By Connor Donald, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer 
I wrapped up last week’s post-game wrap up by alluding to the idea that there may very well be an identity crisis in Philadelphia largely around Pederson and Wentz. And the media attacked it all week with ferocity! This week’s matchup of winless against the Bengals was important and a must win situation for the Eagles and realistically should have been a win for the Eagles.
The first half started out slow and included another Wentz interception, his sixth turnover of the season, leading the NFL. The defense did not look good and the offense looked, as they have seemingly much of the season, lifeless. The offensive line was not looking good, especially Jason Peters. However, a positive did remain Miles Sanders who led the offense and Greg Ward leading receivers, which included a touchdown to end the first half. This first half ending drive also saw Carson Wentz utilize a couple different targets.
The second half started with a fairly stagnant drive by the offense that ended in a field goal, but a weakness that reared its ugly head a bit in week two and really showed its ugly head against the Bengals. We very well may not have the CB2 that we felt we could lean on across from Darius Slay. Avonte Maddox was getting bullied for much of the day prior to a third quarter injury. Tyler Boyd used a number of slant routes to hurt Maddox and Maddox just couldn’t keep up at any point throughout the game.
Speaking of slants, the middle of the field, where our linebackers play, remained a major concern yet again. Year over year the linebacker position is a weakness and last year it was up for debate whether the achilles heel of our team was the cornerbacks, wide receivers or linebackers. When we consider that the wide receiver and cornerback positions have been overhauled, it looks like the linebacker position could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back this year on a number of occasions. Boyd (9 receptions, 114 yards) and Higgins (5 receptions, 40 yards, 2 TDs) crossing and slant routes hurt the Eagles all day.
Wentz decision making continues to be concerning. There may be an identity crisis in Philadelphia led by Pederson, but Wentz is not helping the situation with his decision making. He fumbled the ball in the second quarter which was thankfully recovered, but he also had two picks, one in the third that was an absolute atrocity of a throw. Wentz turnovers, whether an interception or a fumble, are tops in the league right now and if you look back over the past couple years are troublesome. Even when there wasn’t a turnover Wentz struggled through the second half with over throws. Wentz is 10-18 when throwing one interception and now 1-9 when throwing two or more.
Although the defense improved on third downs after a tough week last week against the Rams, for much of the second half the defense played soft. When they lost Slay they played the infamous five to ten yards off that we saw all of last season. This helped the Bengals take advantage and get a good chunk of their first downs. This could have been due to injuries with Slay and Maddox, but it has proven the Eagles demise on a number of occasions last season and was hurting them today.
The injury bug, after leaving the Eagles alone for the most part in week two returned in week three to claim Dallas Goedert, DeSean Jackson and Avonte Maddox. Darius Slay even felt it for a bit during the third quarter. The loss of Goedert and Jackson was felt throughout much of the second half as Wentz struggled without two key weapons in opening up the field. Wentz was able to pull together an all important drive to end the fourth quarter, which was aided by a couple pass interferences and finally a scramble touchdown for Wentz. The confidence was not there for much of the day for Wentz and the loss of those key players may be the reason.
Although things feel negative and are quite negative within the national media against the Eagles, there are some positives. Miles Sanders has been a huge piece for the offense since his return. Despite the offensive line struggles today against the Bengals including a huge Nate Herbig holding call and Matt Pryor false start in overtime to push them out of field goal range, Sanders finished with a solid line of 16 carries for 92 yards and three receptions for five yards. The offense has a lot of work to do in the coming weeks with the 49ers and steelers on the road and then the Ravens back at home over the next three weeks. I am not prepared to rule out that there is a major identity crisis that was not made better this week.
While on the defensive side of the ball three players stood out massively: Malik Jackson, Brandon Graham and Darius Slay. Despite Darius Slay missing some of the third quarter with an injury, he made a couple huge pass breakups and has essentially locked down one key receiver and one side of the field week in and week out. This week his victim was AJ Green. Malik Jackson has been the best defensive tackle by far this season, despite the timely Fletcher Cox sack in overtime. Jackson finished today with half a sack and four quarterback hits. While I cannot say enough about Brandon Graham, he has wreaked havoc in the backfield every week this season. This included an absolute monster day today with two sacks, three tackles for loss and four quarterback hits.
The Eagles took the Bengals to overtime in a must win game, had a chance to win it twice and blew it on offensive line penalties, that really weren’t the reason to blame, and ultimately the Eagles tied in what felt like more of a loss for Eagles fans. The game was ugly. There were bad plays and major mistakes across the field in each quarter. And Eagles fans enter into yet another week feeling lost, frustrated and every type of emotion that isn’t positive. The Eagles were the butt of national media attention last week and should remain in the limelight and not for good reasons as it felt like Wentz and Pederson came into this game with a worse strategy then the last two weeks.
The next three weeks don’t get any easier for the Eagles and could be massive weeks towards seeing what key decisions are made by Howie Roseman going forward. I believe we have surpassed the identity crisis between Pederson and Wentz and are looking at a real crisis situation for the Eagles overall. To not believe we are at risk of an 0-6 start, would be to deny what you have seen in the first three weeks of the season. Off to San Francisco we go and we pray.
