Well then.... So much for Wentz isn't ready and they should wait until after the bye!
He is impressive. I mean IMPRESSIVE. There wasn't really a bad throw that could have been picked. Green-Beckham dropped a dime on another long throw for a TD, and there were a couple other drops too. The TD to Sproles was special. Evaded the rusher, broke out of the pocket, ran across the line of scrimmage, made the LB step up to stop the rushing first down, then lofted the pass over his head to Sproles. Just fantastic.
The receivers still can't catch. Kelce looks bad, again, and is a concern and the otherwise excellent offensive line is still going to have to deal with losing Lane Johnson, which will force a solid Guard to play as a bad tackle. Downgrading two positions. So you go from 4 solid to good line members to 2. Which is a problem.
Really encouraging to see Smallwood look so solid from running back and Barner continues to impress. No Matthews no problem.
And we still haven't seen the 3 TE set, which hopefully we can see post the bye with all three good TE finally healthy. That I think is going to help the weakened oline.
Defensively. Phew. D-line was fantastic, without any blitzing. Run defence was excellent. Williams the rushing leader after two games had 8 carries for 21 yards, before the game got out of hand and they had to go all passing.
The linebackers were excellent. God Hicks is great and Bradham has been great. Mills again got burnt early, but came back. I think he's overmatched for straight pace and would be better as a slot guy. Carroll was ok and Ron Brooks (!?) was excellent for the second straight game. The safeties are monsters. Mcleod's pick was silly, and Jenkins is just playing superbly. IF Jenkins could catch a ball he'd be in contention for the best safety in football. He can't though.
Brown had 140 yards, but that felt empty. Otherwise the D played great. 2 TDs in 3 games against them. CB and depth is still a concern, but if they can play run d that well without over committing safeties then that's great, and if the line can keep getting pressure without blitzing that too allows a lot of options.
In short. The Eagles are legit. Wentz will at some point have a bad game, but sheesh. He's lighting it up, and it's not on a super simple game plan. He's got a sick deep ball, he's mobile, good in the pocket, really good passing on the run, keeps his eyes downfield while moving and has both touch and a cannon. He even avoided taking any big hits last night. FFS he's changing plays ALREADY well. I saw him call a fake snap, watch the defense, adjust the protection a couple times. He looks so calm. I want to see him when he has a bad run, but from everything I've heard that's not likely to be an issue.
I knew the D was good, and having a real QB transforms the offense.
Finally, Doug P. Good coach. He's calling a great game out there, the team is playing great, they're well prepared and on a short week vs a contender no less.
Pinch me
The only throw that I thought was a bad decision was the toss to Burton into triple coverage. It probably couldn't have been intercepted, but it looked like the safety could have had a shot at it if he had played the right angle.
You were the first guy on the Bradham train and you deserve all the credit for that call, I had no faith and he has played like a beast. It seems like the "tone setting" hit in each game has been delivered by Bradham. I haven't watched the game since the live game, but he sure seemed to have played fantastic football for yet another game.
You nailed it on Antonio Brown; he got 140 yards but they were the least damaging 140 yards a receiver can get. The Defense were clearly putting guys over the top on him and giving him 7-8 yards all he wanted, particularly once they got up by a few touchdowns. They just did a fantastic job with him.
My man Mcleod did his thing again yesterday. That kid can tackle a freight train. He got beat at least once, but he also laid down some wood. I loved the INT as well, great body position, great toughness.
I can't overstate how impressed I am by Pederson. As great as Wentz has been, as great as the defense has been, Pederson has, in my opinion, been better. I have been particularly impressed by:
- The offensive plays. Reich and Pederson have stolen the "best of Andy Reid" playbook, with misdirection plays, the RB having a major role in the blocking scheme, the pass along the line of scrimmage to a guy who has three blockers in front of him, the whole deal.......but with more running. He and Duce (sidebar.....Wendell Smallwood gives me Duce flashbacks every time he touches the ball, am I on my own here?) are doing a great job spreading out touches to provide an effective running game.
- The rotations. I mentioned the RBs, but the DL and LB rotations are spectacular. We have fresh, hungry guys on the field more than we ever had under Chip and Billy.
- Wentz prep. You touched on this, but Wentz is doing a great job of figuring out the defenses and making changes at the line. In addition he is spreading the ball around amongst a group of pass-catchers who we know are not "best in class." You have to give Reich, Pederson and DeFillipo (all former NFL QBs) a lot of credit. I am thrilled to be wrong about the whole "Wentz needs to sit" thing. With that said......I would have liked them to give Daniels some time in the 4th quarter.
I liked the challenge too. While, in slow mo it became abundantly clear that Brown got two feet in, I was 100% certain that he was out of bounds. In related news, Antonio Brown is a sick athlete.
You are right, the Eagles seem legit. You got it right, it is going to be tough if Johnson's suspension gets upheld (which it almost certainly will), and we play 4 of our next 5 on the road. I worry about Barbre at RT, and Kelce is just not where we need him to be. We'll see how things go, but having two weeks to feel this good is pretty sweet.
Pinch yourself.
OH! Total sidebar. My son's teacher's husband went to school with Malcolm Jenkins in Piscataway from grade school through senior year, and played in the secondary next to him in HS. He is a pretty cool guy and basically summarized Jenkins as "really great guy, pretty much dominated every single game he was in. I spent more time blocking for him after INTs than I did covering people."