The Linc – Giants start their season with a “disaster”

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/8/24.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

‘Things I think’: Worst possible way for Giants to start the season – Big Blue View
A year after the Giants got off to an ugly 2-8 start and had a terrible season interrupted only briefly by the unlikely, short-lived heroics of then-rookie undrafted free agent quarterback Tommy DeVito, the last thing the Giants could afford was an ugly beginning to the 2024 season. They prepared differently all spring and summer, turning up the competition and the intensity as they seemed to understand the urgency of getting off to a better start. Yet, at least on Sunday, it didn’t matter. An ugly beginning is what the Giants got. This was a disaster no matter how you slice it. It was an awful performance from a team that has had far too many of those through multiple coaching staffs and front offices over the last 10 years or so. None of the things the Giants banked on helping them this season came to fruition, and some of the things we thought would be concerns turned out to be exactly that.

Daniel Jones threw truly awful pick-6 for Giants to start NFL season – SB Nation
The New York Giants were expected to be one of the NFL’s worst teams entering the season, and their Week 1 performance hasn’t done anything to change that perspective. New York got smoked out of the gates against a Minnesota Vikings team already starting its backup QB, and as expected the big issue for the Giants has been their quarterback play. Daniel Jones feels like he’s on his last chance as an NFL QB, and he’s already off to a bad start. In the third quarter of Week 1, Jones dropped back to pass and threw an absolutely terrible pick right into the hands of Vikings defender Andrew Van Ginkel. The veteran linebacker waltzed into the end zone for the pick-six. What was Jones looking at? His days as a starting QB already feel numbered. Watch Jones’ awful pick here.

Cowboys make quarterback with one of the weakest playoff resumes ever the highest paid player in NFL history – BGN
As we know, though, the Cowboys haven’t been great about extending their players early to get (relative) bargains like the Eagles have often done. On one hand, Prescott’s extension is bad news for the Eagles. It would’ve been preferable for him to get to the free agent market in March. At that point, he would’ve had unprecedented leverage. Either the Cowboys would’ve had to pay him even more … or he would’ve left Dallas, leaving the Cowboys with no clear alternative plan at quarterback. On the other hand, the Cowboys deciding to hitch their wagon to a quarterback who has one of the weakest playoff resumes EVER is certainly a choice!

More on the Opening Win – Iggles Blitz
Jalen Hurts only threw one INT all summer. We heard day after day about how great he looked. On the initial 3rd down of the season, Hurts made a horrible decision and a horrible throw for an INT. Early in the 4th quarter Hurts almost threw a bad pick on 2nd down and then did throw a bad pick on 3rd down. In the red zone. With the Eagles winning. Football 101. Protect the ball when you’re in scoring territory. Especially when you have the lead. Ugh. This felt a lot like last year. Maybe Hurts has some PTSD from the collapse. Maybe he just got greedy. But it sure bears watching. If this was just an opening game couple of hiccups, fine. We can live with that. His decision-making was erratic for much of the game. That cannot continue or the Eagles are going to have issues. The Packers have a mediocre defense. Hurts has to play a lot smarter against good defenses.

‘I put us in a bad spot:’ Jalen Hurts still trying to solve interception problem – NBCSP
He knows. But they keep happening. “Definitely could have avoided some of those things,” Hurts said. “I put us in a bad spot as a team,” he said. It was a strange game all around because the Eagles struggled in a lot of areas but nonetheless got out of Brazil with a huge win over a very good team to open the season. Nobody struggled more than Hurts, whose two interceptions in the Eagles’ 34-29 win in São Paulo weren’t tipped balls or incredible defensive plays. They were just avoidable mistakes that were the result of poor decision making.

Falcons’ Week 1 game plan raises fresh questions about Kirk Cousins’ health – The Falcoholic
The Falcons’ game plan should now make everyone nervous, because so many snaps out of pistol and shotgun for a quarterback who doesn’t necessarily thrive in those looks would objectively be weird…if Cousins was fully healthy. If you don’t want Cousins to have to repeatedly turn his back to the defense in play action and have to take traditional multi-step drops, however, that game plan suddenly makes a ton of sense. The fact that it didn’t work very well has a lot to do with the strength of the Steelers defense and the lack of comfort from Cousins. The most benign explanation for that is probably that Cousins has not played in a long time, has evident rust to knock off (cue preseason snaps furor here), and Zac Robinson and company knew it would take him some time to get more comfortable. In that light, a game plan that didn’t ask him to move around too much when T.J. Watt and company are lined up across from you makes a certain amount of sense, even if the results were poor. The more ominous explanation, of course, is that Cousins isn’t really healthy. Those whispers were already pretty loud Sunday night.

Update on Jake Ferguson knee injury suffered in the win over the Browns – Blogging The Boys
If he were to leave for an extended period of time, 2023 second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker should be next up in his place. Hunter Luepke cross-trained at the position this offseason, so he could also see some run. For now, the Cowboys walk away with a win, but fingers crossed that Ferguson’s injury isn’t more than just a hyperextension or a sprain. Update: 9:52pm ET: ESPN’s Todd Archer added that it looks like Ferguson’s ACL is intact. We will see, but obviously that sounds very promising.

Commanders defense fail to contain an elusive Baker Mayfield – Hogs Haven
The Washington Commanders narrowly avoided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers putting the infamous 40-burger in the season opener yesterday. The magician, also known as Baker Mayfield, thrived in chaos as he loved to do. The Commanders didn’t struggle to create pressure, but they failed to finish with sacks on the quarterbacks despite their many opportunities. Mayfield made Washington’s defense pay, extending several plays for big gains and converting back-breaking third downs. In all, Mayfield ended the day 24-30 for 289 yards, four touchdowns, and no turnovers. Dan Quinn said post-game that Washington’s third-down defense told the story Sunday, and while I mostly agree with that, it wasn’t the only problem Washington had in its opener defensively.

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