Why Philadelphia Eagles Fans Booed Dak Prescott at Super Bowl (OPINION)

 

Dak Prescott Accepting the Walter Payton Man of the Year award

It doesn't take a genius to understand that Philadelphia sports fans are known to be loud, passionate and obnoxious by other sports fans around the United States. Whether you like them or not, they have developed this reputation through the years and it seems to always become amplified by people retelling stories of booing Santa Claus, having a jail cell and court room at their stadium, and innocent people getting snowballs thrown at them. The most recent story of "classless Eagles fans" that people will no doubt use when insulting the fanbase took place at the greatest stage of the year at Super Bowl 57. 

This instance actually has nothing to do with what happened during the game, but merely beforehand. You see, the NFL does this really weird thing of bestowing the Walter Payton Man of the Year trophy to the winning recipient right before the start of the game and two days after the winner has been announced. Why they do that when they don't do that for any of the other awards is beyond me, but if you have been a fan of the NFL for a long time, you know who Walter Payton was and his importance to the game. The Walter Payton Man of the Year award is given to the player that exhibits moral character and does much for their community. 

To me, it wasn't the person who won it that a lot of Eagles fans had a problem with, it was the team he played for. It doesn't take a genius to know that Eagles fans hate the Dallas Cowboys. Since 1960, these two teams have gone at it against each other and it takes a mere mention of that team with a star on their helmet to send Eagles fans into a rage. When the season starts, Eagles fans circle the Dallas Cowboys on their schedule as the team they want the Eagles to show up to. If the Eagles go 2-15 it's okay as long as those two wins came against the Dallas Cowboys. 

When I was growing up I was extremely lucky because number one the Cowboys were really bad and number two, the Eagles beat the Cowboys almost every time they played them. This new generation of Eagles fans haven't been as lucky as the Eagles have been swept by the Cowboys two times in the last five years and the Eagles haven't swept the Cowboys once. Reason being is because the Cowboys have drafted very well including their starting quarterback, Dak Prescott who has done the job of owning the NFC East in the regular season. Despite having an off year, the Dallas Cowboys ended 12-5 again and were able to win a playoff game. 

This might come off as mean, but there has been a common trend in sports media where no matter if the Dallas Cowboys are good or bad, sports media talks about them ad nauseam because they know the Cowboys are popular and people talk about them whether they love or hate them. Fans of the other 31 teams hate the fact that they are called "America's Team" they hate the fact that they have the most primetime games every year even if they were the worst team in the league and are just sick of the team getting shoved down their throats. To conclude, the NFL has just been oversaturated with the Dallas Cowboys and at this point, even Cowboys fans need to be tired of it. 

Fast forward to Super Bowl 57 between the Eagles and Chiefs to decide who was going to be the best team in the league. As an Eagles fan I need to say that it was objectively the best Super Bowl ever played. However, right before the coin flip, Dak Prescott is given the Walter Payton trophy undeservingly was booed by Eagles fans. Dak Prescott is a great and high classed individual who I have seen first hand in working with kids in the DFW area, but the Eagles fans likely weren't booing him. They were booing the fact that another Dallas Cowboy was deservingly or undeservingly winning an award on the stage that their team was playing on. 

Eagles fans are sick and tired of seeing the Dallas Cowboys everywhere they go. They weren't happy to see a Dallas Cowboys player win an award on the day that they were going to watch their team try to win their second Super Bowl ring. And although it didn't work out in the end, I just think that this was where their frustration came out in booing. It seemed like the Cowboys quarterback didn't mind it that much, exclaiming "f*** Philly"(EDIT: He said "Philly Fans" according to a Cowboys fan I know) while it was happening and Cowboys fans had fun with it as they posted memes about a Cowboy at least coming home with the trophy on that day. I don't think the award should be given on that day because the Super Bowl isn't about the Walter Payton Man of the Year winner, it is about the AFC and NFC champions and ultimately the best team between the two. I do not condone the act of booing that specific player, but I am just giving an opinion about why it happened. 

Most Embarrassing Philadelphia Eagles Loss in My Lifetime

I have been an Eagles fan for about a quarter of a century and during that time, I have seen a lot of dumb things happen. I went through the Ray Rhodes years where the organization attempted to place the future of the team in the hands of Rodney Peete, Ty Detmer and dare I say it, Bobby Hoying. I saw Andy Reid's coaching absolutely crumble before my eyes, outright forgetting that he had generational talent at running back, trading McNabb, letting Hall of Fame Safety Brian Dawkins go, and even worse, firing what would soon be a successful head coach in Sean McDermott at defensive coordinator to hire his offensive line coach at defensive coordinator. Of course Chip Kelly sabotaged the whole team by dumping talented players in return for complete nobodies and then Doug losing control of the locker room and not being able to bring in great minds to critique him. Sure it hasn't all been bad, the 2017-18 season was a shining example of either how everything can come together to make something great, or how luck is actually real. However, this last Monday Night Football Game against the Cowboys was the icing on the cake of literally the most embarrassing game in my time of being a fan. 

Dak Prescott after scoring a touchdown against the Eagles in week 3 of 2021

I can't even be mad about the loss itself, Dallas is a great team that is built well from top to bottom with very few weaknesses. They are well coached, they have a ton of talent, they draft well and for the first time in 20 years, Jerry Jones has finally gotten out of his own way of tripping over his own feet. Dak Prescott is the kind of quarterback that I want my team to have. The guy was out all of last season, dealing with mental health problems and how he would return to the field after his injuries. He has talent around him as well as coaching on offense and defense. The guy looked like a man on a mission with Super Bowl aspirations. The expectation at this point is that the Cowboys are the clear favorites to win the division and I do not expect them to have much competition at that. I know Eagles fans might not like that, but it is the honest truth. 

Before I begin rambling about why this game was the most embarrassing game I have ever seen, let me start by saying that this isn't in a podcast because I get busy. I have more time on breaks at work to discuss this and at home there are more distractions and less time. I am a father with a job and it would be too loud and noisy for me to make a podcast about this with family visiting from another state and people to host. With that out of the way, I don't think many will care, but the reasoning is out there. 

Beat Dallas T-Shirt:

Nick Sirianni is a new, young coach who seems like a nice guy that wants to fit in with the fanbase. The best way to do this is to show how much you hate Dallas and want to beat them. Eagles fans have the Cowboys circled in their scheduled from the beginning of the season and losing to them is unacceptable. You can be 2-15 by the end of the season and it'll be successful as long as both of those wins were against the Cowboys. That is how much the Cowboys are in the Eagles heads. The issue that I have with the last two Eagles head coaches is that they would talk about how they would beat the Cowboys on a regular basis, but they would prove that they couldn't. 

