Eagles-Ravens Film Review: The offense did enough

What a fantastic win for the Philadelphia Eagles! This was not the greatest offensive performance, and there are definitely a lot of things to work on, but the offense did enough against the Baltimore Ravens in the end to get the win.

Offense

The Eagles didn’t have a lot of success on the ground in the first half, but they did start the game with this fantastic run! The Eagles ran a lot of counter in this game and they must have seen a flaw with the Ravens’ defense when it comes to dealing with counter. This is a wonderful way to start the game. It’s impossible to highlight every offensive lineman every week, but I thought they all were good once again. In particular, I thought Mekhi Becton was dominant at times. Just look at the strength on show here. The EDGE defender nearly goes flying. Although they didn’t run the ball that well in the first half, I was glad they stayed committed to the run. These runs wore down the defense and helped the offense down the stretch.

Right, shall we talk about the Eagles’ struggles at the start of games? I haven’t really got into it at all this season. It feels like one of those fluky things that will eventually correct itself. But, this was the first week I was a little worried by what I saw. This week, I noticed the issues with the passing game. I don’t think anyone covered themselves in glory on the first few possessions. Jalen Hurts wasn’t pulling the trigger when he had open receivers, such as below. As you can see below, the receivers were not getting open and would sometimes run the wrong route. Lastly, I thought the playcalling was very safe and basic and didn’t provide Hurts with many options.

I have a theory this week. I think that Hurts needs to get into a rhythm before he feels comfortable. It seemed clear to me this week that Kellen Moore was calling very conservative plays to attempt to get him going. Hurts just doesn’t seem to start very well at all. A good example was the 3rd down deep shot he missed to AJ Brown along the sideline. If that exact throw was in the 2nd half, I’m convinced he makes it 99 times out of 100. Whatever the issues with the passing game, the Eagles need to start quicker. It may not matter now, but you don’t want to end up 10-0 down to a top team like the Detroit Lions later on in the season.

Seeing as that was quite critical of Hurts; it is fair to point out that some of the play designs in the game were really poor. I mean, what is this on 3rd down? This is about as easy to defend as you can get. The very best offenses make the defense cover a lot of ground. You want to stretch a defense vertically with speedy receivers and then stretch a defense horizontally to create a lot of space in the middle of the field. What does this play call do? None of the above. It makes it so easy for the defense and gives Hurts absolutely no options if the comeback routes are not open. He bails from the pocket and takes a sack, but this is not his fault. The passing concepts have to be better early on in games. I do like Kellen Moore, and I think he’s been a very good hire, but I’ve been saying for weeks that I’m still not convinced by the designs in the passing game.

Now, it wasn’t all negative. Tony Romo spoke about this a lot on the broadcast, but the Eagles almost returned to the 2022 Eagles offense under Shane Steichen and had real success with RPOs. I get confused by the offensive lineman down-the-field penalty, so I’m not sure if this should have been one or not. Either way, it’s a great design and takes advantage of the Ravens focusing on Barkley. The Eagles ran these short RPOs a few times and had success with them in this game.

Under center ✅

Motion ✅

Middle of the field ✅

I’m posting every one of these throws all season long because I enjoy them so much. I thought this was one of Hurts’ best games throwing over the middle of the field, and he also threw the ball well from under center. We have seen Hurts make significant improvements this year in specific areas he struggled with last year. It’s a good reminder that when judging players for not doing something well, it can be hard to separate the player from the coaching staff. This coaching staff has done a good job improving Hurts as a quarterback. This is another fantastic throw over the middle of the field.

I was critical earlier, but I am not anti-Kellen Moore. I see some outstanding designs every single week. The scripted plays feel pretty average, but I am convinced he calls a specific play early on in the game so he can return to it later. The Eagles had a few short throws to running backs in the flat early on in the game, including one to Barkley, where he threw to Barkley to the Trips side, so he had three blockers out in front. On a big 3rd down, Kellen Moore used the same motion and faked the same throw that Hurts made a few drives before. The Ravens take the bait. Roquan Smith charges over and is convinced that Barkley is getting this ball. This leaves the Eagles with 5v4 in the box, and there’s no chance that the Ravens will stop Hurts from running behind this offensive line. As good as Barkley is, Hurts is a massive part of this running game. Mobile quarterbacks remain a cheat code in the run game! This is a fantastic call and a brilliant bit of sequencing by Kellen Moore.

Remember how basic the Eagles’ passing game was earlier on? This is what I mean by stretching a defense horizontally and vertically. This is a proper play call! Hurts finds the open receiver and makes an excellent throw to Dallas Goedert on the shallow crossing route. Hurts didn’t have the best start to this game, as I’ve mentioned, but I think he improved a lot and found a rhythm in the middle of this game. I didn’t come away from this one thinking he was the problem with the passing game. As I’ve mentioned a few times, everyone deserved some blame for the Eagles’ struggles to throw the football (except the offensive line, who were fantastic in pass protection).

I think Saquon Barkley is the best back in the NFL and would be my pick for MVP right now, but you cannot talk about this run game without discussing the impact of Hurts. He is a huge part of it. On nearly every play, he takes away an EDGE defender who has to be cautious of him keeping the ball. I speak about QB counter bash constantly, so I won’t break it down again, but it’s my favorite running play by a mile. Just look at this offensive line, go! The Eagles ran multiple versions of counter from different alignments, formations and personnel groupings in this one and it was their most successful running concept. That’s the beautiful thing about a diverse run game. If it isn’t working early on, you can keep adjusting until you find something that works.

You can see that the Ravens’ defense has worn down by this point. They were not closing as quickly as they were in the first quarter. This running game feels too good to eventually not take over a game. I feel great about the Eagles’ chances to win important games that are close going into the 4th quarter because of how good this running game is. Look at the job Mailata does pulling here. What an athlete. Then it’s just Barkley doing Saquon Barkley things. MVP?!

I had to end with this one. As if this running game wasn’t diverse enough, the Eagles added another wrinkle on the final couple of drives. The Eagles started using 6 offensive linemen by putting in Tyler Steen, and this isn’t something we have seen before. Of course, it worked! Just look at this one. This is smashmouth, bully-boy football in the 4th quarter. I love this so much. Just look at the block C.J. Uzomah makes, too! My goodness! This was counter once again, and it was so cool to see the numerous ways that they ran it in this one.

As I said at the very start, this was not the greatest offensive performance, and there are a lot of things to work on, but the offense did enough in the end to win. And that’s all that matters in the end…