Patrick Causey, on Twitter @InsdeTheHuddle
The Philadelphia Eagles opened the season with a disappointing loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football, 26-24. The loss came as a surprise to many in Philadelphia who were expecting a statement game from the Eagles to validate the preseason hype and Super Bowl aspirations.
But the Eagles dug themselves into a hole with a first half that can be described as nothing short of an abject failure. Sam Bradford, playing his first meaningful game in 22 months, was inaccurate and skittish under pressure, and his lack of chemistry with his receivers was painfully self-evident. The offensive line did not do him any favors, as they repeatedly got manhandled at the point of attack. The defensive front seven, billed by many as the strength of this team (including by yours truly), failed to take advantage of what was supposed to be a leaky Falcons offensive line, giving Matt Ryan all the time in the world to throw. And for at least this game, the only thing different about the secondary from last year were the names on the backs of the jersey.
But if the first half was a train wreck, the second half was a revelation. Bradford effortlessly picked apart the Falcons defense by attacking the underneath routes en route to completing 21 of 25 passes. The defense was able to generate more pressure by blitzing (a novel concept, I know), and came away with some opportunistic turnovers. And the performance of Jordan Matthews (notwithstanding his late drop) should ease concerns that the Eagles do not have a top flight wideout on the roster.
If not for a botched field goal or a few dropped interceptions, the Eagles could have come away with a win.
But what do we make out of this game? The All-22 suggests, as you might imagine, that there are reasons for optimism moving forward, but some issues could plague this team as the season progresses. Let's focus on two things: Sam Bradford and Billy Davis' play calling.
Sam Bradford
Even the most ardent Sam Bradford believers had indigestion after the first half. His timing was off, his accuracy suspect, and he looked like a deer in the headlights when the Falcons brought pressure. There was clearly a lack of chemistry early on between Bradford and his receivers, which should be expected given that he only attempted 15 passes this preseason.
But not all of this was Bradford's fault. Take, for example, this throw to Zach Ertz. The play is designed to get Ertz in a favorable matchup on a corner route. The Eagles cleared out space for Ertz to operate by lining three wide receivers on the opposite side of the field and having Darren Sproles run an angle route towards the middle of the field.
The play works to perfection: Ertz breaks cleanly from the line and has his defender trailing on his inside shoulder. The deep safety was a good seven-plus yards away and late to break on the corner route. All Ertz had to do is turn outside and it is an easy pitch and catch for a big gain. Yet, he inexplicably broke back inside towards the defenders , causing the pass to fall incomplete.
There were several other examples of Bradford being let down by his receivers, including Bradford's pass to an unsuspecting Josh Huff, who was busy blocking the corner instead of looking for the ball. Bradford looked like he bailed on the run play given the look from the defensive front. But Chip Kelly said after the game that Huff was top blame for this miscue as the play called for him to run a hitch route.
Probably the most egregious mistake by a receiver Monday night came courtesy of Ryan Mathews, who dropped what could have been a huge gain in the second quarter of the game:
Look at all of this space!
The Eagles had to settle for a field goal on this drive. Had Mathews made the simple catch, who knows what could have happened.
Now might be a good time to talk about the struggles of the offensive line. Bradford was not sacked during the game, but that statistic is somewhat misleading. While the pass protection was generally good, there was still momentary lapses that prevented Bradford from getting through his progressions and stepping up in the pocket to deliver accurate throws.
But the line's struggles in run blocking is where it hurt Bradford the most. The Eagles new starting guards, Andrew Garnder and Allen Barbre, were exposed by the Falcons defense. Take this play for example, which would have been a five yard loss but for DeMarco Murray breaking a tackle.
Falcons linebacker Paul Worrilow (#55) is able to get a clean blitz up the A gap because Eagles guard Allen Barbre simply does not recognize the blitz coming.
Kelly won't admit it, but Barbre and Garnder's poor play was likely the key reason that he abandoned the run game and turned towards quick passes attacking the under belly of the Falcons zone. This one-sided approach allowed the Falcons' defenders to simply pin their ears back and tee-off on Bradford, which in turn limited his effectiveness, especially in the first half when he was not on the same page with his receivers.
So it would be fair to say that some extenuating circumstances contributed to Bradford's slow start. But it would be unwise to entirely write off Bradford's struggles in the first half, especially in areas that have consistently plagued him throughout his career: failing to attack a defense deep or throw accurately under pressure.
