August 12, 2021

First half observations: Eagles 16, Steelers 7

By Kyle Neubeck
PhillyVoice Staff

The Eagles are up 16-7 at halftime of their first preseason game of the Nick Sirianni era, so you might as well start looking for Super Bowl tickets now.

Here's what I saw.

The Good

• The first series of the Jalen Hurts "era" (assuming there actually is one) came up short of the endzone through no fault of the quarterback. After a couple of early completions — including a beautiful connection with Dallas Goedert on an out route — the drive stalled out thanks to drops for Jalen Reagor and Zach Ertz. You could forgive Reagor for not coming up with a throw that was a bit low, but Ertz's mistake was inexcusable, a throw right on the money that he managed to botch anyway.

Frankly, though, the Goedert completion was more important than the drive's result:

Ok ok we’ve seen enough.

Super Bowl bound.

pic.twitter.com/JPDdLBaY4F
— Fox Sports PHL Gambler (@foxphlgambler) August 12, 2021

Excellent timing and placement allowed Goedert to bring it in and continue to run with the football, and that's the sort of play the Eagles haven't made enough of over the last few years. Big plays do not have to come on deep shots.

It wasn't all good for Hurts. The second-year QB slightly overthrew Quez Watkins to open the second series, and he appeared to abandon the pocket too early on third down, ultimately running for a gain short of the sticks. But his overall decision-making was good, with Hurts buying time under pressure without trying to force tough throws or absorb any unnecessary risk. The stats don't really tell the story of his night, and it would have been nice to see him get at least one more series to stretch his legs and get into a rhythm. Oh well.

(While we're on the subject of Hurts, we didn't get to see the starters on the offensive line for very long, but they provided plenty of time for Hurts to go through his progressions and work. Having Brandon Brooks and Lane Johnson anchoring the right side of that line should help out a lot, and if this group can manage to stay healthy, life will be a lot easier on their young QB.)

• Nick Sirianni's opening half as the Eagles' head coach went off without a hitch, and it was nice to see the first-timer shepherding a relatively aggressive offense in his first game in charge. We all know Jeffery Lurie wants to see pass-happy, up-tempo offenses based on the last two decades of leaders in Philadelphia and Sirianni seems like he'll fit right in.

The called deep shot to open the second series was one of my favorite plays of the opening 30 minutes. Rather than playing conservatively in fear of a safety while pinned against their goal line, Sirianni tried to catch the Steelers off-guard, and a better throw might have led to a 98-yard touchdown for a streaking Watkins.

• Are we sure Quez Watkins won't be WR2 for this team? The Eagles are incentivized to try to get the most out of last year's No. 1 pick, Jalen Reagor, but Watkins has shown exactly what you'd think they could get from Reagor with a small handful of opportunities. Rather than letting the missed deep shot frustrate him, Watkins simply bided his time and waited for another opportunity, which came in the form of a screen pass from Joe Flacco. And with excellent blocking to aid him, Watkins just straight-up ran past Pittsburgh's defense en route to the first touchdown of Philly's preseason:

Any Quez-tions???#PITvsPHI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/dyzmqSRyWl
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 13, 2021

Watkins has functional speed and has proven he can make things happen with the ball in his hands. It's only the preseason, obviously, but he might be on the verge of a major step forward this year. Keep an eye on him.

• In fairness to the guy Philly hopes will be WR2, Reagor had some moments of his own in the first half, with this crisp route the obvious highlight:

Jalen Reagor isn’t messing around in Year 2
pic.twitter.com/xwKVZN6edQ
— PFF (@PFF) August 13, 2021

• Javon Hargrave has earned positive reviews for the work he has done at training camp, but you never really know what kind of shape a guy is in until he's finally up against hostile competition. He looked damn good in limited action during the first half, bulldozing through Pittsburgh's interior to put pressure on backup quarterback Mason Rudolph.

In fact, Hargrave was far from the only guy putting work in up front. Josh Sweat didn't get the start but came in and immediately put pressure on Rudolph, T.Y. McGill came up with a sack early in the second quarter with assistance from Milton Williams, and though the Steelers had a good deal of success with their ground game, Jonathan Gannon's defense got off to a strong start thanks to pressure up front.

They weren't exactly up against the Greatest Show on Turf, but when you put consistent pressure on the quarterback on third down, you're more than likely going to emerge victorious.

• If you're looking for a star of the half behind the defensive line, look no further than Alex Singleton, who was good as any Eagles player through the first 30 minutes. Thrust into duty last season thanks to injuries in front of him, Singleton appears to be establishing himself as one of the leaders of this group, an instinctive player who somehow always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

I don't think hitting on a diamond in the rough like Singleton justifies their longstanding organizational practice of undervaluing the linebacker position, but Singleton's emergence is a great story nonetheless. Expect to hear his name called a lot this year, and in a good way.

• Kenneth Gainwell was billed as a running back who would help Philadelphia in the passing game, and he was a threat out of the backfield all throughout the second quarter on Thursday. But he also looked up to the task as a runner in his first reps as an Eagle, running decisively in limited rep and helping to basically wipe out a holding penalty during a drive early in the first quarter. He's not the biggest (or at least tallest) guy in the world, but he's compact and runs with power, which should help him stick around.

• Tyree Jackson looks pretty damn good at tight end for a guy making the transition from quarterback, I have to say. He might not find a home here, but his athletic tools are obvious and you can tell that he has put the work in to try to make a new position work. Joe Flacco loves targeting him, so he should have a lot of opportunities to impress and might end up getting a job somewhere else regardless.

• Here's the best thing you could say about the first half of Thursday's game: Philadelphia made very few unforced errors and didn't beat themselves with egregious pre-snap penalties or mental mistakes. Under a new head coach with lots of work to do to get on the same page and master their respective schemes, these guys looked relatively in sync.

• 3/3 for Jake Elliott on a trio of healthy field goal attempts. Enough said.

The Bad

• If Blonde Ertz is going to drop passes like the one Hurts delivered to him on an early third down, he needs to go back to his roots (literally and figuratively) ASAP.

• Michael Jacquet responded well after losing his man to the tune of a 30-yard gain for Pittsburgh, but he looks too damn slow to be a productive corner at this level. Not like this is a new development, so my expectations are low moving forward.

• The final defensive series of the half was not pretty for Philadelphia, but the fatigue factor seemed real judging from the body language of the big boys up front, so I'm okay with giving them a slight pass (and they were good otherwise, too).