Instant Observations Eagles Vikings

[taz]

Wow, what a game.

1. Hurts was GREAT tonight. He read the defense and made the plays. I know the stat sheet will say he threw an INT but I credit that to Gainwell should have caught that. His throws were money tonight. Really fun to watch.

2. Gannon had a great game plan. he blitzed when he needed to and really had a good plan for Jefferson and Cook.

3. Big Play Slay. Probably should have had at least 3 picks in this game. But both of his picks in the end zone. Give an assit to Gannon and the Blitz on both of those picks as Cousins threw it up for grabs.

4. Quez Watkins sighting. Need to see a little more of that.

5. The NFL has to get the officiating fixed. Period. We watch the game for the players on the field not the bastards in the strips. They really kept the Vikings in this game with their calls. 17 penalties for two teams that were dominate in week one is WAY too many. The illegal man down field stuff was mostly phantom. The holding call on Kelce was phantom, the pass interference on Smith phantom. They have to figure something out because the guys in the stripes shouldn't be the focus of the game.

6. Both Smith and Brown had great games. In fact the Eagles had 4 pass catchers over 70 yards

7. Sanders ran really well tonight

8. The pass rush still can't get home for sacks against QB's who just are not mobile. I think we have a bunch of over priced guys on this line. At the end of this season they are going to need to clear out a bunch of guys (Cox, Graham, Hargrave) and bring in some better guys who can rush the passer. They all played well against the run tonight but pass rush wise they just are not winning enough. That is what caused Gannon to blitz more which he should be doing more of anyway against mediocre QB's

9. Great play by Sippos on the blocked punt. I have to go back and look but it sure seems like to me that Peterson was off side on the block.

10. For life of me I don't get when Punt Returners stops dead and try to reverse there field right in front of a defender. Just keep running. Might get a few more yards out of it.

This team is exciting to watch as long as Gannon can stay aggressive enough I think its going to be a really fun year.

[NoDakIggle]

Good game but no second half points has to be recognized. 24-7 lead is nice but not insurmountable. D kept the game in hand.

[Pliny]

Nice write up Taz. Agree on everything you said !!!

To add to it....

1) Hurts is now the 3rd favorite when it comes to MVP odds in the NFL. His odds have dropped to 8 to 1. It's early. But, he looks like a different QB and is very comfortable. It's a shame that he had that Interception that was totally not his fault. Like it or not, if he is playing like this halfway through the season, I see a Howie extension coming.

2) Covey hasn't done much. But, as long as he keeps catching the ball and eeking out 5 or 10 yards, I am fine with that. I want a sure handed guy back there.

3) Gannon was good. But, I want to see a game where he makes halftime adjustments. He didn't have to tonight. Minnesota could not adjust. Kudos to the secondary especially. They were incredible (especially Slay).

4) Finally, our defense had an answer for Cousins. It's been a long time coming.

5) Next week is going to be super interesting. Hurts vs Wentz. Wentz can be dangerous. But, I am glad we have Hurts. Wentz is still a sack and turnover machine at times.

6) If this team can beat Washington and Dallas in the next few weeks, this division should be there for the taking. I still don't think the NYG are that good.

7) Dallas sucks......but their D is pretty damn good. The Dallas DL looks much better than ours at getting to the QB.

8- How nice is it to finally have all these weapons on offense ?

9) I love that Hurts was disappointed in the 2nd half effort by the offense (not his fault). Championship caliber teams are never satisfied.

10) Again it is very early. But, the NFC East is the top NFC division as of right now. Some of that probably has to do with scheduling.

11) One more thing.....Devonta is a nice WR. But, AJ Brown is another level completely. Devonta gets dragged down easily, but AJ is a beast after the catch.

What a great night ! I don't even care that I picked the Vikings to win and lost $$$

[andrewaters]

I put $20 on the Vikings +3 to soften the blow but gladly lost it.

we dominated. Hurts was great. Like great great. That’s the best he can play. Accurate, decisive. Goodness. ThT was Lamar and Russell Wilson wrapped together.

TJ Edwards, Sweat, Cox, Epps, the OL, Sanders, the WRs… SLAY!!

that was the best team I’ve seen since 2017.

the refs were awful. Just terrible.

Nakobe Dean is not playing at all? Anyone notice that? He must be struggling.

jordan Davis is good and I think eventually we will see him emerge but his name doesn’t get called a lot.

Gannon A gap blitzed. That’s how you do it. Kirk looked like a rookie. Carson will either light us up or with his pocket issues will look like Mike McMahon.

very few negatives.

on to Washington and healthy!! Slay’s injury was minor.

[taz]

I put $20 on the Vikings +3 to soften the blow but gladly lost it.

we dominated. Hurts was great. Like great great. That’s the best he can play. Accurate, decisive. Goodness. ThT was Lamar and Russell Wilson wrapped together.

TJ Edwards, Sweat, Cox, Epps, the OL, Sanders, the WRs… SLAY!!

that was the best team I’ve seen since 2017.

the refs were awful. Just terrible.

