This was a frustrating watch. We all know (except for Joe Davis and Greg Olsen) that the Eagles lost this game because Jalen Hurts left in the 1st quarter. However, there’s still a lot of interesting stuff to look for in this. The Eagles should have won this game. Let’s look at what happened.
Offense
The Eagles were absolutely destroying Washington early on. I’m convinced this one could have been a blowout had Hurts stayed healthy. The Washington defense had no idea what the Eagles were doing in the run game. The Eagles used this split flow motion a few times and had AJ Brown running the opposite direction along with Hurts, which caused a ton of confusion in the Washington back 7. The offensive line was rolling,g and it looked like Saquon Barkley would have a big run every time he touched the ball. Everything was going so well.
We all know by this point that Barkley is a phenomenal athlete. But I don’t think enough has been said about how good his vision is. This isn’t just an athlete at running back. This is an elite athlete with outstanding vision and instincts, too. Not a bad combination, right? The Eagles are running Duo here (a Kellen Moore favorite), and Barkley does a fantastic job pressing the line of scrimmage while allowing his blocks to develop. This is an outstanding rep. The only surprise is that he didn’t stay on his feet and score the touchdown, but he did a few plays later!
I don’t want to say much about this one. I hate accusing defenders of trying to injure someone, as I don’t think Frankie Luvu went out there to concuss Hurts. However, I think this is a late hit, and he is trying to hit Hurts hard. I’ll let you be the judge.
I think the NFL needs to get serious about the sliding issue. Are we protecting quarterbacks? Most quarterbacks either slide late and get hit or fall forward instead of sliding and still get hit. It feels like quarterbacks get concussed more in these collisions than skill players. Should Hurts just stay on his feet here and take the hit? Would that be better than diving forward?
I’m unsure what the answer is. I don’t have a problem with quarterback runs because they are a huge part of the offense. They have to continue. But Hurts needs to be careful and protect himself on these runs. Falling forward seems like the worst thing you can do.
I called it! I said the Eagles would run this slant/out concept variation again this week (it was my Concept of the Week last week), and this time,e the Eagles motioned Barkley to the other side of the formation to give Kenny Pickett a clear idea of the coverage on the weak side. The Eagles ended up 2v2 with their 2 best receivers. Pickett was OK in this game when he played in rhythm. He was fine when he hit his back foot and threw the ball on time. Even with Pickett in the game, the Eagles’ offense was rolling at this point. As I said earlier, we would have blown them out if Hurts had been the quarterback for the entire game.
This is where it started to turn. Hurts makes some silly errors (like every quarterback), but you don’t see him do this. This is just a quick hitch and flat route. It’s in every single NFL offense. Luvu does a good job baiting Pickett, but Pickett has to see this. It’s not a difficult read here. He’s predetermining where he wants to go with the football pre-snap and isn’t processing things quickly enough. This was the worst thing that could have happened, as it allowed Washington back into the game. This is frustrating. I don’t expect backup quarterbacks to be great, but I want them not to do this. This is day-1 install stuff.
The Eagles’ gap-scheme running game has been unbelievable over the second half of the season. I would love to know how many explosive runs Barkley has had off Counter this year because I bet it is a silly number. You don’t see many 60+ yard touchdowns in the NFL where the running back isn’t even touched. This is ridiculously well-blocked. The Eagles’ run game was on fire in the first quarter.
If the Eagles meet Washington in the playoffs in a few weeks and decide to put Marshon Lattimore on AJ Brown, then I will be very excited about that rematch. AJ Brown pretty much wrecked Lattimore throughout the game. The numbers don’t look that impressive because of the pass-interference penalties. But AJ Brown was open all game. This was an outstanding catch because Pickett was late throwing the football, which caused AJ Brown to have to come back to the football. If Hurts had been the quarterback in this one, and Washington had left Lattimore one-on-one versus AJ Brown all game, he would have gone off. I’m certain.