Nick Sirianni wear a "Beat Dallas" t-shirt

I get it, I wouldn't expect the guy to wear a shirt that says "we will try to beat the Cowboys" or "I guess we will let them trample us" but it just gives the Cowboys bulletin board material and you better beat Dallas or else you look like a tool bag. So maybe put away the shirt, put away the fan fair, we hate Dallas, but at this point, I think the Cowboys know that the Eagles are below them. Maybe the team should spend more time working to defeat the Dallas Cowboys in Primetime at their own stadium instead of you know, making fun of them and talking about the rivalry. Maybe that is why the Cowboys won and the Eagles didn't, because they actually wanted to win instead of talking about winning. This team is all talk and no action and this is incredibly annoying. 

Barely Any Running Plays:

I have a philosophy when it comes to football, which a few of my friends share. This philosophy is that you win games in the trenches and it is important to run the ball to set up the pass. I have seen a lot of stingy running coaches on the Eagles. I have seen Andy Reid call 6 running plays to Brian Westbrook for 50 yards and then completely abandon him for the rest of the game against the Raiders in a 13-9 loss in 2009. I have never seen what fresh faced  head coach Nick Sirianni did to Miles Sanders against the Cowboys. Two carries for 27 yards... TWO CARRIES for the whole game for Miles Sanders. There is absolutely ZERO excuse for this Z-E-R-O! I have never in my quarter century long time of being an Eagles fan seen them give up on the run that quickly. 

Eagles running back Miles Sanders who received 2 carries for 27 yards on Monday Night

Hold on though, there is context here. Yes, the Eagles went down early and yes the team never had a lead to continue to run the ball, but it isn't like the Eagles were down by multiple possessions in the first quarter and even parts of the second quarter, but the Eagles only passed the ball. With the fact that Jalen Hurts isn't the best passer in the league, he would certainly profit off of the fact that he has a steady running game. You give up on running the ball when you are down like 3 or 4 possessions, but not one. It is almost like Nick Sirianni forgot that Miles Sanders even existed. I was absolutely revolted and I was embarrassed he was the coach of the team. Zero excuse of this, absolutely none!

Defensive Ineptitude: 

After years of Jim Schwartz's sticks defense and having man corners playing very far off I was glad that the Eagles were bringing in a defensive coordinator in Jonathan Gannon who was going to play to the strength of the players. It doesn't take a genius to know that Darius Slay and Steven Nelson are man corners. They shouldn't be playing so far off, but for whatever reason, they are. Playing so far off allows receivers to do almost anything against you. The route tree is very much open and the Dallas Cowboys exploited the Eagles corners and thus the defensive scheme. 

Which brings me to the defensive scheme, the Eagles are not a 3-4 defense it is very clear to me. They are a 4-3 defense. The Eagles cannot stop the run, especially without Brandon Graham. Ezekiel Elliot completely mauled the Eagles front 7. It is because they aren't a 3-4 defense, I am sorry that this isn't a nice thing to say, but it is the truth. Again, I thought the coaching staff would coach to the strengths of the players, but this is a lie. 

Limitations of Jalen Hurts:

I know this might have been a completely sinful thing to say, but Jalen Hurts has limitations. All offseason Eagles fans gushed over the swag he wore and his workout videos like nobody ever did them before. I think Jalen Hurts has a very good arm, but the problem is that he cannot read a defense and he is essentially a one read, then run quarterback, which sucks, but it is extremely important to point it out. Jalen Hurts is a player that needs to try to make it so that the defense cannot contain him, but what ends up happening is that he cannot be contained by his own offensive line as he forces the offensive line to hold the defense down when he runs out of the pocket. 

Jalen Hurts also doesn't understand how the RPO works. The run pass option works by making it so that a play can have a run or a pass depending on what the defense does. The problem is that the quarterback has to throw the ball before the offensive line, who assumes that the quarterback is running the ball, gets down the field. If they get down the field too quickly and there is a forward pass, it is a penalty. If that is how Hurts is going to play, then he needs to know that the ball has to get out of his hands faster. 

Jalen Hurts during the Eagles vs. Cowboys game

I would love to see Nick Sirianni put Jalen Hurts under center and run bootlegs, rollouts, and run under center in order to keep the defensive line honest and slow their rush down. Either Jalen Hurts cannot be trusted to do this or Nick Sirianni plain and simply doesn't know how to call an offense. You can juxtapose this to how Dak Prescott plays. He plays smart, crisp and is able to get down the ball down the field because of savvy coaching and play. When he fails, he holds himself accountable, which is what Hurts is starting to not do. After the game, he admitted that the game was a "deuce" and that "you need to flush it and move on." Sorry my man, I can't accept that, it's such an immature way of thinking about things. This is an important game to learn about. Jalen Hurts has about 3 more straight losses before he finds himself on the bench. You better learn from this game because if you don't you'll make the same mistakes over and over and over and over again. 

Conclusion: 

I don't mind losing in this current era. I know that the Eagles are a rebuilding football team. I know that they are going to have to fight hard for wins, but if they play games like this, they won't be winning very much this season. "Oh but you're being negative, you're just a hater" people might say. I want you to tell me what there is to be positive about. We got clapped by the Cowboys, yes a great team, but with opportunities missed, you can't help but feel embarrassed and disappointed. Again, not mad about losing because I expected to lose, it's just how the team lost in a joint effort and watching Cowboys players celebrate without a fight and Cowboys fans yelling "WE DEM BOYZ!" is just absolutely revolting. I don't expect the Eagles to beat the Chiefs, but with the fact that they are honoring Shady McCoy, I am hoping they at least put an effort forward to try to win and learn from their mistakes. The problem is that I know my words will likely fall on deaf ears and they will likely lose, badly. 

 

What Went Wrong With Carson Wentz? (OPINION)

    A few days ago, former Eagles Quarterback Carson Wentz did his opening press conference with his new team, the Indianapolis Colts. Watching him stand up there in that blue blazer and that smile on his face, I felt really happy for him and his family for his new opportunity. Obviously we know the details about the trade, the Colts got Carson Wentz and the Eagles got a 3rd rounder in 2021 and a conditional 2nd/1st rounder in 2022. That 2022 second rounder will become a 1st rounder if Carson Wentz takes 75% of the offensive snaps or if the Colts go to the playoffs and takes 70% of the offensive snaps. So let me just say that I am cheering for Carson Wentz to be as good as he can be so that the Eagles can get that higher draft pick in 2022. 

    However, I have seen a lot of Eagles fans speak about their feelings about Carson Wentz and have positively and negatively reacted to how things ended up. And let me say that I don't blame one particular person in this situation between Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson, Carson Wentz, Jeffrey Lurie, the coaches, the players, the fans and the media, but one thing is for sure and that is the fact that we have to make sure that that this never happens again or we will be right back to where we started with this mess of questioning everything we see and everything we've heard and we don't know who to trust and who is trying to pull wool over our guys. 

Carson Wentz in his opening interview with the Colts.