Nakobe Dean is not playing at all? Anyone notice that? He must be struggling.

jordan Davis is good and I think eventually we will see him emerge but his name doesn’t get called a lot.

Gannon A gap blitzed. That’s how you do it. Kirk looked like a rookie. Carson will either light us up or with his pocket issues will look like Mike McMahon.

very few negatives.

on to Washington and healthy!! Slay’s injury was minor.

Don’t think we are seeing Dean because Edwards played well last night and one thing about Edwards is his pass defense has gotten better. Dean will have his time. Davis played well last night. He did what they asked him to do occupy blockers! Although I saw him shoot into the backfield a few times. He is gonna be a beast

[Jukin]

Nothing to say other than, fantastic team win! Gannon deserves props for putting together a good defensive plan. I do worry about how easily the Vikings seemed to move down field in the 2nd half. The 3 picks ended those drives but before they occurred the Viking were moving pretty well. That’s the only concern I had from this game. Everyone from the coaches to the players did a great job last night. Hurts showed what he is capable of in the first half. That was fucking scary!! If he can bottle that confidence and bring it on a regular basis this team can go far. My two biggest concerns have been his judgement and Gannon’s game planning. Both were excellent last night!

[Vet Turf]

Great team win. 2.5 phases were humming. However, this team needs to still improve:
1- penalties!!! Some them were total bs but others were not. Overcoming so many penalties can't happen every week
2- tackling!!! There were several times the vikings player could have been stopped for a loss or short of the line of gain and the tackle was missed. Playoff teams make those tackles.
3- Second half offense!!! They just seemed less crisp in the second half.
4- return game!!! this is the place where they fell short of all three phases humming. Blocking needs to improve and the returners need to do less dancing.

[NoDakIggle]

Good post Vet Turf. It was definitely a nice win but I noted in game thread that Watkins isn’t a kick returner. Might not be anyone else on team who can do it but teams do not kick into end zone against the birds because they have no fear of Watkins return game
NFL is highlighting illegal contact and ineligible downfield this year. They are going to call it tight so birds need to work on that.
They’re fortunate that no points in the second half didn’t bite them in the ass.

[taz]

Nothing to say other than, fantastic team win! Gannon deserves props for putting together a good defensive plan. I do worry about how easily the Vikings seemed to move down field in the 2nd half. The 3 picks ended those drives but before they occurred the Viking were moving pretty well. That’s the only concern I had from this game. Everyone from the coaches to the players did a great job last night. Hurts showed what he is capable of in the first half. That was fucking scary!! If he can bottle that confidence and bring it on a regular basis this team can go far. My two biggest concerns have been his judgement and Gannon’s game planning. Both were excellent last night!

I am one of if not the biggest Gannon detractors. I don't think he is good enough however last night he really had a feel for the game. Called a great game and really dictated to the offense. Sure did Minny dropped some passes, absolutely. the one I am thinking of is the one that the Tight End dropped down the sideline he was wide Open. Slay got caught on that one shading too much to Jefferson.

That is a damn good team they dominated last night. Damn good. What they did to Cousins and that excellent receiving core was really outstanding.

[sfphillyfan]

Power Rankings guys are so reactionary. Most of them have the Eagles at #3 behind the Bills and the Chiefs.

One thing I am concerned about if the letdown game. Luckily it's against a division opponent so we shouldn't come out too flat.

[Eaglebreath]

Jalen Hurts 26-31 333 yards 83.8% completion, 108.7 rate.

That's obviously the best game of his career passing the football. He really looked the part last night.

Overall a great win.

I just hope they can handle the increased expectations. Something about this team that they don't seem to handle prosperity very well. I'm always a lot more comfortable when they are the underdogs, flying under the radar, etc.

[rspurr]

I wish they would change the rule that if the ball is caught behind the line of scrimmage then linemen are allowed to be downfield. So many of the these penalties are stupid because there is no advantage gained by the offense at all.

[musicman]

The Hurts bandwagon is filling up quickly. 2 weeks ago he was nothing but a hope. We hope he’s better, even last week there were a ton of questions. Now he is the greatest thing since sliced bread

[Eagle60]

I wish they would change the rule that if the ball is caught behind the line of scrimmage then linemen are allowed to be downfield. So many of the these penalties are stupid because there is no advantage gained by the offense at all.

I agree so much r. Offensive linemen are down field 5 yard on screen plays almost every time they run one and yet it's NEVER called but on these RPOs a guy goes down field 2 yards and it's a penalty? To tell you the truth I'd rather they would just put another official on the field just to officiate screen plays because refs can't see everything and teams use them so much now.

[NoDakIggle]

Know you are throwing a little sarcasm out there but I have to disagree a little MM. Hurts had a great game but he isn’t greatest thing around just yet. Let’s see him stack one on top of that one last night and then another one on top of that. What he did show last night is that he has the talent to be an NFL QB.