red zone
• 11 penalties for 79 yards
• 17 first downs, 15 for NY
• ran 60 total plays, 73 for NY

Negatives in penalty yardage but positives in turnover margin, one of which went for a touchdown. When you are creaming a team in the second half, and scoring quickly, you’re giving back the ball, hence the rare loss in TOP.

8) Nick’s best call?

People will disagree with this, but I liked the idea to go back to Reagor on the screen after he dropped the first one. Show confidence in your player and give him another chance. He was coming off a sequence where he made a nice catch to move the chains and despite the boos, it’s on the coach to get his guys going.

And then you gotta give it to him on the Lane Johnson TD pass, which is called “East Texas” –

“We had a lot of confidence in the play because of the way we practiced this week,” Sirianni said post game. “Just confidence in Lane. I mean, Lane is a phenomenal football player. I don’t agree that’s he’s not in the Pro Bowl. I think you got a chance to have a guy who is going to be a first or second team all pro and not in the Pro Bowl, so it was great to be able to get him a touchdown. He just deserves so much more credit than he’s getting. I’ve never been around an offensive tackle as talented as this guy. He could play tight end if he wanted. You should see him throw the football. This guy is so immensely talented, and I just got so much respect for him. It’s always great when you can reward guys that don’t get in the end zone with a touchdown like that. I think it was his first touchdown since high school. I’m sure he scored a lot of them in high school because the guy is just a stud. Just so happy that he’s anchoring our offensive line and look forward to the accolades that he’s going to get because he deserves them.”

Lane has more touchdowns this year than Miles Sanders, Kenny Golladay, JJAW, and Kadarius Toney.

9) Nick’s worst call?

Zero running plays on the opening drive? What the FUCK? Run the ball! Ground and pound!

Also not a fan of the coward’s draw on 3rd and 15 to set up a field goal.

Other than that, he got it figured out and called a decent game.

10) Excellence in broadcasting

We had Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, and Sara Walsh for this one. The broadcast automatically gets an F- for the Santa Claus snow ball reference in the first quarter.

But the thing I actually hated the most was when the producer decided to go to commercial break after the flag on the Giants’ second punt. They bumped out with a holiday graphic, Albert said “there’s a flag,” and then a Hulu commercial began. It’s the worst thing going in contemporary broadcasting, this cutting to break before we get a replay or an explanation of a flag. This should be illegal, and Congress should step in. Joe Manchin should get involved.

Also, Vilma said “Jesus” and “pissed,” on the air, which aren’t FCC violations, but you don’t usually hear that on a typical NFL broadcast. It was a little strange, wasn’t it? The whole thing was just herky jerky and rough around the edges. It was not a pleasant viewing experience, and if these ex-players are gonna make the jump to broadcasting, but struggle with the flow of communication, then they have to wow us with knowledge from their playing experience. I don’t feel like we get that from Vilma the same way we get it from someone like Tony Romo.

Finally:

Some boos for Jalen Reagor as he ran out during #Eagles player intros.

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) December 26, 2021

Should we be booing players during introductions? If the guy drops a pass or is dogging it out there, then booing is understandable, but this seems cheap. Can we at least wait for a screw up before booing? The only guy who deserves to be booed during introductions is Ben Simmons.

Good morning! Happy Monday. TGIM.