Eagles Film Review: Takeaways from the Bengals game

Well, apologies, Eagles fans, but this one will be a little different! If you don’t follow me on Twitter, you may not know I have been in the United States for the past week! I managed to attend Ohio State vs. Nebraska, Bengals vs. the Eagles, and Steelers vs. Giants. I’ve had the most unbelievable time, but I’ve been unable to record videos as usual due to being away. I watched the All22 whilst on the plane home, but I would be lying if I was concentrating as much as I usually would! In my defense, I may have had a few too many drinks over the weekend…

I won’t go into much detail on the trip here (check out my podcast next week if you want a holiday review), but I will say that I had the best time in Cincinnati watching the Eagles. It was easily one of the most fun days of my life. Firstly, the Eagles were absolutely awesome. Watching that kind of performance in person was incredibly satisfying. The fans were great and extremely loud. I sent this video to BLG and only later realized you could hear my drunken/slightly sore throat in the background, but it’s too good not to share…

I love how you can hear different sections of the Eagles singing at different points. I also enjoyed seeing the Bengals fans leaving nice and early.

I was recognized a few times, which has blown my mind, considering I’d flown halfway across the world. If you did come up and say hello, I appreciate you! It also led to a few people I was chatting with out there shouting out excitedly, ‘Jonny’s famous?!’ which was hilarious and made my day.

I also met up with BGN’s own Alexis, which was wicked. By the way, the Eagles are undefeated when we are both in attendance…

As it’s a little later in the week, I’ll give you a brief rundown of some of the things I saw from the All22 and watching the game live! As you can see from above, I had a fantastic view of the action. Although watching the All22 shows you everything, I think you get a different perspective from being at the game, so I will lean into that this week. Normal service will resume next week!

Shout out to my podcast partner, Shane Haff, for providing the clips for this week!

Offense

Everyone is going mad about the under center run game—and rightly so! Watching live, I saw the Eagles’ offensive linemen frequently pushing the Bengals’ defensive line back. The Eagles’ use of motion in the run game makes a big difference, too. The Eagles are finally starting to get the under center outside zone game going, and this could really open up the offense over the second half of the season. The Eagles had 19 rushes for 0.40 EPA per play from under center this week. It’s working!

The Eagles used a lot of motion in this game, which was good to see. Those who don’t believe that Hurts can throw to the middle of the field, doesn’t like motion, and can’t play from under center must have hated this game!

I remember watching Saquon Barkley’s film with the Giants, and I always thought he tried to do too much. However, watching him live this week showed me how much he has matured as a runner. You rarely see him dancing in the backfield or looking indecisive. He hits the hole quickly, gets downhill fast, and can still make second-level defenders in the open field. When there isn’t something there, he doesn’t hang around and gets going quickly. This was my favorite runner because he realized he had to make something out of nothing and didn’t dance around at all.

The big takeaway this week was obviously Jalen Hurts’s play. I’ve been accused of being too positive in my defense of Hurts this year, but I think people have gone a little bit over the top with their criticism of him. He’s in a new scheme, and it will always take time. This was his best game of the season by a distance. Watching this deep touchdown live to DeVonta Smith was incredible. You could see Smith running deep, and Hurts needed protection to hold up. This is a perfect throw and catch. I was so happy for Smith, who bounced back after a tough week 7. I’ll throw a little controversial statement out there, but I watched DeVonta Smith on Sunday and Malik Nabers on Monday, and I was more impressed with Smith. I think we forget how good he is because AJ Brown is absurd.

Also, check out the use of play action… it’s about time!

More play action…

Watching him live made it very clear to me that he was completely in control of the offense this week. He never looked hurried, unsure, or unsure of where to go. He had a couple of huge throws, but the 3rd and 16 throw stood out in particular. What I loved about this one was how quickly he eliminated his primary read to the right-hand side and came back to AJ Brown. I mentioned last week that he needed to be quicker in eliminating what wasn’t there, and he did this really well in this game.

The other big thing that stood out was his mobility. I watched six quarterbacks live over three days (including two from college here), and Hurts was by far the most mobile. He was the only one who played a big role in the run game, and his mobility stood out on Sunday. He had a couple of important runs.

Finally, on the offense, the offensive line was outstanding. Hurts had all day to throw back there at times. I’ve been pretty complimentary of Fred Johnson this year, so his performance didn’t completely shock me. However, I was surprised that he played as well as he did. The Eagles helped him out and used the tight ends to chip the EDGE rushers at times, but there were also times when he was just straight up one-on-one and won. Tyler Steen also looked excellent and I’m becoming more convinced each week that he should start over Mekhi Becton at right guard. Steen is really good on the move, which helps the Eagles in the outside zone game. Becton is better with gap scheme concepts where he can move defenders, but I think this Eagles’ offense might be better with Steen moving forward.

This felt like the game where the Eagles’ offense clicked. Let’s hope it continues!

Defense

It would not have been a pretty picture if you could have seen my face in the stands after the Bengals’ first drive. I know the Bengals converted 5/5 third downs, and the Eagles played the early downs well, but I did not enjoy that drive at all. I thought the Eagles were way too passive, and it was too easy for Joe Burrow to pick apart the defense. I was pretty shocked that the Eagles did nothing fancy to stop Ja’Marr Chase. Chase ended up not having a great game, but I think that had more to do with the play of the Eagles cornerbacks than with Fangio’s scheme. Whenever Chase was moved around in the slot (or the backfield), the Eagles didn’t really have a plan for him.

In particular, something that was obvious live was that the Bengals’ use of motion was catching the Eagles out. This led to some busted coverages as the Eagles struggled to distribute the Bengals routes due to the numbers of receivers on a certain side of the field changing at the last second. This is why Fangio’s defense requires excellent communication and a lot of practice.

However, after the early few drives, the Eagles defense really got going. I thought the cornerbacks were outstanding, and Cooper DeJean has made a difference in coverage and in run support. We all know about this play, but let’s see it again.

I spoke about the Eagles’ use of ‘Whip’ last week, and we saw it again on Chauncey Gardner-Johnson’s interception. Whip is where the weak linebacker blitzes, and the opposite EDGE defender drops into coverage. It plays out as Cover 3, but the outside cornerbacks are in man-to-man coverage if the outside receiver runs a vertical route as Chase does against Isaiah Rodgers here. Rodgers played it perfectly, and CJGJ did a great job getting over from single-high safety early.

Nolan Smith also stood out on the day as a pass rusher. He is finally starting to add a few counter moves to his arsenal and his development since the bye week has been great to see.

Finally, the biggest thing that stood out was the Eagles’ ability to stop the run without playing a 5-man front. I’ve called for the Eagles to use more 5-man fronts but stopping the run from a 4-man front is obviously better. The Eagles have stopped slanting their defensive linemen as much and their gap fits were outstanding on Sunday. However, the player who stood out more than anyone live was Zack Baun. The guy was everywhere. He was great against the run and when dropping into coverage. I’ve been saying this since week 2 now, but the Eagles need to extend his contract. I’m such a big fan of his.

The Eagles did make a huge stop against the run on 3rd and 1 late in the game and this did come from a heavy front. I promise you, I said to the people next to me that if the Bengals run at this Eagles’ front they won’t get the 1st down. The Eagles are excellent with their 5/6-man fronts in short yardage.

I’m sorry this is a little shorter than usual, but it’s all I’ve got after an 8-hour flight! I’ll be back to normal next week!

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.