Photo of Lincoln Financial Field courtesy of Betp Wikimedia Commons.
Okay I know what you’re thinking: “See, I knew Hurts wasn’t the real deal!” or “Nick Sirianni can’t defeat a legitimate team, he’s the next Chip Kelly!” And while you could be right — you better not be — there is far too little subject matter to perform an accurate reading of this team as of yet, so please, for the sake of our sanity as fans, relax.
Though it may only be the second week of the NFL season, countless fans seem like they are ready to judge a young, inexperienced team after they defeated an easy competitor then fell to a strong opponent a week later. What all of those impatient fans seem to be missing is a bit of realism.
No one said this was gonna be an easy cruise to the playoffs and that the new-look birds were gonna show all of their abilities in what is — for all intents and purposes, their debut season — let alone in the first two weeks. That is not to say, however, that they have not put on solid showings of brilliance in this budding season or have given us hope to believe something good is brewing in South Philly.
I think the legacy of Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz still looms heavy over the fanbase with their rapid rise to skyrocketing success fueling impatience in Sirianni and company. I hate to break it to you, but what happened in Philly in that second year of the Pederson-Wentz era does not usually happen. You don’t usually see a team so new in developing its culture shatter expectations and take the entire league by storm.
“But Joe, look at Brady and Belichik and Reid with Mahomes!” Well, dear reader, Reid and Belichik had already lived their many years of experience and were far from a first-year head coach by the time they had settled into a championship mindset. Besides, both Mahomes and Brady are verifiable freaks of nature, so it’s unfair to compare any modern-era QB with them.
Sirianni definitely showed his inexperience in this Niners game on Sunday, but that’s OK. It is better that he trip and fall on the second step than to be at the top and come tumbling down, breaking bones along the way. Play calling was his strong suit last week in the balanced attack against Atlanta, but against San Francisco — not so much.
Why he decided to run “Philly Special” instead of utilizing his athletic quarterback to punch it in from a yard out is beyond me, but also understandable and alludes to my previous suspicion of the Pederson shadow looming above. Why be boring and have the QB sneak it in when you can call the most iconic Eagles play of all time in front of your home crowd on the first game in Philly of the new era? The answer? Because if it doesn’t work out, you’ll be heavily scrutinized, especially by the fans of this team. Unfortunately for Sirianni and the Eagles’ beloved analytics-driven strategy, they didn’t come to that conclusion.
Sirianni did not do well to continue pushing a flailing rushing attack against a defense whose secondary was highly suspect given their injuries at outside corner, but it’s not like he never attempted to exploit it. In that attempted exploitation, however, is where Hurts’ errors began to come into focus.
Now, let it not be said that Hurts had a bad day, he was a solid 12 of 23 with 190 yards to go along with 82 yards on the ground and a touchdown. He hit Quez Watkins in stride on a deep ball that ended up seeing the speedy number 16 race just yards shy of the endzone and threw a beautiful over-the-shoulder ball to Jalen Reagor for a would-be touchdown — called back because the receiver stepped out of bounds *rolls eyes.* So it wasn’t all bad on the deep throws for the second-year signal caller. However, there were several passes where receivers were struggling to get to the area because of how short Hurts had thrown it, leaving perfect fodder for critics who continuously point out his arm strength shortcomings.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a legitimate concern, as an efficient offense is going to need to display a threat at the deep ball. If it’s not there, the team will surely suffer as a result. Fortunately, this is a problem that can be fixed with some hard work in the gym and perfecting the chemistry with his wideouts, two areas where Hurts has no shortcomings.
He also continued his drought of pass attempts over the middle of the field, something that is also a popular critique of his play. Nonetheless, Hurts is currently the second highest-rated quarterback (behind Tom Brady) by Pro Football Focus. So that’s encouraging! Give the man some time, it’s still virtually his rookie year and he’s got quite the weight on his shoulders being the frontman for the most beloved sports team in Eastern PA — yeah, I said it.
As for the rest of the team, the defense played very well, all things considered, allowing only 17 points to a Kyle Shanahan-led offense which is very capable of putting up scores in bunches— jJust ask Detroit.
It does really stink that two fan-favorite Brandons succumbed to the injury bug on Sunday. Graham went down with what ended up being an achilles tear, meaning he will miss the rest of the year. Truly a tragedy for the most vocal leader of the team and a very talented veteran presence on the defensive line. This will leave a gaping hole, to be sure, but one that hopefully newly extended Josh Sweat and Derek Barnett will be able to fill.
Once again, guard Brandon Brooks went down with an injury, forcing the Eagles to play without arguably the best offensive guard in the league. Brooks’ injury is less severe than Graham’s, but he too was placed on Injured Reserve, meaning the birds will miss him for at least 3 weeks — most likely longer, but not the rest of the season.
The birds will look to bounce back in a must-win contest at the hated AT&T stadium taking on the despicable Dallas Cowboys. The NFC East lead is on the line as these two 1–1 squads face off. Fly Eagles Fly.
Joseph Gill is a third-year English major with a minor in Journalism. JG923276@wcupa.edu