For starters, Bradford continued to take a dink and dunk approach, averaging a paltry 6.5 yards per attempt.
Part of this was simply the result of Bradford taking what the Falcons defense was giving him. Atlanta's 4-3 under scheme, with the deep defenders often playing a Cover 3 zone, is designed to prevent big plays by keeping the receivers in front of you and swarming to stop any big gains after the catch.
But part of this was Bradford failing to test the defense deep, as he did not attempt a single pass play more than 20 yards down the field. Bradford's 6.5 ypa is in line with his career mark of 6.3 ypa, which is the worst number of the 26 active quarterbacks that have attempted at least 1,700 passes.
While it is unclear who will be the Eagles deep threat this season — Nelson Agholor? — Bradford will need to take shots down the field in order to keep defenses honest. Kelly's offense works best when he is stretching defenses both horizontally and vertically, so Bradford will need to let it rip once in a while to make sure defenses aren't crowding receivers at the line and throwing the timing off Kelly's offense.
The other area of concern was how much Bradford struggled throwing under pressure. As I've covered before, Bradford completed a woeful 38% of his passes under pressure in 2013, one of the worst marks in the league. On Monday night, he again struggled when Falcons defenders got pressure, especially when they got pressure up the middle.
Let's start with some low hanging fruit here. Bradford's first interception, which came with 1:05 left in the second quarter deep in Eagles' territory. Barbre yet again gets beat in pass protection, this time by Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett:
The Falcons are in a Cover 3 zone and have Zach Ertz blanketed by three defenders. It looks like Bradford doesn't see the underneath defender and gives up an easy interception. He simply cannot make this throw. The interception gift-wrapped a touchdown to the Falcons after Matt Ryan connected with Julio Jones for a 22-yard score just two plays later.
In the first quarter, the Falcons were able to generate pressure on Bradford by bringing an extra defender on the blitz up the A gap. Bradford missed a wide open Miles Austin on what could have been a touchdown pass.
There has been some disagreement over whether this incompletion falls on Bradford or Austin, who seems to slow up just slightly on his route as the ball is being delivered.
Count me among those that place this incompletion on Bradford. Yes, the ball technically hits Austin in the hands, but not all incompletions are the same. The ball could have been placed better for Austin to make the play.
Look at this close up of the play and tell me what you think:
While Bradford struggled in the first half, he was absolutely dynamic in the second. He completed 21 of 25 passes, and at one point, had completed 9 passes in a row.
For the most part, Bradford's brilliance was in his simplicity: he took what the defense was giving him and got rid of the ball quickly and accurately before the defense could get to him. In a way, it was reminiscent of what we have seen from Tom Brady and Peyton Manning at the tail end of their careers: using quick passes to move the ball down the field. (No, I am not comparing Bradford to either quarterback).
But Bradford occasionally flashed his arm talent with absolute gems like this throw to Jordan Matthews:
There are two defenders bracketing Matthews on the far side of the field. But it doesn't matter. Bradford threads the needle, fitting the ball into an incredibly tight window, for a 25 yard gain.
While I still have my reservations about how Bradford performans under pressure, I expect that we will see more of what we saw in the second half moving forward. If so, the Eagles offense should be in for a very productive season (assuming Bradford can stay healthy, of course).
The defense on the other hand….
Bill Davis' Play Calling
I was skeptical when the Eagles hired Billy Davis as defensive coordinator given his track record at the San Francisco 49ers from 2005-2006 and later with the Arizona Cardinals from 2009-2010. To date, Davis' units have been uninspiring at times, and downright dreadful at others.
Here is a break down of the defenses under Billy Davis as a defensive coordinator, including in his two-years with the Eagles so far:
|
Year |
Pts/G (Rank) |
League Rank |
YPG (Rank) |
League Rank |
Int |
Fum Rec |
|
2005 |
26.8 |
29th |
391.2 |
32nd |
16 |
10 |
|
2006 |
25.8 |
32nd |
344.2 |
26th |
14 |
13 |
|
2009 |
20.3 |
14th |
346.4 |
20th |
21 |
8 |
|
2010 |
27.1 |
30th |
373.6 |
29th |
17 |
13 |
|
2013 |
23.9 |
17th |
394.0 |
29th |
12 |
16 |
|
2014 |
25.0 |
22nd |
375.6 |
28th |
12 |
16 |
The only statistic that rates favorably compared to the rest of the league is the 16 forced fumbles by the Eagles in 2013 and 2014 (which ranked first). Outside of that, a Billy Davis led defense has typically ranked as one of the worst in the league.
