Eagles beat Browns in less than convincing fashion, 20 to 16

The Philadelphia Eagles are 3-2 after beating the Cleveland Browns at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday afternoon. Final score: 20 to 16.

The good news is the Eagles won. They beat a really bad and injured team that they had no business losing to.

The bad news is that the Eagles did not look very good. They started slow yet again, failing to score a first quarter point in their seventh straight game.

More coaching malpractice from Nick Sirianni contributed to this game being much closer than it should’ve been.

Any hope that the bye week would be an opportunity for the Eagles to reset and look like a totally different team did not manifest into reality.

A win should feel better than this did. That sentiment was all too common last year as well.

Poll

How do you feel about the Eagles’ outlook after their win over the Browns?

• 12%

  Encouraged

  (4 votes)

• 87%

  Discouraged

  (27 votes)

31 votes total

Vote Now

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.

FIRST QUARTER

• The Browns won the coin toss and elected to defer, putting the Eagles on offense first. Isaiah Rodgers took the opening kickoff to the minus 26-yard line. The Eagles broke the huddle to get up to the line with a quick pace and Jalen Hurts pitched to Saquon Barkley for a 5-yard gain. Then Hurts threw off target and incomplete to A.J. Brown. Facing 3rd-and-5, old friend Rodney McLeod broke up Hurts’ pass to Dallas Goedert. Three-and-out coming off the bye week. Eagles fans understandably booed.

• The Browns also went three-and-out after Amari Cooper dropped a pass thrown high by Deshaun Watson. Browns fill-in starting center Nick Harris got carted off after the play.

• Cam Jurgens snapped the ball over Hurts’ head but the quarterback was able to get the ball and throw it away. The Eagles picked up their first first down with a 4th-and-1 Brotherly Shove from their own 40-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-6 after Hurts overthrew Brown, Hurts unleash a deep ball with the blitz coming his way and DeVonta Smith was unable to bring it in. A flag was thrown for what looked like defensive pass interference but the refs huddled to discuss and then picked it up. Nick Sirianni was jawing with some Browns players. Great start!

• The Browns took over at their own 16-yard line. The methodically moved the ball to midfield. Watson avoided a sack for a big loss with a dump-off … but Nick Sirianni challenged the ruling and Watson’s knee was down before the ball got out. Easy overturn. Cooper DeJean got credit for the sack, though it was caused by initial pressure from Moro Ojomo. Facing 3rd-and-20, Watson was pressured into a throwaway. Ojomo again with the pressure.

• The Eagles took over at their own 11-yard line. Barkley had a real nice run through contact to pick up eight yards. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Brotherly Shove picked up a first down. Hurts completed his first pass of the game to a wide open DeVonta Smith on a crosser for another first down. Two in a row?! Don’t let this offense get hot! The Eagles drove to 3rd-and-2 from the plus-47 to end the first quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

• Facing 3rd-and-4, Hurts’ target for A.J. Brown was batted at the line of scrimmage for an incompletion. Sirianni brought out Jake Elliott for the 49-yard field goal attempt and the kick was good. 14-play, 58-yard drive for the first points of the day. EAGLES 3, BROWNS 0.

• The Browns went three-and-out after picking up just one yard. Two errant throws from Watson.
• The Eagles took over at their own 16-yard line after Oren Burks got penalized for holding on DeJean’s punt return. Rolling out on the play-action boot (gasp!), Hurts hit a wide open Grant Calcaterra, who took off running for 35 yards! Dude looked pretty fast for a tight end. Hurts hit Brown for his first catch of the day for another first down. Facing 4th-and-1 at the plus 26-yard line, another Brotherly Shove picked up another first down. Hurts overthrew a screen pass to Kenny Gainwell to bring up third down. Facing 3rd-and-7, Hurts targeted Brown and the star wide receiver made a catch through contact for a 22-yard touchdown. Welcome back, A.J. EAGLES 10, BROWNS 0.

• D’Onta Foreman ran for a first down and a blitzing Zack Baun destroyed a pass-protecting running back but then got called for roughing the passer to allow the Browns to get to the plus-40. Watson threw a duck downfield that should’ve been an easy pick … had Quinyon Mitchell and C.J. Gardner-Johnson not collided into each other for an incompletion instead. Mitchell seemed to be pretty annoyed with CJGJ after the play. Facing 3rd-and-4, a Foreman run for a first down was called back for holding. Facing 3rd-and-14, Watson completed a pass for 10 yards. Facing 4th-and-4, Kevin Stefanski kept the offense on the field and Watson completed a pass to David Njoku for a first down. CJGJ was close to a pass breakup but no cigar. Facing 3rd-and-11 just outside of the red zone, Jalen Carter swallowed up Watson for a sack. Good rush by Bryce Huff (!) to force Watson to step up on that third down. The Browns settled for a 43-yard Dustin Hopkins field goal after a 10-play, 45-yard drive. Also, Sirianni opted not to call a timeout for some reason to allow the Browns to run clock. EAGLES 10, BROWNS 3.

