The Eagles lost their first game of 2018 yesterday at the hands of the suddenly red-hot Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At times the defense looked sluggish, and after a few injuries, the struggling offense could be shorthanded for a while. However, we'll start today's column looking the Birds' defense and their bad habit of playing sub-par football on the road:
Going Deep
With the humid weather, abundance of midnight green jerseys and overwhelming chorus of boos, Sunday's contest could've been misidentified as a home game for the Philadelphia Eagles, if not for the 103-foot-long pirate ship looming over the north endzone at Raymond James Stadium. However, the defensive performance put forth by Jim Schwartz's unit in the 27-21 loss did not resemble the team fans have grown accustomed to seeing at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles allowed Harvard grad and journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick carve them up to the tune of 402 yards and 4 touchdowns yesterday, starting with a 75-yard bomb to Desean Jackson that went for 6 points and ending with a 4-yard touchdown that built a 20-point lead which would hold up for the rest of the game.
For a team playing with their backup quarterback, albeit one with a Super Bowl MVP trophy on his mantle, the Eagles defense couldn't afford to slip up. However, struggling on the road is nothing new for the Eagles defense. Since Doug Pederson took over as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, the team has allowed nearly 25 points per game on the road and just 14.3 points per game in the friendly confines on Lincoln Financial Field.
The notion that defense travels just doesn't apply to Pederson's Eagles. In addition to the almost 11-point disparity in points per game, the Eagles also allow 60 more yards per game on the road compared to at home.
Yesterday's performance was certainly disappointing, but it wasn't out of the ordinary. In fact, as Malcolm Jenkins pointed out in the locker room, it was eerily similar to the Eagles' Week 2 loss at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs last season.
"You go back to Week 2 last year, we lost, didn’t we?" Jenkins told Bo Wulf of The Athletic. "On the road, in a game similar to like this, came back at the end. And what we learned was that, one, we couldn’t make mistakes. We weren’t that good to be able to overcome mistakes. But (also), that we’re a team that is resilient and will find a way, at the end of the day, to put ourselves in a position to win."
In fact, Sunday's game draws a lot more parallels to last season's loss in Kansas City than just the result. Right down to the 27 points allowed and the missed field goal at the end of the first half, so for the Eagles to not be worried about an off-game in September isn't concerning.
Perhaps the most concerning part is just how important home-field advantage will be once the postseason rolls around. With the Eagles as banged up as they are on offense, it's pretty hard to imagine this team having the same success as they did a year ago. Expecting another 13-win season from a team that is still without its franchise quarterback is a bit of a lofty goal, especially as the Eagles embark on a first-place schedule that sees them play the Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. Those are five teams expected to be making a push for the Lombardi Trophy deep into January.
With a return to Lincoln Financial Field on the docket for Sunday, (and a possible Carson Wentz sighting on the horizon), things are still looking up for the Eagles, who have played good enough football over the past year-plus to have earned the benefit of the doubt after a hiccup like Sunday.
Injury Report
Did Not Play: Carson Wentz (knee), Alshon Jeffery (shoulder), Darren Sproles (hamstring)
Jay Ajayi: The Eagles' running back injured his back early in the first quarter and didn't return until after halftime, rushing for 20 yards on the first play of the third quarter and scoring a touchdown on the next drive. Ajayi didn't seem too optimistic about his injury after the game, but unless doctors find something really wrong with his back, he shouldn't miss any more time.
Jason Peters: Peters rotated in and out of the game during the first quarter before finally succumbing to an apparent quad injury he had been dealing with since Thursday. Peters said after the game that he reaggravated the injury and just couldn't manage the pain, but he should be ready to go next week. If not, Halapoulivaati Vaitai didn't inspire much confidence in his ability to protect the quarterback with his performance yesterday.
Mike Wallace: Wallace injured his ankle after catching a screen pass and running for a first down. The catch ended up being nullified by a penalty and Wallace was carted back to the locker room, never to be seen from again. The veteran wide receiver looked to be in a great deal of pain and could be lost for a few weeks. If that is the case, the Eagles will need to juggle their roster to get some more talent at the receiver position.
Measurables
0: The Eagles traded up in the second round to draft tight end Dallas Goedert, but he was nowhere to be seen on Sunday, playing very few snaps and receiving zero targets from Nick Foles. Granted, there should be a pretty large learning curve for a rookie tight end out of South Dakota State, but Goedert looked like a pretty polished route runner in the preseason and with so little healthy bodies on the offense, it would be expected the Eagle would try to find a way to get their talented, young tight end on the field. However, Pederson said they didn't like the matchup for Goedert against the Bucs defense, so this could be just a one-week blip.
1.9: Despite struggling on defense and allowing 27 points, the Eagles did a good job containing Tampa Bay's rushing attack, allowing just 1.9 yards per carry and zero rushing first downs. The Eagles were one of the top rushing defenses a season ago and that has carried over into 2018, despite losing depth along the interior of the defensive line. Even on a bad day, the Birds don't get pushed around up front.