    I want to preface this by saying that I don't know what actually happened and I have an opinion like everyone else and I do have a bias, but I am just drawing a conclusion based off of what I saw and what I lived through. Someone else could go ahead and draw a completely different opinion off of it and that is fine. Again, nobody is at 100% fault and nobody is completely to blame, but it is important to admit how things soured in Philadelphia and who was responsible for souring what. 

PART 1: The Beginning

    Before I begin speaking about what went wrong I need to discuss the beginning of Carson Wentz's time in Philadelphia before the bad times. Ironically, Carson Wentz was drafted with the 2nd overall pick from North Dakota State University in the 2016 NFL draft. This was a pick that originally belonged to the Cleveland Browns, which they traded back with the Eagles because they felt like Carson Wentz wasn't going to be as good and for most of Carson Wentz's 5 year career, they were wrong. In just Carson Wentz's 2nd NFL season as a starter, he would put up MVP numbers after 13 games as a starter where he threw for almost 3,300 yards, 33 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions and leading the Eagles to an 11-2 record. However, his season was derailed after attempting to run in a touchdown late in the 3rd quarter of a week 14 game against the L.A. Rams. After diving into the end zone, he got caught between two defenders and it negatively affected his leg, tearing multiple ligaments in it. He would be replaced by backup Quarterback Nick Foles and after some struggles leading up to the playoffs, Foles would lead the Eagles all the way to the Super Bowl and would be the team's first Super Bowl MVP in their first ever Super Bowl victory. 

Carson Wentz when he got injured against the Rams in 2017.

  

    While I was extremely happy about the outcome of the game, I saw dark cloud on the horizon. I remember my friend Josh asking me following the game "hey Hank, why don't you seem excited?" I told him that while a great thing happened on that day, I knew that there were obstacles along the way. I also believe today that at this moment, this great moment where a city was content and the fans were filled with such joy, it was the beginning of the end for what could have been a promising window where another championship could have possibly been won. 

Nick Foles hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy

Part 2: Returning Too Quickly

    After the Super Bowl was over there was one big question that was on everyone's mind, when was Carson Wentz going to be able to return from his injury? And when he did come back, how effective would he be? The obvious guess by the mainstream sports media was "of course this injury was bad, but Carson Wentz is so talented and he could do so much that it wouldn't matter." Of course you had nay sayers claiming that Nick Foles should be the Quarterback for the season until Wentz was completely healthy, but if he didn't come back during the season that was okay because the Eagles didn't have to win now, they had time to regroup. 

    I do not know what the true plan was, but what I do know is that Carson Wentz wouldn't have been able to start the season. After a tumultuous first two games where the Eagles barely beat the Falcons and then had a pretty big loss to the Buccaneers where Foles recorded 1 passing touchdown, 1 interception and 1 fumble, the fans pled for Doug Pederson to bench the Super Bowl MVP for who should have been the real MVP in Carson Wentz. I mean, we all saw him running around, throwing the ball and working on his footwork in practice, so surely he was ready. So because of pressure from the high ups in the organization or because of pressure from the fans, coach Doug Pederson decided to once again make Nick Foles the backup and have Carson Wentz play with a modicum amount of success where over his next 11 games would go 5-6 including a blowout win against the New York Giants and two fourth quarter choke jobs to the Tennessee Titans and the Carolina Panthers. A Panthers game where Carson Wentz was theorized to have aggravated a small fracture in his back that would affect him for the rest of the games that he played in. 

Carson Wentz after a week 14 29-23 loss to the Cowboys

    After a week 14's 29-23 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles would officially bench Carson Wentz with 3 more games left because of his back injury. The other reason of course was because the Eagles sat at 6-7 with the Vikings ahead of them vying for a wildcard spot and the Eagles playing the 2nd seeded L.A. Rams on Sunday Night Football and the at the time 2nd seed in the AFC Texans in week 16. All seemed to be lost until the Eagles pulled out the upset over the Rams in a 30-23 win where the Eagles defense confused Jared Goff and held Todd Gurley to under 50 total rushing yards and then pulled out a last second 32-30 victory over the Texans where Nick Foles threw for almost 450 yards and had 4 passing touchdowns. After shutting out the Redskins in week 17, the Eagles had done what everyone thought they never would do again, go to the playoffs and win a playoff game with a backup quarterback. The team played like a cohesive group and I believed that they were 1 dropped catch away from facing off with the Patriots again in Super Bowl 53. If that had happened, yup, Foles would be the starting Quarterback and Wentz would have gotten traded. However, that isn't what happened. The Eagles got eliminated and said goodbye to Nick Foles as he went to Jacksonville to be the starting quarterback there for a season. 

                                                                   Nick Foles during the Eagles 2018 playoff run

    This was the second season where Carson Wentz got injured and Nick Foles had to essentially finish the job. At the end, he lamented the fact that he wasn't playing in the Super Bowl and had to watch from the sideline. He wanted all the glory and now he would have that chance with no heroic backup quarterbacks behind him to compete for his job and steal his thunder. Carson Wentz would sign a 4 year extension equalling to 128 million dollars or 32 million per year to be the Eagles franchise quarterback of the future. However, before this happened...

Part 3: Joseph Santoliquito, Josina Anderson and the Anonymous Sources

    In late January of 2019 a bombshell dropped by a reporter named Joseph Santoliquito. The article detailed that Carson Wentz was egotistical, a bad teammate and most of all, a bully. It went into great detail about how Nick Foles was universally loved in the locker room, but Carson Wentz wasn't and he had the power to remove anyone from the equation that he didn't like or didn't bend to his will. Of course, this is all conjecture and a complete exaggeration. What made things worse was the fact that Eagles fans took this as an attack on their best friend. Carson Wentz had helped to bring the Eagles success and he seemed like a good person. Nobody in the fanbase could fathom that Carson Wentz could be a bad person. Unfortunately, Eagles fans didn't take too kindly to Joe bashing their dear quarterback, so they cyber bullied, harassed and disgraced his home and his mailbox. These were of course all wrong, however, one aspect of his article did reign true. What it said was that when former Offensive Coordinator Frank Reich was with the Eagles, he was able to challenge Carson Wentz, but after he left, Carson got kind of pig headed and thought that he could do anything he wanted and didn't have to take criticism by anyone. Carson Wentz would come out eventually and claim that he could have done better as a teammate but outright denied he had bullied anyone. This was the moment I feel Carson knew that the media will make up anything to attempt to destroy him.

Philly Beat Writer, Joseph Santoliquito

    All during the season Eagles fans wondered who that anonymous source was that went to people like Santoliquito and ESPN's Josina Anderson, who became a villain in the city because people thought that she was sleeping with the leak. Some even blamed Alshon Jeffrey because of how the source complained about how Wentz threw to Ertz a lot. Some people later theorized that the leak was Nelson Agholor mostly as a red herring because of his awful 2019 season as he had a penchant to drop easy passes that went right into his hands. Whoever it was, the person was going around and saying that the offense was too complex and Carson Wentz should throw more check downs. The Eagles locker room was essentially leaking like it hit an iceberg and was sinking. 

