Eagles Evaluation: Eagles Surge To NFC East Championship

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles struggled for about two and a half quarters, but got their act together in the second-half.

The Eagles got back to what matters most in Philadelphia: having fun.

There was, of course, a catalyst with a major fumble recovery, but following that play, the Philadelphia Eagles began to laugh and dance and have fun.

They rode that wave to the tune of two extra touchdowns, two sacks, a tackle for loss, an interception and a turnover on downs with a corner, on his own, stopping Saquon Barkley at the edge.

The end result is that the Eagles are NFC East Champions.

There was a lot made of the Giants and how they had nothing to lose this week, and how that made them dangerous. That spot now goes to the Eagles, who have no expectations and who have shown that they play their best in high-pressure situations.

• Anthony Rush once again took a lot of snaps in this one. He is proving to have been an excellent addition and has locked down the third defensive tackle position following the initial ten weeks or so when the Eagles had no viable option to play with Fletcher Cox.
• Burnett, Davis and Ward drew the start and playing time at receiver in this game. It is unclear whether JJ Arcega-Whiteside was sidelined because of his foot injury or the team’s confidence in the other receivers, but the former would seem more likely considering how well he did early in the Dallas match-up just a week ago.
• With Richard Rodgers being added to the roster again, the Eagles were able to use him as a blocker on plays that Josh Perkins struggled with last week while allowing them to move Perkins to more of a receiver role that he has proven to be more effective in.
• With Jalen Mills missing this game, the Eagles opted to move Avonte Maddox outside with Rasul Douglas and bring Cre’Von LeBlanc back into the fold to play in the slot.
• Avonte Maddox left this game fairly early and Sidney Jones came in as his replacement.
• With Brandon Brooks going down, the Eagles chose to send Matt Pryor in to play guard for the remainder of the game.
• Miles Sanders left the game with an injury and Boston Scott took over as the running back. The Eagles used Jordan Howard just once following the injury, leaving Scott as the only back.
• Marcus Epps played as the third safety in this one and seemed to get some additional snaps down the stretch.
• With the game in hand, the Eagles opted to give Daeshon Hall some snaps at defensive end.

When Miles Sanders went down, you would not have been alone in thinking the Eagles would have to rely on the passing game with Wentz throwing to the All-Pro Practice Squad team. That was surely a factor, but that would forget that the Eagles also have a running back on the All-Pro Practice Squad roster.

Scott was once again electric in the passing game, actually becoming the team’s leading receiver with 84 yards on just four receptions. He also became the Birds leading rusher with Jordan Howard playing just one snap in Sanders’ absence. 19 carries for 54 yards with a 2.8 yards per carry mark isn’t all that impressive, but Scott also had three rushing touchdowns. When you consider that two of those touchdown carries were with short yardage where Scott could only gain a yard or two, his yards per carry rises to three. Still not great on it’s own, but certainly respectable for a 5-foot, six change of pace back who was turned into a workhorse and the only back on the roster.

By the end of the game, Douglas made a few pass break-ups (three to be exact) simply by getting his arms in the way of the receiver. Not once did Douglas ever turn around and he was the one in coverage on the Giants 20-yard touchdown pass. Douglas also came away from this game with a roughing the passer penalty and a 33-yard reception that he allowed, but was bailed out by the defense forcing a turnover on downs thanks to plays by Malcolm Jenkins, Anthony Rush, Sidney Jones and Cre’Von LeBlanc. It would have 52-yard field goal attempt had the Giants chosen to kick the field goal and, with their kicker, Douglas would almost certainly have given the Giants some points there.

LeBlanc, as just mentioned, made the big play to stop Saquon from getting to the outside on fourth and one. A play that is converted probably 90% of the time was stopped by LeBlanc sealing the edge and making an amazing open-field tackle on one of the most difficult players to bring down and force the turnover on downs. Overall, he was electric in the run game and keeping receptions to short gains, totaling eight tackles. That doesn’t even mention his skill in coverage, where he was credited with two pass break ups.

