November 28, 2016
The Eagles probably saw their playoff hopes go up in flames for good with a 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. Here's what I saw:
• Very little. Besides Caleb Sturgis continuing his strong season kicking field goals, the Eagles submitted a very poor effort tonight in all three phases.
• Aaron Rodgers was excellent, going 30-39 for 313 yards and two touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Eagles defense made a lot of mistakes, but that guy is an all-time great and he was at his absolute best tonight. As painful as it can be, you have to tip your cap at some point. Rodgers made some ridiculous throws.
• When Carson Wentz misses, he tends to miss high. He was hit on this play, but this is just a bad interception from the rookie. It feels like we get about one of these a week at this point, which Wentz is going to have to work on moving forward:
Wentz overthrows Ertz...
— NFL (@NFL) November 29, 2016
And @haha_cd6 is there to pick it off.
Going the other way! #GBvsPHI https://t.co/n1txJkkxEQ
• Against a bad Packers defense, Wentz and the offense needed to be better. Besides the interception, there wasn't a ton to complain about (some inaccuracy, but he finished 24-36 for 254 yards and made some nice plays on the move) from the rookie quarterback. But Wentz is a part of the offense as a whole, and that unit was held to 13 points against a unit that surrendered 33, 31, 47, and 42 the last four weeks.
• I didn't like the game Doug Pederson called. The Eagles weren't running the ball great, but they finished with a 2-to-1 pass-to-run ratio. There was too much shotgun for my liking, too.
• That said, the defense got schooled by Rodgers. The Eagles lost this game in a lot of areas but the pass rush was nonexistent and undisciplined, which is a bad combination when that unit is expected to win and win big. The Eagles failed to sack Rodgers, who went 10-14 on third down.
• This was, um, weird:
WHAT IS IN THE MYSTERY TENT AMERICA WANTS ANSWERS https://t.co/hHq5KVnJil
— Drew Magary (@drewmagary) November 29, 2016
• Pederson challenging a two-yard completion on first down and losing the rest of his challenges is such an irresponsible decision. You don't want to make lazy Andy Reid comparisons, but that was brutal. Lil Dicky agrees:
That was the worst challenge I've ever seen in my life
— Davey Wavey (@lildickytweets) November 29, 2016
• After being ranked in the top spot in #PhillyRank this past summer, it's safe to say Fletcher Cox will not be retaining his crown when we do it again this winter. For the third time this season, the team's star defensive tackle has extended an opposing drive with a late hit/hands to the face call (I thought this one was clearly the latter). This would be less of a problem if Cox had recorded a sack since Week 5:
All 3 of Fletcher Cox's roughing the passer penalties have come on 3rd down and would have ended drives. All 3 eventually resulted in TDs.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) November 29, 2016
• Overall, this was a very bad effort from the Birds. But I go back to thinking that heading into the season, none of us felt the Eagles were going to have a winning record. With a banged-up offensive line and maybe the worst set of skill position players, this roster kind of is what it is.
The Eagles have a low margin for error, and tonight, they made a bunch of mistakes.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
