So before all 3 of you guys say something, yes, I didn't make a recap after the Rams game. That is because I didn't watch the Rams game. The game wasn't shown on TV and while I kept up with some of the plays in the game, I didn't watch the whole game, so in my mind, how in the world am I supposed to recap a game I didn't watch, so I didn't. Also I probably would have ended up saying the same things that I did after the Bears game. Nick Sirianni still made bad decisions, the team didn't score any points in the second half and everything looked erratic and bad. The only good thing that happened was the fact that the Eagles spent around 58 minutes in the lead, which is good, unless you lose the game.
Regardless of how you feel about the Eagles, losing sucks and losing in a completely different country sucks even more. The offense continued to be inconsistent and the running game still failed, however the Eagles still played almost the entire game with the lead against a team that was supposed to be much better than them, however, unlike losing the game in the last minute, this time the Eagles lost the game in the very last second, so that is really fun. So I am not necessarily going to discuss all of the things that happened in the game, but rather I am going to tell you all why the team lost. Not only because I refuse to go over everything the team does when the Eagles lose, but also it is very tough to even watch games that the Eagles lose. It is extremely painful, but alas that is what it is like being a fan.
#1 The Jaguars Are Good
Let this be a lesson to all the losers out there. Winning teams find a way to win, even if it is difficult. The Jaguars were a team with a significant amount of yardage output during this game. They didn't always score, but they were able to put out yardage output. They got first downs, at the right periods of time they converted on third down, they had a relatively descent running game, they are well coached and they could score in the second half. Was the 1st half extremely ugly for them? You bet it was, the Eagles did the job of stopping the Jaguars on all of the drives except one and this included a very late second quarter drive where they were stopped at the Eagles 4 yard line going into overtime, but what happened after that? The Eagles stalled out on offense on every drive except their last, which was a mid range field goal that should have mounted the win, but didn't. Despite the penalties, their team was able to be victorious. This speaks to the leadership of their team and coaching. You might think that winning is very easy, but it isn't. It was clear that the Jaguars had overlooked the Eagles, but at the end of the day the better team always wins. Heck, they were missing their long snapper for the entire game and they were barely able to miss a beat when it came to punts and kicks. It is very clear that the coach trusts the players and the players trust the coach to make good decisions and win.
#2 The Stagnant Eagles Second Half Offense
First half offense has been pretty good this season, in this game the Eagles were able to tie the game up on a short Will Shipley touchdown and then on a deep Jalen Hurts pass to Darius Cooper to make the game 14 - 0! Darius Cooper is playing like a man on a mission and I like his mental and physical toughness. He plays like a guy that actually cares. A lot of guys might come onto this team and tell themselves "oh I can just play for a paycheck", but not Cooper. However, once the team gets into the second half, everything starts to go to crap. They cannot run the ball consistently and the team shows their lack of experience. In the second half over the last 3 games, the Eagles have scored 3 points in the second half, which is absolutely inexcusable. They must be better, they have to be better, somehow there is a huge disconnect on the team and it just seems like everyone is happy with a small lead going into the 4th quarter and unfortunately the "witching hour" has bit the Eagles in the butt. At this point, I do not know what can be done here. The Eagles cannot run the football, the line cannot block the run in the second half and they were unable to do so against Jacksonville. The team had some success passing the ball, but it seemed like every time they made a big play, it would be followed up with losing yards or big penalties. These things absolutely kill an offense. I am happy they have gotten rid of that Makai Lemon swing pass because it isn't working.
#3 Horrifically Awful Coaching
Those of you who read my last post know my feeling on Nick Sirianni. Respect to who he is and what was accomplished during his time in Philadelphia, but once again it is clear that he is completely clueless and out of his depth. In week 2 the Eagles were in a very similar situation here. Scored a touchdown, there are 8 seconds left and the Titans need to score a touchdown. In this situation, there were 8 seconds late and the Jaguars need to kick a field goal. What do you do? Do you A. Kick the ball deep in the end zone (the one I was calling for from my living room) or B. Kick the ball in a returnable way so they could possibly get into field goal range and you lose the game? And while I understand the philosophy of kicking the ball short because it not only wastes time and it is unlikely they get a good return. However, they did get a good return. They not only made it into the Eagles side of the field and with the best kicker in the league, booted in a field goal. At that point, I don't think a single Eagles fan was happy with Nick Sirianni. Here is why A was a better option. Because no matter what, if the Jaguars have 0 timeouts, they need to get to the sidelines to get a field goal and while there is a possibility that they could do that, the Eagles would have a chance to have a man on the sideline that might stop them from getting a completion. If they cannot find a guy on the sideline, they will likely throw the ball to the middle of the field, causing them to probably lose the game. You cannot stop the clock in that sense so the Eagles would win the game. If you kick the ball with a chance for the return team to return the ball, the thing that happened to them could happen. The Jaguars had already returned the ball with a holding call, so that was stopping them from the same thing happening here and it did.
#4 Injuries
At this point, the Eagles are the most injured team in the NFL. There is absolutely no comparison. Going into this game they were down their top 2 running backs (1 of them getting injured in the game, so that is 3), they are down their starting receiver, they are down their starting guard, their starting right tackle retired, their starting defensive end or edge rusher is injured, their starting inside linebacker got ejected from the game, their starting safety got injured. At this point, you look at the injury report and everyone looks dead. Injuries are tough, every team is going to get one and you need to learn to live with them. I am putting injuries last here because despite the fact the team is injured, they have been in all the games they have played except for one. It is unfortunate that the team is in this situation, but at the end of the day, they need to learn how to play through it. It would be a different story if this team had these injuries in December, but we are in October and the team had 22 players on the injury list.
Here is the thing though, you gotta keep playing the next game. Losing is tough, I know that when I started being a fan there wasn't much winning, but the way you lose shows the character of your football team. I do not expect to get that many more wins moving forward, but I see a lot of guys out there who are hungry for a win. They might not get those wins and they have to dig deep and believe in themselves. They have to lean on and trust each other. This is the only way to win in the National Football League. Because if you don't you can just expect a high round pick.
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