To be fair, his teams have not been loaded with Pro Bowl caliber talent, so it is hard to lay blame entirely on Davis.
But great coaches are able to mask their talent shortcomings. It's why Chip Kelly consistently produce a top five offense despite a carousel at the quarterback position. It's why Bill Belichick was able to win a Super Bowl with Patrick Chung starting at safety. And it's why Dan Quinn, considered a defensive genius in his own right, was able to quickly turn around the Falcons vagabond defense into a respectable unit.
Billy Davis does not excel at masking his team's deficiencies. We all remember last year's inexcusable decision to keep rolling out Bradley Fletcher week after week despite the fact that Fletcher was an unmitigated disaster on the outside. It took Davis an entire season to recognize this mistake, a curious time frame given that most fans and media members realized it by mid-season.
But more concerning was Davis' inability to change his approach to help minimize the damage Fletcher was causing. Week after week, we saw Fletcher being lined up in press man coverage against a stud wide receiver with no safety help over top.
Like this play in the Eagles critical late season showdown with the Dallas Cowboys. Note Fletcher at the bottom of the screen, lined up in single coverage against Dez Bryant with no safety help over top.
Not surprisingly, this play resulted in a touchdown pass to Bryant, as Fletcher used poor technique giving Bryant a free release and easy path into the end zone.
Rather than change up his approach, Davis continued to roll Fletcher out there in press man coverage against Bryant with a single high safety look. Not surprisingly, the same result kept happening: Bryant scored four touchdowns in the Cowboys 38-27 win which all but gift-wrapped the NFC East crown to the Cowboys.
Fast forward to last Monday night's game against the Falcons. Sam Bradford had just thrown that costly interception deep in Eagles territory we just discussed. Julio Jones and Roddy White had been abusing Byron Maxwell and the Eagles secondary for the entire half.
And yet, Davis sticks with his press man coverage, giving Maxwell no help over the top. Look at all of this space that Jones has to exploit:
Not surprisingly, Maxwell gets beat easily as Jones connects with Matt Ryan for a 22 yard touchdown to give the Falcons a 20-3 lead at the half.
Two quarters later, after the Eagles took their first lead of the game, 24-23, Davis again puts Maxwell on an island against Julio Jones. And wouldn't you know, the same result happened:
Maxwell gets burned again for a 44 yard gain that set up the Falcons decisive field goal.
When Davis wasn't playing press man coverage, he was using soft zone techniques against Jones, giving him all the space in the world to operate. Take this easy pitch and catch for eight yards in the first half:
Jones was not even touched until he was five yards beyond the line of scrimmage, picking up the first down with ease.
On the very next play, Davis brings pressure on Ryan, but uses the exact same soft zone coverage against Jones. So, Kyle Shanahan runs the exact same play, this time to the opposite side of the field:
I watched the tape and do not recall seeing a single instance in which Davis double teamed Jones. Kelly said after the game that it was hard to key on Jones because he was being moved around the field a lot. That might be true, but there was still plenty of opportunities for Davis to give his corners extra help to take Jones out of the game.
Make 33-year old Roddy White beat you. Make untested third round running back Tevin Coleman beat you. Don't let arguably the best wide receiver in the game continue to beat you and do nothing about it.
The definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. That saying embodies Davis' coaching philosophy and tenure as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Overall
Overall, I think there are a lot of positives to take away from the Eagles game. If they continue to play like they did in the second half, then they are in prime position to make a run to the playoffs. If they play more like they did in the first half, however, it could be a long season.
I suspect that Sam Bradford will continue to improve on his showing. He rebounded nicely from a slow start and showed signs of his surgical accuracy that we heard so much about this offseason. The offensive line and presence of Billy Davis as our defensive coordinator, however, look like they could be this team's achilles heel for the rest of the year. That will put the onus on Sam Bradford and the passing game to come up big. Let's hope they are up for the challenge.
