Eagles Postgame Report: Birds Continue To Suck Against Seattle

The Eagles were hoping to show any life at all after two beat downs in a row.

They got some life out of the offense to start the game with an 8.5-minute drive that went 75 yards for a touchdown. 

They were about to do the same two drives later, but some bogus “false start” on Jason Kelce before a Brotherly Shove attempt forced the Birds to settle for a field in the red zone.

The defense was not great, but did enough to hold Seattle to just a field goal in the entire first half.

Following the half, however, was a drive highlighted by Sydney Brown and his absolute inability to tackle. He turned a 6-yard loss into a 15-yard gain and then a run that would have been about five yards into a 23-yard touchdown. It didn’t seem like it was intended they were going at him, but he was there missing an open field tackle on every big play the Seahawks had. It left the game tied shortly after the start of the second half.

The offense responded with a spark of their own, leading another 75-yard drive where they took five and a half minutes off the clock and found the endzone running the ball to retake the lead.

The defense managed a stop but Jalen Hurts was unable to capitalize on a play where either Smith or Brown could have had a 20+ yard catch, but it’s unclear which of the two he was even attempting to target the throw was so bad.

Sydney Brown missed three more tackles and the Seahawks found themselves driving at the start of the fourth quarter. The defense forced a fourth and two but Seattle was awarded a DPI thanks to James Bradberry. On the verge of another fourth and two, Pete Carroll took a timeout and granted the Eagles enough time to challenge the previous call and not only get Jalen Carter awarded a sack, but send the Seahawks back five yards and force them into a field goal.

Unfortunately, the Eagles were driving and in position to score and run some clock, but Jalen Hurts decided that he would throw deep to Quez Watkins. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work. Quez didn’t get to the ball, didn’t get the DPI call (which clearly happened but was not called) and ultimately the Eagles turned the ball over on an interception.

It seemed to fire up the defense, who forced a quick three and out.

The Eagles got the ball moving and began to stick to the ground to kill the clock but a terrible call on a delayed handoff to lose yardage put them in a third and seven outside of field goal range. It resulted in the Eagles handing the ball over to the Seahawks with just a four-point lead and just under two minutes to go.

Seattle was able to make some catches and caught another break from the refs who stopped the clock on a catch inbounds to preserve clock and then Bradberry and Brown combined to double team DK Metcalf and still give up a 34-yard reception. Then they gave up a 29-yard touchdown to give Seattle their first lead of the game with 28 seconds left.

The Eagles were just 13 yards away from Jake Elliott being able to kick a tying field goal and Jalen Hurts inexplicably decided to wildly underthrow a ball to AJ Brown and allowed an easy interception to lose the game.

The Eagles lose their third in a row in a game where they had a touchdown turned into a field goal by a false start call, gave up 60 yards on two catches in double coverage for a touchdown, threw a deep interception to an uncalled DPI and then chose to throw the game away instead of allow Elliott to tie the game.

With yet another trash showing, the Eagles basically kissed the one seed goodbye and have virtually no chance at a bye – unless San Francisco losses out. So much for all that work they put in earlier just to mail it in at the end of the season.

Offensive MVP: Jordan Mailata

Offensively, there wasn’t really a skill player that stood out, but the offensive line as a whole was grand. I am picking Mailata for his rolling out and continuing to play with Hurts outside the pocket. It appeared to be one of his strongest games on the season.

Defensive MVP: Nicholas Morrow

I can get if you want to select Jalen Carter or Fletcher Cox for their sacks, but Morrow was a solid backer in this one and his play picked up from where it was previous weeks. In particular, his best play was a stick on Kenneth Walker for a loss late in the fourth quarter and force a punt to maintain the Eagles lead. He also had a PBU on the final drive for Seattle.

Game Notes

• The defense did continue to show issues with third-down conversions despite the change to the coaching. Overall, the defense didn’t look all that different, but that’s a smart move as changes will have to be implemented slowly if you want to avoid a total breakdown of all communication between the guys out there.
• For as much as fans seem to have great disappointment for Sua Opeta, he appeared to have a strong game. No he wasn’t elite and he had some bad plays, but he played at a higher level than can be expected for most backups.
• Brian Johnson just would not let go of the receiver screen in this one. Not once was it successful and it lost yards on every play. In at least three instances, it seemed that not only did the pass catcher get wailed, but they smacked into their blocker on the outside in the process. Absolutely ugly play calling with that and it’s anyone’s guess why they kept going to it.
• Quez Watkins is like a dude that’s out there just to take away the defense’s worst cover guy every play. He’s incapable of making even the slightest contested catch and the screens to him never go anywhere. It’s unclear why OZ and Julio Jones aren’t getting all of his snaps.
• Sydney Brown needs to see more of the bench. In a game decided by three points, at least one of the touchdowns was hung entirely on his inability to wrap up and complete a tackle. Absolute trash for the entire second half. He was the double coverage on the 30-yard DK Metcalf catch with under a minute remaining, as well. The Eagles might as well have played with only 10 men on the field at any point you saw him in the second half.
• The change at DC last week begs the question: Will we get rid of Brian Johnson? The play elsewhere wasn’t great, but if he didn’t call terrible screens, delayed handoffs and then random deep passes for interceptions, the offense would have put up more points.
• After a terrible showing last week Kelee Ringo had a solid game. Unlike Brown and James Bradberry, he wasn’t a liability for half of the game and did a solid job when called upon.

Injury Notes

• Nolan Smith appeared to be shaken up on a big hit he made against Kenneth Walker and exited the game after the play. It’s unclear how severe the injury was given that he doesn’t usually get all that many snaps.
• Lane Johnson missed one snap with an ankle injury and returned after a penalty so didn’t even technically miss a snap.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys – December 10, 2023