Eagles Postgame Report: Birds Squeak By Patriots To Begin 2023 Season

The Eagles enter a new season with Super Bowl aspirations but this season started in rainy, wet conditions.

The Birds offense managed to march down the field on the opening drive, but stalled out and settled for a field goal on fourth and goal.

The defense, for their part, started a bit slow but picked up in a big way with a pick-six and a fumble recovery in the first quarter.

Then they stopped. The offense might as well have been a JV squad and they made no effort for chunk gains. The defense allowed as many five-yard gains as the Patriots wanted. So the half came with a slim 16-14 lead.

The offense only clicked well enough for field goals in the second half but the defense allowed just one score, thanks in large part to Rhamondre Stevenson not dragging his second foot on the Patriots’ last offensive play. It was a play that was a catch had he done that and would have setup the Patriots with four chances to win the game from the 10-yard line.

In the end, the Eagles took on a Patriots team that went just 8-9 last season and were lucky to escape with a win by the skin of their teeth.

Jalen Hurts had a game that was probably worse than any he played last season. The defense had too many missed tackles. There’s a lot for this team to work on before they play Thursday night.

Offensive MVP: DeVonta Smith

The offense was largely a snooze fest in this one. Most runs were mediocre at best. Hurts threw for fewer than 200 yards and the offense frequently stalled. It was Smith than kept the chains moving most of the time. He registered seven catches for 47 yards in this one, which may not be a lot on it’s own but it also included a great catch for the only touchdown the offense was able to manage.

Defensive MVP: Reed Blankenship

The secondary was hyped up all offseason, but Mac Jones put up 300 yards on them. Only Darius Slay and Blankenship had multiple pass breakups (Blankenship had 2). He also had his hands full with his teammate’s blown coverage and their missed tackles. That left him with 11 tackles (most in the game), including nine solo.

Game Notes

• While it wasn’t great conditions for kicking and there was an issue with the snap, it was a bit disappointing to see a missed extra point. Hopefully that isn’t an ongoing issue.
• Outside the missed extra point, Elliott was great with four field goals, including two that were over 50-yards out, so he may have immediately quelled concerns.
• Earth to Michael Clay. What is it you’ve been doing all offseason? Outside Elliott, who’s skill really isn’t the concern of the coordinator, special teams was an embarrassment once again.
• Rashaad Penny was an inactive for this game, which was quite a bit of a shock.
• Perhaps it’d be advisable to break up a pass attempt or actually hit the QB rather than just lurking nearby as the defense moved to in the second quarter.
• For Hurts, one has to hope that this was like a preseason game since he did not play in any. He came out and looked unable to push the ball down the field for three quarters. When they finally took deep shots in the fourth, he also fumbled the ball away. It was not nearly the performance you’d expect from an MVP-caliber player.
• Josh Sweat and Jalen Carter each came up pretty clutch with the team’s only two sacks coming late in the game to keep the Patriots off the board in what became critical drives.
• It should concern everyone, including those in the building, that Darius Slay is tied for the lead in touchdowns on this team. There was no ability to finish on offense today.
• Changes need to be made in all three phases of the ball sooner than later.
• For all the running back by committee talk, they might as well have just named Kenneth Gainwell the starter. Even when he didn’t look good, he was basically the only involved running back. D’Andre Swift and Boston Scott were ghosts with only two touches.
• Also a ghost in this one: Dallas Goedert. He was open several times and should have been used by a struggling QB, but was targeted just one time when he was actually covered and DeVonta Smith was wide-open.

Injury Notes

• Nakobe Dean went to the locker room in the third quarter with a foot injury and did not return.
• Fletcher Cox exited with an injury in the fourth quarter.
• James Bradberry was shaken up and taken out late in the fourth quarter. It resulted in his not being on the field for the final and perhaps most important drive of the game.

Philadelphia Eagles @ New England Patriots – September 10, 2023