Eagles Report Card: Strong First Half Carries Eagles

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

After two weeks where the Eagles struggled to get the ball into the endzone, they made up for it in a big way. The first-team closed out their final four possessions with points on each trip up the field, including three touchdowns.

It all added up to a 33-23 win over the Colts where the Eagles were in command essentially the entire way. 

Here are the grades for the Eagles this week.

Pass Offense – A- 

Sam Bradford was 17-for-20 for 167 yards and two touchdowns in his final tuneup. The three incompletions were a drop by Nelson Agholor that resulted in an interception, a misjudged route by Dorial Green-Beckham and a ball that was caught by Brent Celek but ripped out of the tight end's hands for an incompletion. Everything else was on point.

Josh Huff had a strong game with two catches for 60 yards. Trey Burton had five catches, one for a touchdown. Green-Beckham rebounded from the misjudged route for two catches, including a nice catch in the corner of the endzone for a touchdown. 

There are still a few growing pains and some of the receivers that entered the preseason with expectations like Agholor, Rueben Randle and Chris Givens were almost completely phased out of the passing game, but overall, with Bradford on point, the Eagles passing game looked its best to this point in the preseason.

Run Offense – B+  

The numbers aren't earth-shattering, but Ryan Mathews averaged 10.3 yards on his three carries, while Kenjon Barner and Wendell Smallwood showed signs of explosive running ability of their own. Even Huff got in on the running game with a jet sweep that led to a nine-yard score.

Pass Defense – B 

Andrew Luck had his moments, but was never really in command of the game. The pass rush, which sacked Luck three times, definitely had the All-Pro QB a little uneasy and that translated over. He averaged 7.4 yards per completion. 

Nolan Carroll came up with another interception, Rodney McLeod continued his solid play and the four-man rush and front-seven continued to bring an aggressive style to games.

The downside of this game was that after the first-team players were out of the game, the reserves struggled mightily, allowing 144 passing yards in the last quarter to Stephen Morris. This group, which consisted mainly of rookies and players from last season's practice squad, missed coverages and struggled to keep up with the Colts reserves. Not a good sign for the Eagles if something should happen to their first-team defenders.

Run Defense – A

For the third straight week, this unit was like a brick wall. The Eagles allowed 31 rushing yards in Week 1, 50 rushing yards in Week 2 and 39 rushing yards in Week 3. On every run play, the Eagles have another player there ready to stop the ball carrier right in his tracks. This group is about as ready as it gets for the season.

Special Teams – B-

Caleb Sturgis pretty much cemented the kicker role as his with two successful field-goal attempts from 32 and 47 yards. Cody Parkey was 2-for-3 on extra points.

The Eagles two kick returns from Barner and Smallwood went for an average of 32.5 yards and Barner had a solid 25-yard punt return as well.

Donnie Jones didn't get much action, just two punts to be exact. One went for a touchback. The other was blocked and recovered in the endzone for a Colts touchdown. 

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