Frankly, after his performance on Sunday, LeBlanc should be the starting slot corner. While that isn’t necessarily a knock on Avonte Maddox, LeBlanc has played on a different level, especially in high-leverage situations, over the past two seasons following his actually learning the offense. With the way Rasul Douglas was victimized for much of the game, it might not hurt to get Maddox the outside job if he’s healthy.

Again, it’s not clear whether it was his foot injury that sidelined Arcega-Whiteside, but not being listed on the injury report then riding the bench as your team fields an entire receiving corps made up of players from the practice squad is not ideal for a second-round pick.

At this point, it is fair to wonder where Ward’s contract extension is. Ward is clearly the team’s slot receiver going forward. It doesn’t matter if Agholor comes back, Ward being on the field gives the Eagles the best chance to win.

Ward had what was seemingly a disappointing game from the eye test, but managed to haul in six of his seven targets for 43 yards. Considering one of those catches lost seven yards, Ward averaged 10 yards a catch on his other receptions. Aside from that one negative play, all of Ward’s catches went for a first down.

Robert Davis has an uninspiring stat sheet for this game with a game with no catches, but that ignores the 12 yards he gained by drawing a pass interference penalty as well as the absolutely incredible one-handed grab he made over a defender for a 39-yard gain that was wiped out because of a holding penalty that went against Big V.

Just two weeks ago, Burnett was added to the Eagles practice squad in a move that was largely seen as an afterthought following Alshon Jeffery landing on injured reserve. While he wasn’t amazing, he added two catches for 48 yards in this game, including a 41-yard reception. If Burnett can keep that up next week, he should find a spot with the team, whether that be a roster spot despite a potential DeSean Jackson return or a contract to bring him back for training camp in 2020.

To put that in perspective, the Eagles had Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor combine for just seven games with 48 or more yards and Burnett did that in his first game with the team. Their whole receiving corps to start the season managed it just 10 times the entire season and just four times since week three.

Pryor, who rode the bench the entire 2018 season and has barely played in 2019, was dealt a tough task of filling in for Brandon Brooks, a player who has quite literally been the top offensive lineman in the league, in the middle of a game. Pryor seemed to be up to the task and Jeff Stoutland was again proven to be a master as the second-year man came in and there was not much to draw attention to him. The only time I can remember Pryor getting his name called as when he was blocking well downfield on one of Boston Scott’s touchdown runs. If he can keep that up, the Eagles will be in much better shape moving forward with another solid lineman waiting in the wings.

Graham was credited with three tackles for loss and a sack in this game, but his impact was felt far more often. Graham created a few pressures and contained well on plays that resulted in Daniel Jones stepping into another defender or forced Saquon to bounce to another defender. Those are plays that were really stopped by Graham, but end up getting finished off by someone else.

Despite only one sack credited to him, Graham still managed to move into fifth-place for sacks in Eagles history, behind only Hugh Douglas, Clyde Simmons, Trent Cole and the great Reggie White.

• Miles Sanders added 52 rushing yards in this game prior to his injury. He has now surpassed Josh Jacobs for the most scrimmage yards by a non-QB rookie in 2019 and already had the most all-purpose yards of any non-QB rookie this season.
• As Victor William, host of the Philly Special Podcast, reported earlier in the week, Wentz was just 250 yards from becoming the Eagles first 4000-yard passer and the first in the NFL to do it without a 500-yard receiver. He more than eclipsed that on Sunday.

Wentz is 250 yards away from being the first QB in NFL history to throw for 4,000 yards while having no WR over 500 yards for the season.

Truly remarkable. #Eagles

— Victor Williams (@ThePhillyPod) December 27, 2019

• The Eagles kept alive the NFC East’s 15-year streak of not having a champion repeat two seasons in a row. They will aim to end that streak next season.
• Win or lose next week, this season is already a success for the Eagles. Perhaps the most important thing for them now is getting Carson Wentz, Boston Scott, Greg Ward and other players that would seem to be big parts of the Eagles future some playoff experience – hopefully some very positive experiences.

The Eagles will return to Philadelphia and prepare to take on the NFC West’s second-place team, the Seattle Seahawks. They will likely draw on the experience from their previous meeting where the defense did a very nice job of containing Russel Wilson. They will hope that their recent additions and returns on offense can muster up a more productive game than they did in that first meeting.