    Eventually with a rag tag of backups and practice squad players, the Eagles were able to go from 5-7 to 9-7 and win the NFC East despite the fact that the organization was unable to stop their locker room and members of their organization from going to the media to complain about other teammates. Of course injury always loomed over Carson Wentz's head as he was going into his first playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, a team he always struggled with. Well, during an early passing play, Carson Wentz would roll out, run up to the line of scrimmage, get tackled from behind and then got speared right in the head by dirty defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Carson got a concussion and left for the rest of the game. 

                                                         Carson Wentz getting concussed by Clowney in the playoffs.

    Many people theorized that Carson Wentz wasn’t truly concussed, he just merely wished to not finish. Some even theorize that one of those people was General Manager Howie Roseman. In reality he didn’t even take himself out of the game. Rather, it was his backup Josh McCown who noticed that Wentz was nodding off on the bench. A source close to the training staff told me that Carson’s reaction to the concussion in the locker room was something they never experienced where he forgot what team the Eagles were playing as well as who his wife was. Sufficed to say that this concussion was real and happened through no fault of Carson’s, but it was the moment that the front office lost trust in him. The Eagles would lose this game 17-9 after the team had chances to score but failed 4th down conversions and lack of offensive fire power caused drives to derail. It truly was one of the most frustrating games I had ever watched and made Howie Roseman yearn for a Quarterback that could be competitive if Wentz got injured again.

Part 4 With the 53rd Overall Pick the Eagles Select...

    Fast forward to the 2020 NFL draft. Sure the Eagles didn’t win a playoff game, but most people considered the 2019 season a success. Carson Wentz set a team record by being the first Eagles Quarterback to throw for 4,000 passing yards and was the only one to do it without a 500 yard wide receiver. Eagles fans hoped that the Eagles would go into the draft attempting to draft a premier group of players as the Eagles needed a cornerback, a few linebackers, a receiver and some depth on the offensive line.

    After grabbing a receiver, Jalen Reagor from TCU, the Eagles could have selected Jeremy Chinn at the Safety position, but instead selected Jalen Hurts, the Heisman runner up Quarterback from Oklahoma. Speaking from experience, this pick made me boo and hit the bottle. Not that I didn’t think Jalen could be good, but in the second round? Second rounders are players you hope to start in the near future and already having a starting Quarterback that didn’t even receive his big money extension yet. I tried to talk myself into this pick, but no matter how I rationalized it, it continued to make zero sense.

                                                                      Jalen Hurts, former Oklahoma Quarterback

    “Could Carson be planning to retire after the concussion?” he just had a baby girl, so that might make sense. “Could Howie Roseman have lost faith in Carson?” Could be, but you paid him 128 million to play for you? How does a freak concussion in a playoff game change that? “Could the Eagles be attempting to run a two QB offense like the Saints do?” Yeah cause that totally worked with Michael Vick 10 years ago... 

    Then Howie Roseman said something that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame of dumb quotes. Something that should go right next to Vince Young’s “Dream Team.” Howie Roseman said that he wanted to make the Eagles a “quarterback factory”. This created a narrative that Howie Roseman might be drafting high round quarterbacks with the plan of flipping them for higher draft picks, which is freaking stupid.

                                                                             Howie Roseman, the candyman!

Part 5: Carson Wentz from MVP to Disappointment 

    The 2020 season was horrible for multiple reasons. Doug Pederson couldn’t call plays or game manage. The offensive line suffered copious injuries that caused them to use 14 different line combinations, and for most of the first 13 weeks, Carson Wentz looked like he had never stepped foot on a football field. He had the most turnovers, threw for less than 3,000 passing yards, didn’t know when to throw the ball away and when he did throw the ball away, it was caught by the other team. A few times he would have guys wide open, but instead either ate a sack or would fumble the ball.

    I think the moment I knew that the old Carson wasn’t coming back was in a Sunday Night Football game against the Ben DiNucci led Cowboys. The plan for this game was to not make mistakes, punt if you need to, throw safe passes and again, don’t make mistakes. Now the defense did their jobs only allowing 3 field goals, but Doug Pederson consistently put Carson Wentz in a bad place and when he was put in a good place, he fumbled and threw interceptions like he didn’t even care. The Eagles won 23-9, but this game felt more like a loss than a win and was a microcosm for what was to come.

                                                             Carson Wentz getting sacked by Leighton Vander Esch

    Carson Wentz’s season came to a head in a week 13 game against the Green Bay Packers where the Quarterback completed way less than 50% of his passes, had 0 touchdowns and only led 1 drive that ended in points. Coach Doug Pederson then replaced Wentz for Jalen Hurts and this was a long time coming. Jalen seemed to be the anti Wentz. While Carson appeared to overthink himself, Hurts seemed calm and collected under pressure and even added the teams first touchdown of the game on a deep pass to Greg Ward on a 4th and 17. The Eagles would lose, but the team had trust in their rookie Quarterback as Carson Wentz wouldn’t start another game for the rest of the season.

    The one picture that everyone saw at the end of the game was Aaron Rodgers speaking to Carson Wentz about something, we don’t know what. I joked that he was telling Carson to “get the f*** out of dodge.” More or less I think Carson felt betrayed by the organization. I think he felt as though he did enough to solidify himself after helping the team win the division in 2019 and he didn’t want to have to look over his back at a rookie quarterback who had the tenacity and drive to compete for the spot. I don’t necessarily think that you could call Carson Wentz a quitter because I don’t think he had a choice to come back in, it was made for him. However, a lot has to be said about his reaction to stiff competition. You look at Aaron Rodgers who had a similar thing happen and he helped the Packers get to a number 1 seed.

"Get the hell out of dodge" - Aaron Rodgers

Number 6: Carson Wentz is Speculated to be Upset

    The fact of the matter is that Carson Wentz wasn’t speaking to anyone, Jalen Hurts put up some pretty good numbers for a rookie in his last 4 starts only winning 1 out of 4 games. A lot of people speculated that Carson Wentz would demand a trade and he was upset about what was going on in Philadelphia. Many members of the media and the fans called Carson Wentz a crybaby, but none of these things were confirmed. People were just connecting the dots despite the fact that Wentz was being a good soldier.

Jalen Hurts during the week 14 win against the Saints

    Many speculated that Carson Wentz had a problem with Doug Pederson after it was speculated by the creative writer named Jeff McLane that Doug and Carson never spoke despite both saying they had a great relationship. Because of these thoughts, the fans figured that if Pederson was fired, Carson would be happy and stay. It wasn’t until after Doug was fired and Carson was still missing in action that it was then theorized that Carson wasn’t upset with Doug (ha doyyyy) he was upset with Howie Roseman for mismanaging his career. 

