December 06, 2020
The Eagles tried to play ball-control offense against Green Bay in the first half, and the Packers countered by playing scoreboard control, coasting to a 14-3 lead after 30 minutes of football.
Here's what I saw in the first half.
• Took him a while to get warmed up, but Javon Hargrave finally appears to have settled in on the defensive line. After Green Bay botched their first play from scrimmage on Sunday evening, Hargrave was handed a one-on-one matchup on second-and-long and got to Aaron Rodgers before he could even get set in the pocket.
This fast start comes on the heels of Hargrave's best performance in Philadelphia to date, so it's not crazy to get optimistic about a strong finish to the year (what a novel concept). If Hargrave can sustain this momentum down the stretch, the Eagles' best unit will be even scarier in the cold months, with Hargrave combining with Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, and risers in Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat to harass quarterbacks.
• He used to make kicking look pretty damn easy, so it was nice to see Jake Elliott boom one through the uprights from 52 yards out on the opening drive.
• We are in Week 13, and the team's first-round wide receiver is running into a running back in the backfield on a designed screen. Justin Jefferson, taken one spot after Jalen Reagor, has been one of the best wide receivers in football this year. It's hard to know whether to be more frustrated with Howie Roseman, the offensive staff, or Reagor himself for how this year has unfolded (health issues aside).
• The end of Philadelphia's second drive was a great example of how Carson Wentz makes a shaky offensive line look even worse than they are. With Philadelphia in field-goal range and staring down third-and-11, Wentz had a pocket to work with and assess the field from. Instead of trusting the integrity of the pocket, Wentz started sliding and dancing, and he took himself into the pressure that was easily avoidable, resulting in a brutal sack and a lost opportunity for points. The line is bad enough that Wentz probably shouldn't trust them that much, but his lack of trust in them actually creates problems that aren't there. A real chicken or the egg problem.
This sort of thing also tends to happen when you have a quarterback who likes to use his legs more than the average pocket QB — Michael Vick, for example, often found himself near the top of the sacks leaderboard despite having the wheels to evade just about anyone in theory. And Wentz ain't Vick.
Watching Aaron Rodgers subtly manipulate the pocket only makes Wentz's struggles look worse by comparison. You don't need a guy who can outrun the entire defense when one step in the right direction is all it takes to get a clean throw off. There is a difference in the play of their respective lines, but one guy also extracts value from what he has, rather than tanking it.
• For the record — the sack on second down that preceded the above play was absolutely on the offensive line, and on Dallas Goedert for falling down during his route. Can't put it all on the QB, and being able to distinguish between the mistakes is pretty important. Philadelphia's offensive line isn't good right now, and there are times when they have sizable numbers advantages (five vs. three, six vs. three) and still allow opponents to get pressure on Wentz.
• Look, I understand that sometimes there's nothing you can do against elite wide receivers, and Darius Slay honestly did have good coverage on the touchdown to Davante Adams. But for a guy whose moniker is "Big Play Slay," it sure feels like he hasn't come up with many of those this year.
Seven straight games with a TD for @Tae15Adams! #GoPackGo
— NFL (@NFL) December 6, 2020
📺: #PHIvsGB on CBS
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Tough assignments or not, at some point he is going to have to come through with a game-changing play. That's what he was brought here to do, and if we're going to rail on the other big-money players on both units, it's completely fair to expect the alleged shutdown corner to actually do some shutting down.
• Philadelphia's offensive gameplan was more coherent than it has been for most of the season, and it allowed them to hang around against a Packers team that is much better than them .The Eagles didn't just have to force-feed the ball to Miles Sanders to get the ground game going, either. Jordan Howard's return gave them a bit of power between the tackles, and with Boston Scott sprinkled in as both a rusher and a receiving target (pass interference broke up what should have been a first down haul for him early), the Eagles had a good blend for a cold game at Lambeau. Heck, even Jalen Reagor had a nice gainer on an end-around play, regardless of what you think of him as a receiving option right now.
That said, you see the limitations of this sort of approach. Philadelphia managed to put just three points on the board in the first half in spite of good field position and (by their standards) an embarrassment of riches in the backfield. Succeding on and committing to the ground does not change the fundamental problem with the offense — they have to win over and over again with small-medium gains and no real threat down the field. They either can't scheme guys open down the field, don't have guys talented to create separation down the field, or more likely, both of those things are problematic for Philly. And that's without mentioning the routine misses from Wentz when guys do find pockets of space behind the defense.
The Packers were not a high-octane offense in the first 30 minutes of action, but how many plays did they have where Rodgers was throwing to a guy who was 10 yards clear of the closest defender and able to run into space? Green Bay is great at inviting pressure, sucking coverage into a different part of the field, and using that attention to hit somebody for easy gains and first downs. By comparison, everything for the Eagles is hard work. Having to grind out every gain should not be necessary in the pass-friendly version of the NFL they play in.
• I regret to inform you that Alshon Jeffery started at outside receiver again, so I must complain once again at the absurdity of playing him over Travis Fulgham. You're all probably sick of hearing about it by now, but I am equally sick of seeing it happen. This team has the forward-looking capability of a rearview mirror, and the worst part about this arrangement is they're not even getting present-day production in return.
• Jim Nantz: "This is a good running team that just doesn't run that often." Boy, it's really unfortunate the Eagles simply can't do anything about this and are forced to throw the ball.
• Jason Peters getting that late offseason raise this year is going to go down as an all-time "secure the bag" moment. Boy is he toast.
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