By Connor Donald, Sports Talk Philly Contributing Writer 
The opportunity to take first place in the NFC least, sorry I mean East, was up for grabs tonight in a battle of two teams with the highest pay rolls currently on the Injured Reserve. The Eagles came in 0-2-1 after tying the Bengals in week three and somehow had the chance to take first place in the NFC East.
The first half was met with its moments, in typical Eagles fashion, that made you think this team isn’t as bad as their record depicts. Like the first quarter eight play, 78 yard touchdown drive which ended in a Wentz touchdown run and successful two point conversion. Well of course there were moments that left you saying, “oh yeah that’s my Eagles”, like yet another ill-advised Carson Wentz league leading, interception or Marcus Epps getting hurdled by Aiyuk into the end zone.
In the last couple weeks I have eluded to an identity crisis in Philadelphia, largely centered around Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz. The National and Philadelphia media have certainly taken advantage of this really giving it to Wentz all week, many pointing out that the end maybe near if things don’t turn around quickly. I found Wentz made some improvements to his game, but Pederson continues to struggle with the playbook and game planning to optimize this offense.
Pederson continued to show a lack of creativity and drive to open up the playbook and accomodate Wentz’s strengths early. Wentz did have his third straight game with a rushing touchdown, showing how important it is to have Wentz use his feet. The offense moved to more of a boot leg in the second half as the offensive line struggled, but this seemed more of Wentz forcing himself to keep plays alive and make something of nothing, then Pederson adapting. Wentz did get better with throwing the ball away which was nice to see. It felt as though there was improvements made by Wentz in this game. I’m not prepared to say the same for Pederson. However, it was interesting to see Pederson continue to incorporate Jalen Hurts more in the games.
The offensive line remained a key concern for the Eagles. Lane Johnson struggled to stay on the field continuing to have issues with his ankle and Jordon Mailata’s effort, while admirable, still needs some work as he replaces Jason Peters at left tackle for the next couple weeks. Wentz could not remain in the pocket for longer than a few seconds, which is one of many stories of the 2020 Eagles.
Beyond Wentz and Pedersons infuriating play calling, there were very few positives to look at. Ertz was the center of the Niners attention (4 rec. 9 yards), taking away a key target plus DeSean Jackson and Dallas Goedert were out this week, his other two favorite targets. Greg Ward(4 rec. 38 yards) for the second week in a row was his favorite target. Wentz ended up targeting eight different receivers on his 28 pass attempts. Travis Fulgham (2 rec. 57 yards) made the huge touchdown catch on one of Wentz’s best throws of the season to give the Eagles a late fourth quarter lead.
The run game did get over 100 yards but it was not an easy 100. Wentz was the most effective rusher averaging 5.3 yards per carry (7 carries, 37 yards) and a touchdown. While Miles Sanders, who has been a bright spot of the offense over the last couple weeks, put up a less than stellar line of (14 carries, 46 yards and one reception for 28 yards).
The defense was polarizing yet again. They were unrelenting in their pressure on Mullens and McLeod came up with the Eagles defense first interception of the season. The defensive line remained a vital piece for the Eagles including a solid game from a few of the ends not named Brandon Graham: Genard Avery (1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 5 QB Hits), Josh Sweat (1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 1 QB Hit) and Derek Barnett (2 QB Hits, 0.5 sack).
The defensive line was in Mullens face and collapsing the pocket all night, forcing the Niners to shift their game plan to ensuring the ball got out of Mullens hand quicker. This gameplan shift, something Pederson should take note of for future games when his offensive line and quarterback are struggling, worked for much of the second half for Mullens and Shanahan as they took advantage of their weapons ability to create their own yards.
One area the Eagles continued to struggle in was missed tackles as there were multiple occasions Kittle, Aiyuk, McKinnon and Wilson made Eagles miss. These misses often were costly leading to first downs, touchdowns or giving the Niners great field position. The second level of the Eagles continued to look bad. Although some nice plays were made by guys like McLeod and Edwards, the coverage remains concerning and Kittle feasted (15 rec. 183 yards, 1 TD). The linebackers look more and more like the Achilles heel of not just the defense, but the team overall, after Howie Roseman invested heavily in the secondary in the offseason, the largest area of concern in 2019. Despite this concern Alex Singleton gave a bright spot with a sexy interception thrown right to him to end Mullens night with just under six minutes to go to make it a two score game.
Jim Schwartz did pull together a solid gameplan and did some good play calling dialing up the pressure at times and taking some risks. A gameplan can only go so far when it comes to missed tackles or opportunities on the field. It was frustrating to watch him turn to the sticks defense late and make Beathard look like the garbage time stud. Schwartz has taking the brunt of the blame at times, but is largely doing what he can with what he has and watching the defensive lapses is equally as frustrating for him as it is us as fans.
We can’t talk about the Eagles without mentioning the impact of injuries. Johnson as mentioned above, was on and off the field after the first drive as he struggled with his ankle. Thankfully he went from an as needed play to a priority play much of the second half as the game remained close. TJ Edwards left with a Hamstring issue. Rudy Ford also left the game. Darius Slay and Fletcher Cox both went down at one point but returned to the game. Injuries continue to haunt the Eagles, in a season where the entire league is having issues with them, it comes as no surprise the Eagles are having some of the worst injury issues.
Take a deep breath. Boy does it ever feel good to win and to take over first place in the NFC East, but as you can tell this season is going to be long and is far from over for Wentz, Pederson and Roseman. The defense played well much of the game, the offense looked good in the fourth quarter, but we have yet to put it together for a full 60 minutes in all three phases. For now, first place is first place and we should soak it in for what it’s worth!