Carson Wentz and Doug Pederson

    Now again, I don’t know if this is true because the media has been far more miss than hit here, but even after the Eagles hired former Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni, when the media asked questions about Carson, they were met with deflections. So the narrative continues with “the Eagles hired Sirianni to be their Frank Reich and had also hired Sirianni to help out Wentz and only Wentz.” This was in hindsight a silly theory because just 3 weeks later, Carson Wentz was traded to the Colts and Jalen Hurts, who had been propped up by workout videos and news of him working out with the receivers in Texas would be the only quarterback on the team.

Part 7: And Here We Are...

    So here we are back to the present and after outlining this I was to discuss the three groups of people who aren’t to blame here. The first is Nick Foles. This guy did everything that was expected from him from this franchise and more by winning the Super Bowl, winning the MVP of the game and by winning while Carson Wentz was injured. Sure he’s been terrible since then, but it’s not his fault he won when Carson was injured. 

    The next person is Jalen Hurts who again might have been a victim of circumstance when he was drafted by the Eagles with the 53rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. It isn't his fault that he has drive, it isn't his fault that he is tenacious and it isn't his fault that Carson Wentz played like cow crap for three quarters of a season and got benched. It isn't his fault that players rallied behind him and they played better for him. 

    The final group that shouldn't be blamed are the fans. Sure, the fans can be down on players and boo them when they are playing poorly. They can also be extremely fair-weather, supporting you when you are good and saying you're the worst ever when you are bad. Sure, constantly being crapped on can do a number on your mental health, but again, that isn't their fault if you are playing badly even if you are in a rut. Sure, they could be more understanding and not as aggressive, but they are what they are and you can't change them. 

    And now to the people who do deserve blame and why they deserve the blame. The first group I would go with is the Philly sports media and the mainstream sports media. The reason being is because these people are supposed to do real investigative journalism and to speak truth to power, but now in the digital age, they are just merely around for clicks and whatever will get them the spotlight. Sure the media is the extension of the fans, or wait, are the fans the extension of the media? Regardless, the media often times screws situations and people up if you hang out too much on social media. 

    As far as the hot take talking heads on ESPN and NFL Network, they might have the easiest job in America. The problem is the fact that most of them aren't qualified to or aren't paid to critically analyze the game so they spend most of the time sitting up there and railing on people they don't like in a biased way. And I'm not saying they hold a ton of responsibility here because they have a job to do where they get a lot of money, but along with the Philly Media, they build narratives off of clickbait headlines and do not read into stories enough to get the full essence of it, but just enough to get twitter chatting about it and just enough for people to speak about it all day. Again, the fans fall for this clickbait with false titles, but they don't get paid to do this and they aren't influencers so they shouldn't be as responsible about what they post so it really falls on a responsibility issue. I put them lower on this list because again, this is their job and they want to be controversial and build up their brand. Knowing that Carson Wentz doesn't pay attention to this stuff is why they aren't as responsible for why things happened the way they did. 

    The next is the locker room leak or leaks plural. Again, from a specific source I know who one of the leaks is, but I am not at liberty of releasing this information. After the 2018 NFL season the Eagles starting to leak from all parts of the locker room and organization and the coaches and organization did absolutely nothing to quell it. The leaks were always coming out claiming that Carson Wentz was a bad teammate and he was this bad person who ate babies and was an axe murderer. Those last two are purely hyperbolic, but you catch my drift. 

    Let's play devils advocate and say that Carson Wentz was all of those things, wouldn't it make the leak(s) a bad teammate as well for not trying to keep it in house? Like I understand Carson Wentz's early success could have made him big headed and thinking that he doesn't need to be criticized, but you'd think that this leak would try to be a good teammate as well instead of crapping on your teammate to the media. And hey, maybe the media sensationalized some stories, which could happen from time to time, but that doesn't change the fact that a teammate went behind another teammate's back. 

    Doug Pederson and the rest of the offensive coaches are not innocent here either. You could say "well Doug Pederson did he could with the talent provided and just wasn't able to succeed," but the problem with this is the fact that the 2020 Philadelphia Eagles were the most vanilla, least creative team in the NFL. Most of the plays had Carson Wentz playing from the pocket, rarely rolling out or playactioning and most times giving up on the running game quite easily. Doug Pederson called the most vertical routes for the receivers and barely any screen plays, which the Eagles got a lot of production out of in 2019. It was the lack of game management and the lack of challenging his quarterback that really had a decent hand in making Carson Wentz a horrible quarterback in 2020 and the unwillingness by the assistants to try to change Carson's bad habits were also clear issues. 

Eagles Quarterback Coach in 2019 and 2020, Press Taylor

    Carson Wentz himself also isn't barred from criticism. After being one of the bottom 3 quarterbacks overall in the league in 2020, he left a lot to be desired. After having one of the worst fumbling problems in 2019, he followed that up by having just as bad of a fumbling problem in 2020. And while we were willing to give him a pass on his fumbles because he didn't throw many interceptions, let us just say that he found a way to be the most turnover prone player in 2020 even though he only played in 12 games. Carson Wentz was so bad that he earned the Jameis Winston award and found himself on the bench. Carson Wentz appeared to be a "busy idiot" and just did far too much and it showed. When the team was in field goal range, inside the 20, he would force passes that were intercepted, when he had a chance to throw the ball away or had someone open on a check down, he would hold onto the ball too long, and get sack fumbled. 

    The game in which the Eagles won by the most points that they had all season, Carson Wentz made rookie Quarterback from James Madison, Ben DiNucci look like the veteran quarterback. Carson Wentz made a quote where he said something along the lines of while I have learned a lot from my mistakes, I will not change my quarterbacking style when uh bro, your quarterback style is why you suck this year. I also understand that while he handled himself well on the sidelines after being benched for Jalen Hurts, the way he left the team without trying to work himself up to be the starter again when the season ended. The act of trying to run away from your problems is one of the negative aspects of NFL players today. These guys are championship chasers, not loyal to their teams or the contracts that they signed. You could say the teams aren't loyal either, but if Carson Wentz leaving was his decision, then I think fans have every right to be mad. It was clear that Carson Wentz wasn't as good of a leader than people though and he didn't have the tenacity to get better even with a young rookie standing behind him to motivate him. 