• Hurts ripped a pass to Calcaterra up the seam to help overcome a 1st-and-15 after a false start. Then a scrambling Hurts made a nice throw to Brown on a broken play for another first down. Barkley somehow managed to not get beyond the marker to pick up a first down when he could’ve to make 2nd-and-1 into 3rd-and-1. With the clock stopped at 0:32, Sirianni apparently didn’t like the Eagles’ offensive look and took a timeout. Then Hurts got sacked by a blitzer — not picked up by Barkley — to bring up 4th-and-9. But why was it a pass and not a Brotherly Shove?! Myles Garrett blocked Jake Elliott’s field goal attempt and the ball was returned to the end zone by … Rodney McLeod. Lol. What a disastrous sequence! EAGLES 10, BROWNS 10.

• The Eagles took a knee to run out the clock and ran to the tunnel with fans booing the team. Obviously justified.

THIRD QUARTER

• The Browns drove to the plus 29-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-1, Brandon Graham didn’t fall for a fake QB sneak and came up with a big TFL to knock the Browns back. Cleveland’s field goal attempt from 52 yards out was … not even close to being good. Huge play by BG.
• Barkley got tackled for a loss. Then a scrambling Hurts threw incomplete to Jahan Dotson (first target of the game) on a broken play. Facing 3rd-and-13, a designed dump off to Barkley with lead blockers in front of him only gained seven yards. Three-and-out to start the second half.
• Thanks to a nice Braden Mann coffin corner punt, the Browns took over at their own 7-yard line. An unblocked blitzing DeJean somehow didn’t manage to get to Watson in the pocket despite bumping into him but the Browns quarterback got sacked by Milton Williams anyway. Facing 3rd-and-12, the Browns went with a coward’s draw.
• The Eagles took over at their own 47-yard line after a 17-yard return by DeJean. Hurts threw a pass to Dotson that was ruled as a lateral for 13 yards and a first down. Gainwell took off to a wide open left edge for 19 yards. False starts by Calcaterra and Jordan Mailata knocked the Eagles back. Facing 3rd-and-14, Hurts had a lot of time to throw but ultimately ended up throwing the ball away. Elliott’s kick was tipped again but he still made the 44-yard field goal attempt. EAGLES 13, BROWNS 10.
• Facing 3rd-and-5, delay of game. Facing 3rd-and-10, a screen to Pierre Strong resulted in a first down. The Browns’ first first down conversion in eight tries!

FOURTH QUARTER

• Facing 3rd-and-3, Watson picked up a first down with a designed QB run. Facing 3rd-and-6 at the plus 24-yard line, a Watson first down run got wiped out by the Browns holding Ojomo. Facing 3rd-and-16, the Browns unsuccessfully ran a screen and had to settle for a field goal attempt. Hopkins made the 39-yard kick. EAGLES 13, BROWNS 13.
• Hurts had back-to-back completions to Calcaterra and Brown for two first downs. Then he hit a wiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open crossing DeVonta, who took it to the house totally uncontested for a score. No one remotely ever near the wide receiver. Eagles might just need to run mesh every single play. EAGLES 20, BROWNS 13.

• Jerry Jeudy was left wiiiiide open for an easy 35-yard completion. Nakobe Dean whiffed and CJGJ failed to make a tackle on a Strong run for 14 yards. Amari Cooper got called for a rare offensive face mask against Ringo to knock the Browns back to 1st-and-25. Facing 3rd-and-11 just outside the red zone, Watson’s pass went through Carter’s hands somehow and hit Cooper for a first down. DeJean and Nolan Smith made good tackles on back-to-back plays to help keep the Browns out of the end zone. Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 3-yard line, a false start knocked the Browns back. Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 8-yard line, CJGJ broke up a Watson throw. Facing 4th-and-goal, the mix of crowd noise and a pre-snap blitz look forced the Browns into another false start. Stefanski sent out the field goal team for a 31-yard kick. Not sure what the point of that is when you still need a touchdown anyway. EAGLES 20, BROWNS 16.
• The Browns took their first timeout at 3:00. Facing 3rd-and-2, Hurts faked a pitch to Barkley on an option run and kept the ball for a first down. The Browns took their second timeout at 2:55. Hurts completed a pass to Dotson (!) along the left sideline for a first down that also stopped the clock. A Barkley run took the game down to the two-minute warning. On 2nd-and-11, Hurts aired it out deep … and Brown made a great over-the-shoulder grab with Greg Newsome trailing tightly behind him. Wow. What a good player. And talk about a ballsy call. The Eagles ran out the clock with victory formation starting from the plus 12-yard line. Did not go for the touchdown to cover the spread.

After the game, Sirianni appeared to taunt fans.

FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 20 to 16

EAGLES LINEUP NOTES

• Isaiah Rodgers was back at kick returner to open the game.
• Cooper DeJean got the start at nickel cornerback.
• Avonte Maddox entered the game in dime packages.

EAGLES INJURY UPDATES

• Dallas Goedert (hamstring) visited the medical tent and then went to the tunnel after the Eagles’ first drive. He was originally ruled questionable to return before eventually being ruled out.
• Darius Slay (knee) left the game early in the third quarter with Isaiah Rodgers on to replace him. He was originally ruled questionable to return before eventually being ruled out.
• Jordan Mailata (hamstring) got banged up midway through the fourth quarter. He had to be helped off the field. Fred Johnson came in to play left tackle. Mailata was carted off and ruled out.
• Isaiah Rodgers went down midway through the fourth quarter. Kelee Ringo came in to play cornerback. Rodgers later returned.