Coming in hot, two straight wins, playing in prime time, perfect opportunity for the Eagles to make themselves look really bad!
For as embarrassing as this game was, the Eagles were in it the entire time, and that only further sums up this team’s ineptitude. They pulled within as much as one score, but this one felt way more out of reach. They were never in the drivers seat.
I will say a lot of that had to do with their opponent; I wasn’t all that big on the Panthers, but DDDZZZAAAAAAAMMMMNNNNN they’re kinda nice. To be more specific, Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly can ball out. Cam Newton looks like a completely different player since winning a playoff game and I swear Luke Kuechly can teleport or something because he is everywhere at once. This team looks better than the Panthers team from two years ago that earned a first round bye in the Playoffs. They could be deadly.
K, that’s enough praise for the Panthers, now I’ve gotta shit on the Eagles some more.
What the hell, Eagles’ offense? What did everyone forget their hands on the bus or did every player just so happen to dip their hands in cement before the game? Seriously, you could of built a house with the team’s hands on Sunday, because they were all BRICKS. I really don’t know who Sam Bradford can trust in this offense, none of his receivers can consistently catch the ball and wheel routes can only work for so long, and that’s only if the back catches the ball.
This team needs to call up Walter White or something because they are in dire need of a chemistry lesson. Perfect example: the early interception that came from the Jordan Matthews drop on a Sam Bradford pass that was behind him. While I am a fan of Sammy Bradford, he needs to knock it off with that shit. Accuracy is suppose to be his game, he needs to do a better job on those throws, but then again it doesn’t really help when his receivers drop the ball when hits them square on the hands *cough* *cough* JORDAN MATTHEWS!!! *cough* *cough*. It really just goes to show how this team can’t get on the same page this year, individual positions or players preform poorly and ruin the game for the rest of the team. Sometimes its Sam Bradford, sometimes its the Oline, it’s been Jordan Matthews a lot, but this week it just so happen to be every skill position player. and they say Sam Bradford has better weapons now than he ever did in St. Louis.
I’ll put it this way, Sam Bradford’s performance was rated as the fourth best by a quarterback by PFF last week and thats with his receivers dropping everything that came their way. If this team can ever get on the same page and play well in ever facet of the offense, than this could be a very dangerous team.
I can only smell more dysfunction brewing from the running back position. DeMarco wanted more carries, he’s getting more carries, he’s still not producing. I don’t want to say he seems slow, but he looks like he lacks a second gear and his vision has been a little questionable at times this year. He has just not been nearly as good a running back as Ryan Matthews, the former Charger has either matched or doubled Murray’s production in a fraction of the carries on a weekly basis. DeMarco is more of a rhythm running back, meaning he needs his carries to gain some kind of rhythm against them, but there will come a time when the reps need be cut in half and Murray is just going to have to make due with the touches that he gets.
I also really wanna say, I love the way Ryan Matthews plays running back. He’s big, quick, and surprisingly nimble. If a defender isn’t careful he could get blown by, juke out of his shoes, or just cracked in the mouth; you can ask Josh Norman about that last one.
The Eagles offense played bad, issues that have been plaguing them all season lost them this game, nothing really new, the defense on the other hand doesn’t have as much of an excuse. Run defense is suppose to be the Eagles’ game, it’s their bread and butter, and the Panthers ate it right up. At one point the Sunday Night crew compared Jonathan Stewart to Marshawn Lynch, Stewart is good, but he ain’t Beast Mode, and that’s all courtesy of the Eagles’ defense.
I was drooling at the thought of finally getting to see Jordan Hicks and Mychal Kendricks line up next to each other, but ultimately I was kind of let down. Both players played well, but the defense as a whole pretty much got pushed around by Carolina’s running game. This was suppose to be the match up to watch in the game, the Panther’s stellar ground game versus the Eagles’ stout run defense, and Carolina won outright. Giving up over 200 yards on the ground hurts.
The pass rush was nonexistent, again. Im beginning to notice a correlation between the pass rush pulling a no show and the Eagles losing football games. This has been one of the more hot and cold positions, and when I say hot or cold I mean swelteringly hot or bitter, freezing cold, Im talking complete domination or complete non-factor. I understand that Cam Newton is one of the harder quarterbacks to contain in the NFL, but I mean God his offensive line is bad. This offseason, they went out and got Michael Oher and that was seen as some type of upgrade. This Oline is not much different from the one that got torn apart by the Eagles last season.
Connor Barwin had four sacks against the Panthers last season. This Sunday, the only time I heard his name was when they read that stat.
I really thought Kawann Short completely showed up Fletcher Cox. In the battle between young up-and-coming tackles, Short was the clear victor. He was a complete force registering three sacks and six tackles. Kawann cut through the Eagles line like a hot knife through butter, while Fletcher Cox was held in check by a tackle not nearly as good as Lane Johnson.
The Eagles’ secondary contained the Panther’s passing game to just 197 yards through the air, but still, I feel like they should of done better. I just don’t understand how a team with Ted Gin as their number one can even throw the ball. Hell, Sam Bradford is suppose to have the far superior weapons and he only threw for eight more yards than Newton. The Eagles defense didn’t give up much against the pass, but what they did give up, shouldn’t of been.
This was seen as the best performance of Byron Maxwell’s Eagles career and I feel like that say A LOT. For starters, he was covering Philly Brown, not exactly the league’s elite, really Philly Brown’s only claim to fame is being the receiver with the first name Philly (I know he goes by Corey Brown now, but he’ll always be Philly). Maxwell did hold him to 38 yards, but he looked like his usual self doing it, slow, awkward, and a little bit goofy. I really hope Maxwell is one of those island type corners who does well when you don’t see him, because I swear every time the ball comes his way he is either a couple yards back trying to catch up to his open man or he’s trying to fill the five yard cushion he gave to the man he was covering.
I think Byron Maxwell perfectly sums up this defense, not really good, but certainly opportunistic. Byron will give up yards like crazy, but then he’ll strip the ball or just come up with an interception and prevent the offense from scoring. That’s Billy Davis’ bend don’t break defense, give up lots of yards, but only give up a few points. This defense has worked fine so far, but it at its best with a good pass rush, one good sack can sometimes be enough to kill a drive to go along with forcing turnovers. Without the pass rush, this defense can only depend on turnovers for so long, you live by the turnover, you die by the turnover, and more often than not the teams that depend on turnovers die from them.
What has happened to the Eagles’ special teams? I thought David Fipp looked like a head coach in waiting this preseason, now I have no idea. The Eagles’ special teams got bitched on Sunday, they didn’t have a single kick return, their lone punt return went 2 yards, and the Panther’s coverage teams were all over the Eagles before they could even make a move. This is one area that would come up big in the points department regularly last season, so far this year they can’t even depend on their kicker, if things are going to turn around, special teams would be a good place to start.
This week the Eagles are on the bye, this should give Chip Kelly time to look over all the things he’s done right so far this season and see how everyone else has screwed it up. This bye is coming at the perfect time, hopefully this will give the Birds a chance to catch their breath and figure out what the hell is making this team go so perfectly wrong.
I know the NFC East is the weakest division in the NFC, but still, Im starting to feel a little nervous about the Eagles’ chances.
Snowballs & Batteries 