That was really bad early and then we got the momentum and the fumble and that covered over a lot of the early game mistakes. But then...well we all know what happened. Here is my good and bad.
1. Carson Wentz ain't the guy. He is good and at times very good. He is a plus athlete along the lines of say Kirk Cousin and Aaron Rodgers when he gets out of the pocket. But he is NOT an accurate QB and in today's game you have to be accurate because you are throwing the ball to players in positions where they can immediately run. Think about the top QBs in the game right now. Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Wilson, Mahomes and at times Roth and Ryan. Those guys are highly accurate throwers. Wentz and a host of other QBs in this league are not always accurate. Carson's issues yesterday were not decisions in my opinion. It was accuracy. He sees the field just fine. The pick in the end zone was not a bad decision. JJAW was open. That throw needed to be higher and slightly out in front of JJAW. The reason the CB could make what was an outstanding play was the ball placement by Carson wasn't great. Several other throws I'd mention... the dump of to Miles Sanders, the screen to DJax, the go route in the third quarter I believe, the throw to Goedert that was slightly high. Carson is NOT accurate enough to be elite. That can't be fixed. Can we win the Super Bowl with a QB like Carson... yes. But we aren't going to win a Super Bowl BECAUSE of Carson.
2. The lack of athleticism on the defensive front is very troubling and has been for several years. Graham is a warrior but he is not a guy that is going to run down an average QB athletically when he is trying to get to the edge. Barnett might be able to but he crashes the run constantly and gets booted on over and over. Maybe Josh Sweat is a good enough athlete... who knows. We know Vinny Curry isn't. Did you guys notice how much Casey Toohill played. That was either him being able to recognize boot action and maintain his leverage on the edge... which he did most of the time. Or, they think he is a good enough athlete athletically to chase down the edge.
3. The DTs played like crap. Or maybe they just got beat by a better OL. Hassan Ridgeway kept getting washed down the LOS and the backers were not there. On the big run in the fourth quarter Ridgeway got washed and/or guessed a gap. It might have been a run slant but he got his ass whipped. Fletcher played OK. Malik Jackson hardly made a play. Hargrave did nothing but truthfully he might still be hurt.
4. Everybody piled on Nathan Gerry for giving up the touchdown to Tyler Higbee but do you know how hard that play is to cover. And do you know how much time it takes for the QB to get to that play. Higbee lined up to the right and ran across the entire middle of the field and right past Gerry. Most LBs are going to let him release that way because the play was going the other way. And Gerry was right behind him. Goff made a GREAT throw but he also had no traffic around him because he rolled and there was nobody there. I mean nobody. That goes back to our DEs. I am not as concerned about out back 7 really. Our front got their ass kicked and just might not be what we thought they were. Especially at DE.
5. The OL played fine I thought. JP played well. All these announcers blow Aaron Donald constantly but he did very little. Maybe we schemed it right but he was a non factor. The one good thing I am seeing so far this year is Herbig, Driscoll and even Pryor seem like they are NFL players.
6. Miles Sanders and Boston Scott are very good complements. That was a helluva running attack Too bad we once again got away from it.
7. Jalen Reagor is going to be good guys. Is he going to be great.... I don't know. He is at least Brandon Cooks though and that is a nice ceiling. JJAW should be cut when Alshon comes back. That is the most disappointing pick this team has made in the past 5 years when you consider what was on the board at the time. And that includes last years pick of Jalen Hurts.
8. At this point, I'd say this team will be very lucky to go .500 and is likely headed for 6-10 or worse. That's OK. We need to get the salary cap fixed, cut some of this fat, and get some high draft picks. Zach Ertz and Jason Peters are playing their last seasons here and potentially Jason Kelce. That's OK by me actually. Herbig looks like he could slide into the center spot. The kid can play.
9. I'd actually be OK now with Carson getting dinged and Jalen Hurts getting in the game. I'm not ready to give up on Carson yet but kid needs a wakeup call.
10. I know everybody is all over the coaching staff and rightly so but at the end of the day Jim Schwartz is NOT the DE failing to recognize the bootleg time after time. They are coached to see that and not crash the run. Doug Pederson is NOT the guy making inaccurate throws. That's Carson. Doug called a great game in the late first and second quarters and then after the end zone INT the air just went right back out of this team.