I’m not going to spend the whole article writing about Pickett. We all know he’s not great. I think he was OK in this game. He wasn’t a total disaster. He’s a backup who has not played all season long. I expect him to be rusty, but he had some nice moments. Pickett’s biggest issue is that he thinks he is more mobile than he is. He needs to become a pocket passer who gets the ball out on time every snap. However, he tries to create out of structure too often. This is a poor rep. He needs to take the checkdown and give his receiver a chance to make a play. There’s no reason for him to bail to the right as he does here. He needs to realize that the way he played in college does not translate to the NFL.
I’m not saying I would start Tanner McKee next week, but… I’m not saying I wouldn’t either. I would give both reps at the start of the week to see how McKee looks.
If I had one real criticism of the Eagles’ offense this week, it was continuing to run the football from 12 personnel. I don’t understand the thinking behind it. The Eagle’s two top tight ends, Grant Calcaterra and C.J. Uzomah, had a number of really poor reps. Calcaterra, in particular, really struggled. After so many poor reps, you start to blame the coaches for continuing to put them in these positions rather than the players themselves. It’s been evident for weeks that Calcaterra is not a great run blocker. I don’t understand why the Eagles didn’t go under-center and get a fullback on the field or spread Washington out and run from 11 personnel. It was maddening watching the Eagles run from 12 personnel and it failing to work over and over again. The running game was a disaster after the 1st quarter. I’ve said for a long time that Hurts is a cheat in the run game, and it was evident this week that the running game is not as good without a mobile quarterback. This should not shock anybody.
Another criticism I had of Kenny Pickett this week was his ball placement. Kellen Moore called a great game, and there were many open receivers. Pickett did a decent job finding the open receivers, but his ball placement was sporadic. You forget how good Jalen Hurts is with his ball placement until you see the Eagles’ offense without him. It turns out Hurts is actually a pretty good quarterback—who knew?
Another run play blown up by Calcaterra’s inability to run block. When you have a mobile quarterback, the EDGE defender must respect that he may keep the football. Washington did not respect Pickett keeping it at all. They crashed down on the running back hard all game. The Eagles had no answers to Washington’s run defense after the 1st quarter. I am rarely critical of the Eagles’ running game, but I didn’t like the plan after Hurts came out. I can’t believe we didn’t see a single rep from under-center.
This was my least favorite call of the entire game. It makes no sense! If you want Barkley to throw the football, just run a standard toss play and get him to throw it. That may have worked as the defense would not have expected it! However, when you put Kenny Pickett out wide, the defense expects the trick play. I’m going to need someone to explain this to me. It makes no sense to me at all. The benefit of going wildcat is that the quarterback outside has to be covered, which gives you +1 in the running game. This was all wrong.
The Eagles’ offensive staff watched the two tight ends fail to run block all game and then decided they could defend an EDGE defender by themselves. How do you think that went?
This felt like the 2023 Eagles. Kellen Moore has made this team efficient against the blitz, and one of the best things he has done is make sure the Eagles are not outnumbered in protection. If a defense sends 6, the Eagles usually leave 6 into protect. I assume there was an issue with Pickett calling the protection pre-snap because this makes no sense. Pickett doesn’t recognize the blitz, and the Eagles don’t have a hot route built in. This was one never going to work. It also makes you appreciate Hurts’s progression in this area this year.
The Eagles have had some costly drops this year. Sadly, as good as Saquon has been, the drops do not surprise me. I wrote this in my film review this offseason.
Last year he had a 10% drop rate and I noticed a couple on film. His career drop rate is around 8% which is above the other top receiving backs. I wonder if this is a concentration issue as much as a technique one but he has some bad drops occasionally.
This isn’t a perfect throw, but you need your best players to make these plays. This was another great passing concept that got Saquon isolated one-on-one on a linebacker. It reminded me of Saquon’s touchdown a few weeks ago in the back right corner of the end zone against the Jaguars.
Let’s end here. What else can you say about this? DeVonta Smith runs a fantastic route and just drops it. Smith is an incredibly reliable catcher. What a disaster. Who would be a sports fan?
Well, what a disappointing Sunday. Luckily, I don’t think this one matters too much, as the Eagles were likely to end up the #2 seed regardless. But I can’t lie; I was very annoyed watching this one live. This one hurt. I want a rematch in the playoffs at the Linc.
Thank you for all the kind words this year. Merry Christmas, and Go Birds!
Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here.
