Eagles Evaluation: Birds Take Control of NFC East

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles backs were officially against the wall this week and the team showed it’s spirit.

The coaching staff and team leaders rose up to the occasion and played what was perhaps their most complete game of the season.

This game was the Eagles culture at it’s finest. In the most important game with a decimated team, the Eagles were able to strike first and take a lead that they never relinquished.

With a 10 point first half, the Eagles really never needed more offense than they had following their first two offensive drives.

The Cowboys would manage just nine points on the night.

An offense that rarely clicked managed contributions from just about every member on the field. While it may not have been the greatest outburst, it was an excellent stepping stone to get these young guys experience in a playoff-like atmosphere against a disappointing but dangerous team. That experience could go a long way to contributing to a playoff run.

• With Kamu Grugier-Hill on IR, T.J. Edwards saw a lot of snaps and was up to the task. Edwards appears to have been a steal as an undrafted free agent this year.
• With Ronald Darby leaving the game early, Rasul Douglas was forced into action for much of the game. With Mills missing some snaps, Sidney Jones played on the outside, so he has taken that spot back from Craig James.
• Anthony Rush played a significant amount of snaps at defensive tackle, even with Vinny Curry rotating inside at times.
• With a rib injury to Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert was moved to the top tight end position. With Goedert suffering a relatively minor injury, Joshua Perkins was elevated to TE1 for a time despite starting as TE3.
• At receiver, Perkins became receiver three with Arcega-Whiteside suffering a foot injury. Unsurprisingly, Greg Ward is the clear-cut top receiver and saw most offensive snaps.

Sanders is now at 1,276 yards from scrimmage, which is a new record for the team since Doug Pederson became the head coach. That does not include the over 300 yards he gained during his stint as the kick returner.

In the game itself, Sanders was not getting much room early on, but finished with 20 rushes for 79 yards and a touchdown to go with five receptions for 77 yards. The back also gave himself up at the 20-yard line so the team could run out the clock, so he could have easily been at 20 rushes for 99 yards and two touchdowns were he interested in padding stats rather than giving his team the best opportunity to win.

Elliott made just one field goal from 30 yards out and then missed two longer kicks. These were kicks that should have been made and his misses handed the Cowboys short field position with momentum. This game could easily have been 23-3 had Elliott kicked the way he had early on in the season. After starting the season 16 for 16, Elliot has missed four of his last eight attempts. His extension almost seems to have been a catalyst for the failure.

Dallas Goedert had more touchdowns in this game that the Dallas Cowboys combined. The tight end managed to catch nine passes for 91 yards and a touchdown in this contest, leading a team whose receiving corps was dealt a major blow with the loss of Zach Ertz early on. Those figures don’t eve account for an 18-yard screen Goedert had called back due to a Jason Peters block in the back.

Speaking of Peters, he had been pretty good this season and had his worst game of the season last night. He allowed the hit that forced Wentz’s fumble on the night to go right around him, had his weekly false start and killed a drive with a block in the back. When Jake Elliott missed his first kick from 53 yards out, it was from the Dallas 35-yard line following that block in the back. If Peters doesn’t commit the penalty, the Eagles are at the 21-yard line and have a first down with reasonable yardage instead of first and 20. That one play could easily have changed a field goal for the Cowboys to end the half into a touchdown for the Eagles and a 10-point swing if Peters just turn around when the defender falls over.

Maddox had a rough start last week before coming alive in the second half. This week, he played a complete game. Maddox allowed some catches to veteran Randall Cobb in the slot, particularly on the Cowboys final offensive drive, but the second-year corner came to play in this one and seemed determined not to miss a tackle as he did last week. His strong play was able to hold down the slot while the Eagles outside corners dealt with injuries.

The first Eagles corner to go down was Darby and it was shortly after he gave up a 41-yard pass down the sideline to setup the Cowboys for their first points of the game. Darby did not return, so that was essentially his lone play on the night.

Jenkins was huge in this one, making five tackles, with a couple on Ezekiel Elliott, recovering a fumble and knocking down a pass intended for Amari Cooper. Jenkins has not had a great season by his standards from the previous years, but this was arguably his best game of the season for the Birds.

Wentz threw the ball 40 times. Not all were gems, but 31 were caught. With a 108.2 rating and 319 yards passing, he is just 250 yards from being the first 4,000-yard passer in Eagles history. With a rag-tag group of receivers, Wentz was able to get connect with everyone other than Josh Perkins. He also added 23 yards on five carries if you exclude the kneel to end the game. He has stepped up in these pressure situations and has show he is at his best when he needs to be clutch, which bodes well for the playoffs.

• For the second time this season, Sidney Jones entered the game for a snap and deflected a pass to win the game for the Birds. Much like Rasul Douglas, he has made big plays in limited snaps and has often not been good when starting and playing significant snaps. These guys clearly have potential they are not reaching and a new defensive backs coach might be in order.
• Following two huge catches, JJ Arcega-Whiteside dropped off the map in this game. How much of that was due to the foot injury is unclear, but those catches give the team some hope that he can continue to develop.
• The Cowboys were the top offense in the league heading into this game. They scored just nine points on Sunday. Once again, the Eagles defense rose to the level of their opponent.
• Keeping that in mind, the Eagles match-up in New York next week is more of a concern for the Eagles than a potential home game in the playoffs against an offense they can rise up to.
• The Cowboys missed a few plays and dropped a few passes, but the Eagles missed two field goals and lost their only remaining receiving threat early in the game. Don’t take that performance away from an offense that was at one point rolling with Josh Perkins as TE1 to go with their group of three replacement receivers. The Cowboys didn’t have their best game, but the Eagles were down to five game-one offensive starters, including the offensive line.
• One major area of concern was the pass rush. There were only three or four times that Dak was pressured. That will need to change going forward. There is hope that a healthier Barnett can help by allowing Curry to get more rest and play on the inside, but this should also be on Schwartz to rotate in Genard Avery, who has proven to be an effective pass rusher in his limited snaps.
• With Arcega-Whiteside heading out for an injury as well as both of the team’s top tight ends getting shaken up, it will be difficult for the team to balance the receivers on the roster between those that could contribute next week and those who might provide a major boost in a potential playoff run.

The Eagles travel to New York to take on a woeful Giants team. Still, the team can not underestimate them as they appear to have done in their previous two contests against NFC East bottom dwellers. It will also be the team’s first time facing QB Daniel Jones.