Eagles Postgame Report: Birds Start Off Season With Win In Brazil

The Eagles kicked off their first game of the season in Brazil and, with high expectations for both teams, it was one of the match-ups that everyone around the league was watching.

The defense stepped up on their first drive and allowed a 19-yard pass after Avonte Maddox fell down but otherwise held up. The offense came out looking about as awful as possible (Saquon Barkley slipping behind the line, Hurts throwing way to high, Hurts throwing it nowhere near a receiver and straight to a defender) to give the Packers a free shot at the endzone.

A big tackle for loss was wiped by Jalen Carter taking a bonehead penalty but the defense stood tall again, allowing only a field goal (which should be credited to Hurts rather than the defense). The offense paid them back by fumbling the snap away and once again handing the Packers the ball in the red zone. The defense actually almost got a turnover on downs there, but Nakobe Dean whiffed on his chance to make the tackle and allowed a first down which allowed the second field goal to go up on the board.

Come the second quarter, the Eagles offense decided to finally get out of their own way. They manufactured an 11-play, 70-yard drive culminating in an impressive sideline catch by new Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. Unfortunately, the defense didn’t show up the next drive and allowed 70 yards on four straight rushes that put the Packers back in the lead.

The offense responded with another touchdown drive, but the defense once again collapsed following up Nakobe Dean blatantly dropping a pick-6 he should have recorded for no reason other than he whiffed on the play again with busted coverage where it appeared CJGJ didn’t cover his man and then embarrassed himself “attempting to make a tackle” and giving up a 70-yard touchdown reception.

The Eagles ended the half by converting on a huge fourth down, but that only succeeded in running down the clock with Hurts stepping up into a sack to leave the clock running, followed by a false start, followed by a two-yard pass in the middle of the field. It sent the Eagles into halftime trailing only because of their own mistakes.

The two teams traded blows for much of the third quarter with an explosive 67-yard touchdown to AJ Brown to start the half being answered by a touchdown from the Packers. The Eagles punted and the Packers punted.

The Eagles finally got a shift when Reed Blankenship ran the route for the receiver and came away with an interception and the first short field for the Eagles offense. Saquon Barkley took advantage again and punched in his third touchdown of the game. The Eagles defense bent but didn’t break, something that was important due to a missed field goal by the Packers.

Driving 53-yards down the field, the Eagles offense was humming and primed to take a two-score lead. Then Jalen Hurts took matters into his own hands by pulling the ball back to lose yards, throwing a near pick-six (defender dropped it) and then threw an interception in the end zone for no reason at all to ensure his team didn’t put points up on the board. The Packers drove 79 yards but couldn’t hit paydirt. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Jordan Love wasn’t as stupid as Hurts and just threw his ball into the stands rather than to a defender for no reason at all, so Green Bay got a field goal and put the lead back down to just two points.

The Eagles went to the ground and mixed in a few throughs (mostly scrambles) that worked out as a time-killer by taking 7:25 of clock, burning all three of the Packers’ timeouts and leaving Green Bay with just 22 second to get a touchdown for the win. The Eagles were hoping for a touchdown, but a fumble on the tush-push left the Eagles with just three points and the Packers with a shot at winning this game.

The Eagles defense finally got major pressure on Jordan Love on the last drive and nearly won the game by getting a sack. Love was able to backward lateral the ball, but it came at the cost of an injury of both Love and Meyers, who had to leave the game and brough Malik Willis in with 5 seconds left on the clock. Willis took his own sack at the hand of Baun and the Eagles started the season 1-0 against what is expected to be one of their toughest opponents on the schedule this year.

Offensive MVP: Saquon Barkley

How could you pick anyone else in a game where the offense’s marquee offseason addition put the ball in the endzone three times including a great sideline catch? He had 24 rushes for 109 yards and two receptions for 23 more yards, not to mention a potential game-saving recovery of the fumble on the tush push attempt at the end of the game.

Defensive MVP: Zack Baun

I want to say Reed Blankenship, but I know I’m biased there. Really, you have to highlight Baun in this game – he was a totally unheralded signing this offseason who analysts really looked at as a rushing player but he was easily the Eagles most complete linebacker in week one. He did have the two sacks (including the game winner), but he was efficient in the run game, too, with 15 tackles.

Game Notes

• This was another embarrassment by the NFL. For the second straight time, the Eagles were sent to a neutral site to play a game on a slip-n-slide field that would be unfit for Pop Warner games.
• Perhaps the offense should take some snaps in the offseason. Maybe then we wouldn’t see people who look like they’ve never played football before for a large chunk of games that actually matter.
• I’m putting those first-quarter points given up in this game to: Hurts (-3), Jurgens (-1.5) and Dean (-1.5).
• The touchdown pass to Barkley in the second quarter was a beauty on both ends – great catch and an impressive throw. As they get more rhythm, I’d like to see Hurts pull the trigger on throws like that a bit quicker so that the defenders don’t have as much chance to make a play and the receiver doesn’t have to tightrope as much.
• Multiple times in this one Nakobe Dean could have taken Packers points off the board and even put up points for the Birds. He put himself in position to make huge plays by reading the play before it happened. Unfortunately, multiple times he also failed to follow through and complete that big play. It was so extreme that by halftime you could easily argue his inability to follow-through on those plays was a 17-point swing alone (would have prevented a field goal and turned a pick-six into a touchdown).
• Chauncey Gardner-Johnson had a poor game by nearly all aspects. The defense really didn’t appear to be any worse off with Tristin McCollum in the game.
• I would think it’s obvious, but Hurts can run when it’s a pass where there isn’t an option or the field opens. He should NOT be taking the ball to run the ball himself on a designed run play instead of a RB and he’s making the choice to do that far too much; it’s a negative play consistently, perhaps the only consistently bad play in the offense this week.
• The biggest change of momentum in this game was the Reed Blankenship interception – a play that likely changed the outcome of this game for the Birds.
• The Packers are a good team and it’s impressive the Eagles won this one with Hurts playing so poorly, but that needs to change.
• There is concern on the offensive line. Hopefully it gets cleaned up, but Cam Jurgens had two fumbles on snaps including one that was turned over. Additionally, there were too many plays where the front just didn’t seem to get as much push as you’d like, despite how effective Saquon was.
• The defensive front is a concern – we need to see more pressures and sacks especially; only LB Zack Baun recorded sacks for the Birds in this game. Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith combined for 4 tackles and were all but invisible in the pass rush.

Injury Notes

• Chauncey Gardner-Johnson left with an apparent left hand injury in the third quarter.
• AJ Brown left in the fourth quarter after being shaken up but returned pretty quickly.

Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles – September 6, 2024