    And finally Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb being the Owner and General Manager of the Philadelphia Eagles. Two men who have never once played football yet one is an owner that meddles in everything since one of his coaches got too much power so he decided to be the next Jerry Jones minus the charisma and then the other is the General Manager who has one of the worst track record when it comes to drafting players you might as well call him useless. I don't know who is controlling this ship, but if you have a Quarterback that you just gave 128 million to over a 4 year span, it probably isn't a good idea to alienate that guy, which is exactly what these two jabronis did. You can blame Carson Wentz all you want for how he did or didn't react to the drafting of Jalen Hurts, but the fact of the matter is that it never needed to happen. I get that Jeffrey Lurie is the owner of the Eagles and I get he has a lot of money tied up into the team, but YOU... ARE... NOT... A... FOOTBALL... MIND! YOU... DO... NOT... KNOW... BEST! A great owner delegates the duties to a general manager or a coach and it is clear that Lurie will have to hit rock bottom before giving up the reigns to someone who knows more about what they are doing. And as for Howie Roseman, if it is true that Carson Wentz wouldn't take your phone calls, I don't blame him my dude. I would take the first ticket out of town if I was playing on a team that you are managing. Sure, I don't think that Howie is as bad as the horrific coaching, but you trying to play 10 Dimensional Chess and your "Quarterback Factory" that should be burned in a fire should be placed on the wall of shame for dumb things people do and say. 

Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman

Part 8: Oh and ONE More Thing

    Screw Josh McDaniels! Like I know I had to talk myself into him possibly being the Eagles next Head Coach, but dude, you're just a bad person. What do I mean? Well, after Super Bowl 52, the Indianapolis Colts were expected to be the next launching point for controversial Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels. There was one problem though, the Colts were an absolute joke from top to bottom. They screwed up one of the best quarterbacks in my generation in Andrew Luck, their owner Jim Irsay was involved in a drug scandal and they couldn't do anything right. So, like the scumbag that he was Josh McDaniels basically said "PSYCH!" and withdrew his name for the Colts Head Coaching position. So who did the Colts come running to? Well none other than the Eagles Offensive Coordinator, Frank Reich. At the time we didn't know how much of an impact he had on Carson Wentz so we were happy for him overall, but we weren't too worried. Fast forward 3 years and the guy is one of the major reasons why the Colts are having success in going to the playoffs twice and defeating DeShaun Watson in a playoff game. I know that because of parity in the league that Reich would have eventually left the team for one reason or another for a promotion elsewhere, but this totally damaged the development of Carson Wentz. No other offensive coach was able to keep Carson Wentz accountable so I want to thank Josh McDaniels for being the catalyst for why the Eagles got absolutely ruined so thank you very much for that!

Patriots Offensive Coordinator, Josh McDaniels

    

Philadelphia Eagles Blown Out By Cincinnati Bengals 32-14

Before I start with the analysis, let me apologize for not writing this and submitting it on time. When stuff happens and your team gets blown out, it is easy to have writers block. Not to mention I have begun watching shows on Netflix and Hulu so that has been occupying my time. Because of my personal opinions on my team's quarterback, there will be very little blame placed on him because he is a rookie and because the team was put in such a terrible spot to begin the game. When you get tons of pressure in your face, your line doesn't block, your teams gets down late in the game and a fifth of your passes get blocked at the line of scrimmage, it kind of makes sense that you will be throwing interceptions. This coaching staff has failed the quarterback as well as the defense, which had tons of trouble getting off the field.

The Cincinnati Bengals played amazingly in the game when it mattered. The first three quarters, their offense clicked in the passing game, especially when the Eagles did so well stopping their runs. Their third down game was probably the most impressive as for the first half, the Bengals never punted. Andy Dalton and the Bengals offensive line deserves all of the credit as he did the job without his best wide receiver, A.J. Green. Their offense was placed in many third and long situations, but the Eagles proved that they were unable to get to Dalton and he made them pay. I believe by the end of the game, the veteran quarterback had three touchdowns and no interceptions in one of the better games that he has played all season.

And while the Bengals offense played well, their defense played better. They did the job in pressuring rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz. They tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage multiple times and ended up getting three interceptions. Two because the line was able to pressure Wentz and one because the rookie made a bad throw down the middle intended for Ertz. I didn't like the throw, but when your team is down by over 20 points in the fourth quarter, you gotta make something happen. The Eagles running game was nullified early in the game and the team got down by so many points, it made the Bengals job on defense really easy as there would be a pass almost every time. Heck, Carson Wentz had so many tipped passes that he caught his own pass and ran for like five yards.

I don't want to make this all gloom and doom, I actually want to congratulate a player on the team. That player is rookie sensation, Paul Turner. I believe the rookie free agent caught every ball that hit him in the hands and without veteran receiver, Jordan Matthews and an injury in the game to Dorial Green-Beckham, the young receiver got a lot of targets. I would like to see him worked into the offense because he has talent, he catches passes and he doesn't give up on balls. During a rebuilding season, I don't care about wins and losses, I care about trying your best and having heart and it has become a theme in December that this team lacks heart. I am especially disappointed by the mindless penalties of helmet to helmet hits, horse collar tackles, and late hits out of bounds. That shows a lack of focus and an increase in frustration. I am also extremely disappointed when veteran players almost purposely miss blocks on other players because it shows a lack of trying. I also liked the way that the defense fought back late in the game by holding the Bengals to punts and two fumble recoveries, however, the offense was only able to score after the first fumble recovery. These were the only bright spots the defense showed all game.

I don't expect this team to win every game, I don't care if they end up being 5-11 during a rebuilding year where the team obviously lacks talent at certain positions. I'll tell you what makes me upset during it all, players who have shown time and time again that they are playing for a paycheck. I would much rather see players at the bottom of the depth chart come in and play their hearts off, then see overrated veterans disgrace the wings like they have been doing for weeks and years. There, somebody had to say it and I am especially looking at those players that were selected by former head coach Chip Kelly. Thanks to him and his "diligence", the Eagles have a lot of finesse and talented players that are just plain lazy and do not come to play when their number is called.

Andy Dalton evades Eagles tacklers in his team's victory

Philadelphia Eagles Stuffed By Green Bay Packers 27-13

In all ways, shapes and forms, this was the worst game that the Eagles have played in all season. The Packers were coming in with 4 wins to their name after hard losses to the Titans and Falcons in recent weeks, so I expected the Eagles to have a decent game against a defense with a depleted backfield. The Eagles on the other hand recently deactivated struggling receiver Nelson Agholor and activated Practice Squad receiver Paul Turner. This would be a good test for Carson Wentz, as well as the defensive line as the Packers were a very injured team.

The game, however, started out in the Packers favor and they never lost the lead. Aaron Rodgers looked like the savvy veteran he always looks like against the Eagles and many of his passes appeared to magnetically hit his receiver in the hands. The Packers really didn't run the ball effectively as I believe their leading rusher was Aaron Rodgers. The guy still has it, at least against the Eagles as he was able to go for two passing touchdowns to Davante Adams on the first and second drives. Aaron Rodgers with his turtle screens and short passes seemed unbeatable as the Eagles rarely had a single answer for the Packers offense.

