Eagles: Recovering From Loss to Lions

Carson Wentz Rolling to his Right on Sunday in loss to Lions.  Image Courtesy: http://billypenn.com

      After Ryan Mathews fumbled the football late in the 4th Quarter of Sunday's 23-24 loss to the Detroit Lions, I had to isolate my self in another room as I watched the Eagles lose the lead with a Lions FG and a Carson Wentz deep-ball interception on the first play of their last drive.  To very quickly summarize the game, since it's now Thursday and we have been through it over and over again 29 ways since Sunday, the Eagles came out flat after the Bye week in the first half and the Lions took advantage, while the Eagles comeback in the second half fell just short.  Little bit of good news, Rookie QB Carson Wentz had another good game, despite the late-game interception, which was poorly played by WR Nelson Agholor.  What I want to do today is point out what the Eagles did wrong last Sunday and how they can adjust this Sunday for a win against the Washington {Redskins}.

• Came Out Flat.  The Eagles as a whole came out flat on Sunday following their Bye week, as I mentioned before.  The good thing here is that there is only one bye week for each team in the NFL and the Eagles have gone though it, but there is always the possibility of a team coming out flat on any given Sunday.  From what I've read via Twitter, the Eagles have been very vocal and practicing with more energy this week.

• Pass Rush.  In the first half it seemed our defensive line was not getting after Lions QB Matthew Stafford.  Stafford, if given time can take advantage of a defense because of his cannon for an arm.  Against Washington's QB Kirk Cousins the Eagles defensive line will have to get after him because he is a perfect example of someone who when under pressure and will make mistakes.  Again, as mentioned earlier the defense came out in the second half and shut the whole Lions offense down.  If the Eagles play as they did in the second half last week then Sunday should be a success.

• PENALTIES!!! The Penalty bug decided to spring its ugly head for the first time on Sunday for this team.  I'm not saying the Eagles weren't committing penalties through the first 3 games of the season, but they were definitely a factor Sunday.  The Eagles committed 14 penalties for 111 yards, which was by far and away the worst they were this season.  Some penalties were questionable by the refs on Sunday, but some were just so fundamentally bad.  Eagles Center Jason Kelce had two delay of game penalties that were very detrimental to drives, as well as an awful holding penalty by RG Brandon Brooks when the runner had already passed the defender.  For the Eagles to be successful on Sunday in Washington they need to go back to playing smart football, which they had been doing for most of the season before last Sunday.

• Running Game.  RB Ryan Mathews was completely shut down against the Steelers two weeks ago, so RB's Darren Sproles, Kenjon Barner, and Wendell Smallwood took on the workload and were successful, especially the Rookie Smallwood.  This past Sunday on the other hand was not the case, except for change of pace back Darren Sproles who was rather effective.  Barner and Smallwood were barely used at all and I believe the coaching staff made a mistake in not using Smallwood especially because if a Rookie has a good game you have to continue to feed him the ball with his new found momentum to see what you have going forward.  I expect to see Smallwood get more reps this week against Washington.

• Linebacker Play.  Lions RB Theo Riddick ran wild in the first half , like he did last year on Thanksgiving, catching two TD's out of the backfield in large part to the terrible matchup of Riddick vs Eagles LB Mychal Kendricks.  I am not sure what Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz was thinking have Kendricks and Stephen Tulloch play a good amount in the first half when LB's Jordan Hicks and Nigel Bradham have been two of the best pass defending LB's in the league so far this season.   Hopefully Schwartz will go back to Bradham and Kendricks playing the majority of the snaps as they did in the second half this past Sunday.  I'm thinking Schwartz just had a lapse in judgement and overthought his game plan against his former team.

• Game Planning.  Just like the team came out flat in the first half, I believe the coaching staff did as well.  Head Coach Doug Pederson needed to get his guys better prepared coming off the Bye, but since he is a first year Head Coach I will hope he will use this past Sunday as a learning experience.  DC Jim Schwartz needs to not worry about matchups and go with the best players who belong on the field because that is how he had been so successful.  The Eagles seemed to have gotten ahead of themselves on Sunday and tried to do things differently then they had been, which I believe was their downfall.  If the Eagles go back to the football they played the first 3 weeks of the season they will be fine against the defending NFC East Champs.

Go Birds! #FlyEaglesFly