Dallas Dumped in Prime Time

 

The Eagles earned a big win on national television vs. the division rival Cowboys to remain undefeated.  They will enter the bye week with the opportunity to remain atop the NFC.  While this bye week appeared too early when the schedule was released, many players need to heal up, especially on the Eagles best/deepest position, the Offensive Line.  Those guys want to take the opportunity to mend, while the coaches self-scout and add wrinkles to what has been a successful first 6 games.

 

Dallas:

The Eagles continued an unusual pattern of scoring most of their points in the second quarter (more on that later).  But a 20-0 lead effectively won them the game, albeit with some nail-gnawing in the 2nd half as the Cowboys, to their credit, did not fold on the road.  The half would likely have ended with that score, but Cowboy kick returner Kavontae Turpin is a talented youngster, and got the Boys into field goal range against a suspect Eagle kickoff coverage unit for a 20-3 halftime score. 

The Eagle defense played really well in the first half (2 turnovers, 81 total yards yielded), while the offense scored more points in the half than Dallas had yielded in any prior entire game this year.  They did it by keeping the Dallas D out of their comfort zone with a combination of misdirection (via their RPO’s) and using Right Tackle Lane Johnson to handle Micah Parsons.

In the 2nd half, the Cowboys achieved success passing vs 5-man fronts, and running on 4 man fronts.  When the Eagles were up 20-0 & 20-3, they pretty much abandoned the 5-man front, assuming Dallas would strictly pass, but Dallas did not abandon their running game.  They got back into the game as a result, succeeding in running mostly against the Eagles 4-man line, as the Birds sat Jordan Davis down and were only bringing 4.  The Eagle defense also focused heavily on Dallas wideouts (96 yds on 21 targets for the game), so the lack of attention to the Dallas TE’s (Dalton Schultz did not suit up for the game do to injury) allowed some key Dallas completions in the air.

On offense, the Birds loss of Lane Johnson (concussion) before half time created the mismatch Dallas needed on backup Jack Driscoll, helping Dallas stymy the Eagle offense in the 3rd quarter.  Dallas sacked Hurts 4 times, and the pressure affected him.  The key to the game was the Birds run game, which enabled a 4th quarter drive (effectively 11 runs followed up with 2 passes at the end) that controlled the clock and produced a Hurts to Devonta Smith TD that provided a 9 point lead (26-17) and the final score.

 

Thoughts:

On one aggressive 4th down decision by Sirianni, Dallas sold out when the Eagles went for it on 4th and 1 (Vander-Esch even came over the top to get Hurts).  Had the Birds thrown a flip pass on the play it would have been a TD, but they stuck to plan and the power of their O-line, so fortunately Hurts got the 1st down.  The Eagles were similarly successful when Carson Wentz was their QB from 2016-2020.  While the powerful Hurts no doubt has something to do with the Birds success here, one suspects so do both Center Jason Kelce and OL coach Jeff Stoutland, both of whom have been around that entire period of time [as has Guard Isaac Seumalo, who also deserves some credit]. 

Is CD Lamb a #1 wr?  Didn’t look to be last night.  Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he does when Prescott returns.

”Heroes” of this game were the guys in the Eagles secondary- 12 pass breakups and 3 picks.  While 2 of the interceptions were by safety Chancey-Gardner Johnson, who along with safety Marcus Epps played well (When CG hurt his hand he was out 2 series, coincidentally when the Dallas offense had its greatest success).  The Eagles cornerback trio of Slay and Bradberry and Avonte Maddux (in the slot) have been terrific all year (Pro Football Focus has them ranked 8th, 10th and 16th in coverage amongst 108 NFL ranked cornerbacks), and their coverage shut down Cooper Rush.  Jonathan Gannon is gaining confidence in this group more and more over time, allowing what was expected to be primarily a zone defense to now mix and match and create confusion.  Versus Dallas, the Eagles secondary played 40% man.

Disappointed with both the pass pressure (Not good enough- No sacks and 4 hurries) and Dallas’ 2nd half success in the run game… The Dallas offensive line has done well after losing Pro-Bowl Tackle Tyrone Smith, but a strength of this Eagles team is supposed to be in the trenches.  The Birds DL was unable to dominate the excellent patch work Dallas has done across their offensive front. McCarthy did not abandon the running game and Zeke looked like Zeke!

Nick Sirianni-“If you can’t block him, read him.”  The Eagles attacked Dallas Edge Parsons in space with option plays.  They sent a receiver toward Parsons side of the field while having Hurts rollout toward that receiver, thus making Parsons choose (Hurts or the receiver), enabling Hurts to flip the ball to the receiver when Parsons came at him, or keep & run (or pass elsewhere) when Parsons played the receiver. 

There has been much talk / social media expression about the “CD Lamb stretch” that should have been called a first down.  Don’t see it.  As John Madden used to say, 1 knee = 2 feet.  Lamb’s knee (perhaps both) were down before he stretched the ball.

Special teams… it’s something every week.  A fake punt succeeds last week, big kick return this week.  The Eagles kicking & punting are fine, but coverage on returns, and blocking when returning are poor.  There is no Chris Maragos Pro Bowl STer on this team.  HOWIE (Roseman’s) roster building has been extraordinary, but this is a weakness.  The Eagles are relying on their young, inexperienced players here, and it is not working out. 