The Eagles offense started out well with Carson Wentz being perfect in passing on his first drive, ending the drive with his first rushing touchdown of the season. I thought he played decently in the first half as he got the Eagles out of a lot of 3rd and long situations. However, the Eagles were unable to add an equalizing touchdown in the second quarter after Wentz threw a pass to Bryce Treggs while the receiver was being interfered with. The officials didn't call holding or pass interference even though I thought they should have. Wentz's lone mistake was an over the middle shot to Zach Ertz that was intercepted by Packers Safety, Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix. Wentz also was able to target Dorial Green-Beckham and Jordan Matthews a lot in the first half, but after Jordan got injured, the Eagles attack was basically nullified in the longer passing game.

With running back Ryan Mathews out of the game, the Eagles relied on Sproles, Barner, and Smallwood to carry the load. Smallwood actually was playing well in the game, but he was hampered by poor play calling. The Eagles had a chance to extend drives while running the football, but they lost their edge when they relied on the passing game with injured receivers. The Packers had only six drives, as did the Eagles as Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense was able to lead long drives that spanned over ten plays. When that happens, coupled with roughing the passer, off-sides, and holding calls, it really does a number on the team.

The offensive line really didn't do Carson Wentz very many favors as he was pressured with four guys often and there were a lot of times in which holding and false-starts occurred, which kept the Eagles out of good position to convert drives. The lone bright spot on the Eagles team continues to be Caleb Stugis, as he was able to hit two field goals from very long distance. Sturgis was able to keep the Eagles in the game, but bad play calls and penalties kept them out of good position. The game was 17-13 at one point, but the Eagles defenders were unable to disrupt the Packers short passing attack and Aaron Rodgers had his was with the Eagles like he always does. It makes me question the coaching staff sometimes until I remember that this is a rebuilding football team with five wins in eleven games, which was far better than I expected. I know this was a very short recap, but to be honest, the game went by so fast that not even the annoying commercials could make it long enough to fill a three hour time slot.

I congratulate the Packers on their win even though some of the penalties made me a little salty. I am not as salty as I was after the Lions game, but I do question the officials when the Eagles defensive line are held a lot, the receivers are held even more, and it seems like Dorial Green-Beckham cannot even block on screen plays without getting called for offensive pass interference, when I see other teams get away with the same thing. Then I realize that it was probably karma for pushing that woman down the stairs. I am very disappointed in this team and I am merely hoping to see improvement throughout the season as the playoffs seem to be a lost cause with this team.

Aaron Rodgers with poise against the Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles Out Flown By Seattle Seahawks 26-15

Before I start with this post, let me just say that I didn't expect the Eagles to win this game and even penciled my favorite football team in as losing this game very early in the offseason. With that said, this team still had every chance to win this game, but because of the fact that the Seahawks are a craftier and better prepared team, they did not win. The Seattle Seahawks are a very good team at home and the Eagles have not been a very good road team, only winning one road game against the lowly, 2 win Chicago Bears. 

The game started out with the Seahawks having the ball, but they went three and out and punted to the Eagles. The Eagles had a chance to get a good drive started, but they stalled because, yet again, they decided to pass the ball three consecutive times instead of running it. Not only does this seem to be a trend with this team, it also is starting to be a trend by the Head Coaches in attempts to outsmart the opponent. The other team is great against the pass, lets pass anyway to keep them on their toes. The Eagles then punted the ball back to the Seahawks and on Seattle's seemingly first play ripped off a 70 or so yard run by C.J. Prosise for a touchdown that immediately put the Seahawks up 6-0 in the first quarter after a blocked extra point.

One thing I was extremely happy about was the fact that the Eagles offense still had fight in it. They had fight by going all the way down the field on a seemingly seven minute drive that was capped off by a Carson Wentz to Zach Ertz touchdown pass. This was Ertz's first of the season and Wentz's first in two games. Regardless, the Eagles took the lead and did so by using the running game as well as some key short passes. The Seahawks next drive started deep in their own territory and it looked like if the Eagles could get them off the field that they could take control of the game. However, third down after third down and the Seahawks kept on converting, kept on converting until Seattle was at the Eagles 40 yard line and at 3rd and 16. The Eagles had a chance to force an incomplete pass, but were flagged for being offsides. So on 3rd and 11 on the Eagles 35 yard line, Russell Wilson turned a seemingly broken play into a Jimmy Graham touchdown catch with a missed tackle by Watkins. Believe me, it was embarrassing but not the most embarrassing touchdown Seattle scored that day. 

Now here is where the Eagles started to piss me off. Now they had a chance to score a touchdown on a screen pass, but guess who messed it up for the Eagles? You guessed it, Nelson effing Agholor. Because he wasn't lined up two inches closer to the line of scrimmage their touchdown was nullified on an illegal formation and they were instead forced to punt. I am kind of up to here with that guy. When he isn't dropping passes, he is screwing up touchdowns. He is a great route runner, the best on our team, but he just sucks. On the ensuing drive, Russell Wilson would throw deep to Doug Baldwin for 44 yards and that would lead to a Seahawks field goal. If the Eagles could get one bit of credit here, the red zone defense was just about immaculate as I don't think the Seahawks ever scored from close range. 

Before the half, the Eagles had a chance to nullify a part of a two possession lead by the Seahawks, but Carson Wentz was intercepted on 1st and 10 from the 50. The ball was intended for Dorial Green-Beckham and Wentz did not see Cam Chancellor and if he had waited a little longer, it might have been a completion. It really sucked to not get points off of that drive, but they might not have gotten points anyways as there wasn't much time left on the clock. I like the fact that Wentz was being aggressive, but it shows up as an interception none the less. 

After the Eagles and the Seahawks traded punts to begin the second half, the Eagles had the ball deep in their own territory. On 2nd and 4 with plenty of time in the pocket, Wentz forced a pass down the field to Bryce Treggs in double coverage and the ball was intercepted by Richard Sherman. Shouldn't have thrown the ball, but deep in your own territory, it is basically a punt on 2nd down. The Seahawks would then get into the red zone and Russell Wilson would jet sweep the ball to Doug Baldwin, run around the defense and would throw the ball to his quarterback, who was wide open for a touchdown. It seems very ironic that Russell Wilson would do that in a game where Nelson Agholor played so poorly in because him and Nelson Agholor are tied for receiving touchdowns this season. 

So the 4th quarter was extremely boring filled with punts, field goal attempts, field goal misses, turnovers on downs, but the Eagles still had the ball and were able to get the ball down the field thanks to some good passing by Carson Wentz. The Eagles were even able to get Dorial Green-Beckham open in the end zone for a touchdown and thanks to Nelson Agholor, a 2 point conversion. Now instead of doing the smart thing and saving their onside kick for their potential game winning drive, Doug Pederson elected to onside kick the ball with 3:33 on the clock, which is such a no no, that isn't even funny. The Eagles had the Seahawks on the ropes and they have a great special teams unit. You kick the ball deep and force a three and out. Instead, the Eagles onside kicked the ball, didn't get it and forced the Seahawks to punt, but instead of being deep in Seattle territory, the ball was at the Eagles 47. 

