Despite the valiant efforts of the Lions to give this game away, the Eagles could not come away with the win.
The good:
Carson Wentz: I guess. Wentz wasn’t spectacular, but he played well enough to deserve a win. Without DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery for the second week in a row, the struggles offensively were very apparent (more on that in a bit). Wentz still kept the team in the game however.
Miles Sanders: Sanders had a 40-yard reception on the Eagles first drive of the game. He showed flashes of his athleticism throughout and was the leading rusher for Philadelphia. He’s proving why the Eagles drafted him in the second round. He made a few promising plays throughout this game. However, he also fumbled twice and lost one of them. Sanders has to learn to hold onto the ball better, or he simply will not make it in this league.
That’s about it. It was a poor game all things considered.
The bad:
Eagles receivers: We’ll start with alligator arms himself, Nelson Agholor. Once again, he forgot how to secure the football, resulting in a Detroit fumble recovery. Later in the game, tight end Dallas Goedert dropped this beautifully placed pass:
Oh, but things were just getting started. On the final drive of the game, everything fell apart. Mack Hollins dropped a pass to push the Eagles into field goal range:
Darren Sproles had a tremendous catch near the sideline. However it was negated by an offensive pass interference penalty. Finally, on the last play of the game, Wentz threw to rookie receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside near the end zone:
In single coverage, the Eagles drafted Arcega-Whiteside specifically to make these tough catches. He simply has to come down with this ball. This game is a win he does.
Officiating:
Can anyone explain how that wasn’t called? The NFL talks non-stop about player safety but then misses a call in which Sanders could have literally broken his neck. Fortunately, Sanders wasn’t hurt, but this could have been a lot worse. Unbelievable.
The Eagles swiss cheese of a defense pt. 3: The defense once again failed to show up throughout most of this game. They’re now averaging 26 points allowed per game to Case Keenum, Matt Ryan, and Matt Stafford. None of the above are by any means elite. The defensive line, which used to be the biggest strength of this team, is not generating enough pressure. There were zero sacks today. Fletcher Cox looks dead. Brandon Graham looks like he’s close. Derek Barnett’s potential is slowly decreasing.
Meanwhile, the secondary can’t cover anyone or anything. On third downs in particular, this defense looks like they don’t want to play football anymore. The 3rd-and-long conversions are killing this team.
The I don’t know’s:
Special Teams: After kicking a field goal to go up 3-0 early, the Eagles special teams a kickoff return, and as a result the lead. They did however make up for it later with a field goal block that put the team in position to win.
Overall: This team needs to get better, and quickly. The mental mistakes have to stop, the drops need to become catches, and the losses need to become wins. Up against the tough task of playing at Lambeau Field on Thursday night, Doug Pederson and company are staring 1-3 right in the face.
All statistics came from ESPN and Pro Football Reference.
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