We’re less than 2 weeks from the trade deadline. Offense starters- 7 potential pro bowlers (Hurts, AJ Brown, Dallas Goedert and 4 of the offensive linemen- Johnson, Kelce, Dickerson and Mialata).  On Defense, Cornerbacks Slay and Bradberry and Linemen Hassan Reddick and Brandon Graham are putting in Pro Bowl seasons.  Other starters are executing at near Pro Bowl levels (Devonta Smith, TJ Edwards), and there are no discernible weaknesses amongst the 22.   Moves should be made to seek veteran backups in the secondary (Corner, Safety), and help for Special Teams.  You do not want to be like the Packers last year, a heavily favored team that lost in the playoffs do to Special Teams.  

Like last week, Philly ran the ball in their 4th quarter drive till the last 2 plays (22 yds. to AJ Brown, 6 yds to Devonta Smith (10 of the other 11 plays were runs, and the eleventh was a shovel pass to Miles Sanders, effectively a run). When referring to “going to the well,” this is the Eagles well.

Shout-out to Jordan Mialata using- Jeff Stoutland University on his intro.  One of the funniest Monday Night Football player intros ever!

2nd quarter insane vs rest of game mundane: There are multiple reasons for the Eagle 2nd quarter success (most dominating points scored vs. against in NFL history after 6 weeks).  At the start, the scripted plays and their execution need to better.  Once the Eagles get beyond these into their “basic approach,” the offense is terrific.  The first half leads have led to concentrating on burning clock in the second half, with what appears to be a lack of aggressiveness.  Also, countering the counters needs to happen faster.  Opponents adjust to Eagle success post-half time, and the Birds are slow to recognize and respond to the changes. 

Eagle Long (12+ play) drives- 1-they’ve dramatically reduced their penalties from last year; 2- The offense is not committing turnovers; 3- They are very aggressive & successful on 4th and short allowing drives to be extended.  4- Their run game can be interestingly dominant [only 23rd in YPA, but when they need it, they get it]. 

The Eagles have a terrific running game, predicated on a dominant offensive line and good running backs.  However, what differentiates this running game from others is Jalen Hurts.  Not only for his overall running skill, which if not first in the NFL is second only to the Ravens Lamar Jackson. The real key are Eagle RPO or run/option plays, where the defense must defend the triumvirate of the pass, the RB and Hurts.  In those plays decisive moments, Hurts is great at frequently making the right last second call, optimizing the play.  It puts the defense in a constant state of “pick your poison,” and Hurts has become adept at sniffing out the right answer in real time as the play unfolds.  It is this additional “Hurts decision” element of the running game that is one of his unique skills, and is helping push him into the stratosphere of top 5 NFL QB’s. 

The offensive line performs well in the run game even with backups relieving injured starters.  When going straight ahead, they know what to do and have been prepared to do it… Kudos to both Jeff Stoutland for making it possible and to OC Shane Steichen for trusting/relying upon it, even with the backups in there.

Turnovers- Eagles lead the league in Turnover differential {12}.  (The Ravens & Vikes are 2nd (4)).  While Football Outsiders has shown this is not very predictable year-over-year, turnovers are predictable Intra-year.  The Eagles are protecting the ball quite well on offense and have become adept on defense at forcing turnovers.  Maintaining this is a huge correlation to winning games. 

It is not even week 7 and all 5 Eagle Offensive Line starters, AND arguably their most important backup have all missed snaps or games due to injuries.  This is the strength of the team.  The key backups are Cam Jurgens at Center, Sun Opeta at Guard, Andre Dillard at Left Tackle and Jack Driscoll at Tackle or Guard.  With Lane Johnson being the latest injured starter (concussion), it is clear even as deep as the Eagles are on the O-Line, it remains a vulnerable offensive engine.  Any thought of trading backups here (ex: Andre Dillard) for other spots is ludicrous.  If anything, they needed to leverage their depth pieces so early and frequently it shows that their 10th lineman (Josh Sills, on the 53 as a protected “project” with little chance for 2022 meaningful snaps), may need to be demoted to the practice squad if and when Brett Toth (nearly ready to come off IR, and more experienced) is ready.  Sills may have been better positioned on the practice squad from day 1 in favor of Kayode Awosika or Jack Anderson, 2 functional Eagle interior linemen from last year and during training camp this summer the Eagles perhaps incorrectly positioned behind Sills onto the practice squad.  Both were subsequently stolen by other teams (The Lions and Jets, respectively). 

Eagle Lesson: The Eagles are NOT a good tackling team, and the Dallas game reinforced it.  Per John McMullen over at Birds 365,  the Eagles tackling metrics were terrible vs. Detroit and below average vs. Minnesota (yes, in the Monday night blow out).  They tackled well in the Commanders game, but have not done so since… Below average or worse in their last 3 games-  Below average vs. Jacksonville and Dallas, and terrible vs. Arizona.  Per Pro Football Focus, they are 30th of the 32 NFL teams in tackling.  Again, at Birds 365, guest John Stollnis aptly suggested this could be due to the Eagles so frequently going for the strip, emphasizing the big play (turnover) over a well-executed tackle.  There is no doubt some truth to this, but simply put the Eagles defenders, while clearly good players, appear in general to be below average NFL tacklers.  How correctable is this?  How vulnerable will this leave the defense, apparently more skilled at preventing plays or stealing balls than tackling the opposition?  This is the biggest problem the Eagles face moving forward in 2022.