56: Cam Johnston averaged 56 yards per punt and placed three of his five kicks inside the Buccaneers 20-yard-line. The rookie punter entered training camp with a lot of skepticism around his name, but he's been nothing short of spectacular in his brief time in the NFL. The Eagles seem to have their punter for the future.
Turning Point
Things didn't go well from the Eagles right from the jump as they fell down 7-0 just 11 seconds into the game on Jackson's 75-yard touchdown:
Ryan Fitzpatrick to DeSean Jackson for the 75-yard TOUCHDOWN #FitzMagic pic.twitter.com/Q8pYMTbr82
— FlurrySports (@FlurrySports) September 16, 2018
Malcolm Jenkins bit on possibly the worst play fake in the history of organized football, leaving the middle of the field wide open for Jackson, who got behind Mills on a deep post. The Eagles defense settled down after the touchdown, allowing zero points on the Buccaneers next four possessions, but they Birds never captured the lead, allowing 20 unanswered points after tying the game at 7 in the second quarter.
Up/Down Drill
Up: Zach Ertz
Ertz struggled to make an impact early in the game, but once Foles found him, Ertz was targeted often, catching 11 of the 12 balls thrown his way for 94 yards. Ertz has been a notoriously slow starter in his career, but his emergence yesterday is a good sign that he is in midseason form, especially given the sorry state of the rest of the Eagles' offensive weapons. With the receiving corps decimated by injuries, having a big target over the middle like Ertz is a godsend for an inconsistent quarterback like Foles.
Down: Halapoulivaati Vaitai
Vaitai was pressed into action early in the game after Peters went out with his injury and Jason Pierre-Paul mauled Big-V, forcing his way into the backfield again and again. Pierre-Paul notched 4 quarterback hits and a sack lining up against Vaitai, who looked simply overmatched on Sunday afternoon, despite having 3 more fingers than the man lining up across from him. Rumor has it, Peters will be back next week, and hopefully Vaitai learns a lot from watching yesterday's tape.
Up: Fletcher Cox
Cox had three quarterback hits and a big sack early in the first quarter that seemed to settle down an Eagles defense that played rather erratically up to that point. On a day where the pass rush struggled to get home, Cox once again put his stamp on the game and made life difficult for the interior of the Buccaneers offensive line.
Down: Jalen Mills
Not only did Mills give up that touchdown to Jackson, but he was picked on early and often by Fitzpatrick. Mills looked helpless against Jackson's speed and Mike Evans' size all afternoon, playing soft coverage and allowing a lot of easy catches on underneath routes after getting beat deep. Mills was targeted on a slant late in the game and not only allowed the completion, but was also flagged for a hold, allowing the first down. The former seventh-round pick didn't even record a single pass breakup.
Three-Step Drop
1. The Eagles wide receivers not named Nelson Agholor have just 49 yards over the first two games of 2018. The Eagles have been ravaged by injuries at the wide receiver position, but the lacking of talent at the position is glaring. Kamar Aiken and Shelton Gibson had to play significant snaps, which isn't a good thing, unless it's Week 4 of the preseason. With Jeffery still on the mend, it's clear the Eagles need to make a move or juggle some of their personnel sets in an attempt to get more talent on the field.
2. Speaking of adding talent, sports radio will be alight with talk of adding a big name wide receiver such as Dez Bryant or the recently teamless Josh Gordon. Heck, even Jeremy Maclin is sitting by the phone waiting for a call. But, it's hard to imagine Howie Roseman reaching out to any of those guys in the near future. Roseman certainly isn't afraid to make a splash, but Bryant and Maclin seem to be over the hill and Gordon could be more trouble than he's worth. It would make more sense Braxton Miller is promoted from the practice squad in an effort to shore things up before Jeffery's return.
3. It's hard to believe we've reached this far without mentioning Carson Wentz, but here we go. The third-year quarterback is expected to be cleared by doctors today and Pederson should be naming him the starting QB for Sunday's game sometime this afternoon. After a disappointing loss yesterday, announcing Wentz is healthy and ready to go is the biggest thing the Eagles can do to re-energize the fanbase. If Wentz is indeed cleared and comes running out of the tunnel on Sunday afternoon in uniform, Lincoln Financial Field will be rocking.
Who's Next
Pederson will go head-to-head with his former offensive coordinator for the first time when the Eagles host Frank Reich's Indianapolis Colts next Sunday. The Colts are coming off a 21-9 win over the Redskins yesterday. Andrew Luck has reemerged as the Colts starting quarterback after spending the past year mending his surgically repaired shoulder and looked a little rusty against Washington, tossing 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
Everything else this week will ride on whether or not the Eagles will announce Wentz as the starting quarterback. If the Eagles medical staff deem his knee healthy enough to start on Sunday, Wentz's play-making ability would be a welcome addition to an Eagles offense that has struggled to generate big plays.