So the Eagles get the ball back and with a little less than two minutes to go were caught with a phantom pass interference call on Dorial Green-Beckham on a screen play that would have made it close to the Seahawks red zone, but instead lost 10 yard and were unable to capitalize and then lost. Let me say that despite some bad calls and no calls, I knew the Eagles weren't going to win. Seattle played really well on defense and again, they are just the craftier team. One moral victory is the fact that this team fought and didn't give up and if they had been smarter, they would have possibly had a chance to score earlier and possibly get an onside kick on the ensuing kick off. Not saying it would have helped them win, but it might have been a closer game. This team falls to 5-5, which if someone told me the Eagles would have 5 wins at week 10, I would have slapped them in the face and called them crazy. 

Russell Wilson extends football after catching first career touchdown

Philadelphia Eagles Play Gritty Against Atlanta Falcons 24-15

After losing a tough game against the New York Giants, the Eagles were looking to go home and regroup. A lot of questions surrounded the Eagles play calling as Doug Pederson called the game way too aggressively the week before. Everyone knew that the Eagles were a good team at home, but the Falcons were probably one of the best offenses in the game with Matt Ryan at quarterback, Julio Jones at wide Receiver and a great duo at running back. The Eagles would have their hands full as the Falcons had a three game winning streak all time against the Eagles.

However, this was a whole different team with a whole different coaching staff. After kicking the ball to the Falcons and stopping them in their own territory, the Eagles put the ball on the ground and moved the ball 81 yards for over seven minutes and forty-one seconds to cap off the drive with a Ryan Mathews rushing touchdown. After Mathews had been put in the doghouse by the fan base with two previous fumbles, one costing the Eagles the game against the Lions, it was good to see the Eagles premiering the savvy vet. Not to mention, Carson Wentz also completed four passes for four attempts to help the Eagles get down the field mistake free.

After the Eagles forced the Falcons to punt, the Eagles marched down the field with the signature play being a twenty yard screen pass to Ryan Mathews, but the even bigger problem with the drive was the fact that Caleb Sturgis missed a pretty simple 44 yard field goal. Caleb Sturgis had been pretty good thus far, but that was a pretty bad miss because the Falcons would end up going down the field after a long pass to Julio Jones. However, the drive stalled and Matt Bryant ended up kicking a field goal. After a three and out by the Eagles, the Falcons got the ball and went down the field again thanks to Julio Jones, but the Eagles stopped the Falcons in the red zone and Matt Bryant kicked yet another field goal.

After a long Ryan Mathews run, Carson Wentz got sacked and he fumbled with the ball being recovered by the Falcons and got the ball into Eagles territory. It really seemed like the Falcons were going to do something with the ball, but the only problem was the fact that Matt Ryan missed a 53 yard field goal. With 22 seconds left to go in the half, the Eagles had the ball in good field position, but very few time outs. With eight seconds left to go in the half, Pederson elected to call a play on 4th down, but none of the receivers got open and Wentz threw an incomplete pass on 4th down with two seconds left to go. I was really worried that the Eagles handed the Falcons a hail mary pass, but everything was okay because nothing came out of it.

After halftime, the Eagles were able to get the ball down the field quite easily. They did this mostly using the running game. However, once the Eagles got into the red zone, they seemed to freeze as the Eagles got a holding penalty with the ball deep in Falcons territory and were unable to convert. This series ended in a field goal that put the Eagles up 10-6. With the ensuing kick off, Matt Ryan was able to air mail a pass to Julio Jones and Matt Bryant was able to kick another field goal. After another drive of Ryan Mathews driving the ball on the ground, the Eagles had the ball on 3rd an 1 at the Falcons one yard line. However, instead of calling a quarterback keeper up the middle with his 6'5" quarterback, Doug Pederson elected to call a stretch play. I was really mad at that point because this was a point in time where the Eagles could have gone up by a touchdown, but that didn't happen.

After Caleb Sturgis kicked the short field goal, Matt Ryan was able to target Taylor Gabriel going up against Leodis McKelvin for a deep touchdown. The Falcons would take their first lead and the Falcons gained another victory after forcing the Eagles to miss a 55 yard field goal that was outside of Sturgis' range. This really pissed me off because on the previous kick off, Kenjon Barner was able to bring the ball back 52 yards on the kick off so the Eagles appeared to waste a good return. The other problem with this drive was the fact that Wentz was able to hit Jordan Matthews on a mid-ranged pass, he was popped in the face and dropped the ball. All of the Eagles fans around me were pissed off because we all thought it was hitting a defenseless receiver, but of course, the referees weren't watching because they wear a blind fold when it comes to calling penalties for the Eagles. Luckily, the Eagles were able to stop the Falcons on the next drive and they forced them to punt.

With the ensuing drive, Wentz was able to shine by passing the ball to Zach Ertz and by finally getting a pass interference call on a deep pass to Jordan Matthews. The Eagles were then hooked up with 1st and goal at the five and Ryan Mathews took the run from the shotgun and get the ball into the end zone. The score was 19-15 as the Eagles decided to go for two. After there was a hold penalty called on the first attempt, the ball was moved to the one and the ball was handed to Mathews for a successful conversion to go up by six. After trading punts, the Eagles were able to pin the Falcons deep in their own territory, but this was dashed as Najee Goode hit the return man out of bounds unnecessarily and 15 yards were tacked on to the play. At this point in time I thought the game was over but the Falcons only gained 5 yards. So on 4th and 5, Matt Ryan threw to an open Julio Jones in the zone, but the pass was miraculously dropped.

So the Eagles had the ball at the Falcons 40 yard line and were able to get eight yards, but that wasn't enough for a first down. However, it was enough for Sturgis to hit a 48 yard field goal right down the pipes. With a nine point lead I felt very comfortable, but there was still one minute, 57 seconds left. The Falcons were able to get sixteen yards, but Matt Ryan made the fatal mistake of throwing an interception to Leodis McKelvin for the walk off interception. The man was able to redeem himself for giving up the long touchdown and the Eagles were victorious. The Eagles did great running the football and really cut down on the mistakes. While Julio Jones had a lot of yards receiving, he didn't scorch the Eagles for a touchdown. While the play calling was bad at times, Wentz really wasn't getting much help from Nelson Agholor and Dorial Green-Beckham, but Darren Sproles continued to be the unsung hero with 8 receptions for 57 total yards. The officiating was also terrible, but that is no surprise to me, I am totally used to that, but I know the officiating will get worse when the Eagles play the Seahawks next week. They are the one team that seems to be immune to penalties as they rarely get called for anything and referees strangely keep their hands in their pockets when they commit penalties, should be an interesting one, but I was content to get the win.

Ryan Mathews scoring his second rushing touchdown of the game