Guys... we are NOT good enough. We might be the worst team in the NFC East and we are certainly the oldest.
1. Carson Wentz ain't the guy. He is good and at times very good. He is a plus athlete along the lines of say Kirk Cousin and Aaron Rodgers when he gets out of the pocket. But he is NOT an accurate QB and in today's game you have to be accurate because you are throwing the ball to players in positions where they can immediately run. Think about the top QBs in the game right now. Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Wilson, Mahomes and at times Roth and Ryan. Those guys are highly accurate throwers. Wentz and a host of other QBs in this league are not always accurate. Carson's issues yesterday were not decisions in my opinion. It was accuracy. He sees the field just fine. The pick in the end zone was not a bad decision. JJAW was open. That throw needed to be higher and slightly out in front of JJAW. The reason the CB could make what was an outstanding play was the ball placement by Carson wasn't great. Several other throws I'd mention... the dump of to Miles Sanders, the screen to DJax, the go route in the third quarter I believe, the throw to Goedert that was slightly high. Carson is NOT accurate enough to be elite. That can't be fixed. Can we win the Super Bowl with a QB like Carson... yes. But we aren't going to win a Super Bowl BECAUSE of Carson.
2. The lack of athleticism on the defensive front is very troubling and has been for several years. Graham is a warrior but he is not a guy that is going to run down an average QB athletically when he is trying to get to the edge. Barnett might be able to but he crashes the run constantly and gets booted on over and over. Maybe Josh Sweat is a good enough athlete... who knows. We know Vinny Curry isn't. Did you guys notice how much Casey Toohill played. That was either him being able to recognize boot action and maintain his leverage on the edge... which he did most of the time. Or, they think he is a good enough athlete athletically to chase down the edge.
3. The DTs played like crap. Or maybe they just got beat by a better OL. Hassan Ridgeway kept getting washed down the LOS and the backers were not there. On the big run in the fourth quarter Ridgeway got washed and/or guessed a gap. It might have been a run slant but he got his ass whipped. Fletcher played OK. Malik Jackson hardly made a play. Hargrave did nothing but truthfully he might still be hurt.
4. Everybody piled on Nathan Gerry for giving up the touchdown to Tyler Higbee but do you know how hard that play is to cover. And do you know how much time it takes for the QB to get to that play. Higbee lined up to the right and ran across the entire middle of the field and right past Gerry. Most LBs are going to let him release that way because the play was going the other way. And Gerry was right behind him. Goff made a GREAT throw but he also had no traffic around him because he rolled and there was nobody there. I mean nobody. That goes back to our DEs. I am not as concerned about out back 7 really. Our front got their ass kicked and just might not be what we thought they were. Especially at DE.
5. The OL played fine I thought. JP played well. All these announcers blow Aaron Donald constantly but he did very little. Maybe we schemed it right but he was a non factor. The one good thing I am seeing so far this year is Herbig, Driscoll and even Pryor seem like they are NFL players.
6. Miles Sanders and Boston Scott are very good complements. That was a helluva running attack Too bad we once again got away from it.
7. Jalen Reagor is going to be good guys. Is he going to be great.... I don't know. He is at least Brandon Cooks though and that is a nice ceiling. JJAW should be cut when Alshon comes back. That is the most disappointing pick this team has made in the past 5 years when you consider what was on the board at the time. And that includes last years pick of Jalen Hurts.
8. At this point, I'd say this team will be very lucky to go .500 and is likely headed for 6-10 or worse. That's OK. We need to get the salary cap fixed, cut some of this fat, and get some high draft picks. Zach Ertz and Jason Peters are playing their last seasons here and potentially Jason Kelce. That's OK by me actually. Herbig looks like he could slide into the center spot. The kid can play.
9. I'd actually be OK now with Carson getting dinged and Jalen Hurts getting in the game. I'm not ready to give up on Carson yet but kid needs a wakeup call.
10. I know everybody is all over the coaching staff and rightly so but at the end of the day Jim Schwartz is NOT the DE failing to recognize the bootleg time after time. They are coached to see that and not crash the run. Doug Pederson is NOT the guy making inaccurate throws. That's Carson. Doug called a great game in the late first and second quarters and then after the end zone INT the air just went right back out of this team.
Guys... we are NOT good enough. We might be the worst team in the NFC East and we are certainly the oldest.
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