The Philadelphia Eagles are 1-0, it wasn’t the prettiest of games but at the end of the day 1-0 is 1-0. In what was one of the longest games you will ever have to sit through between the Super Bowl banner raising and the weather delay there wasn’t much this game lacked.
It got weird real quick between the Eagles and Cowboys. #Spitgate happened before there was even a single snap.
First and foremost this was a very dumb move by Jalen Carter. He is by far the best defensive player for the Eagles and he simply cannot being something like this that gets him tossed from the game.
That being said, now that we have all the evidence it is clear that this was a reaction to Dak Prescott spitting at him first.
Since Jalen Carter was ejected from the game, he basically served a suspension and should only see a fine as result. Dak on the other hand faced zero discipline and he should be suspended for minimum one game.
The result of Jalen Carter missing the entire game made it very easy in the first half for the Cowboys to exploit the Eagles weaknesses. Dak had all the time in the world to throw and Javonte Williams was able to rush for two touchdowns with ease.
On top of the run defense not being up to par, the limited pass rush with the absence of Carter allowed Dak to take advantage of another Eagles weakness.
Adoree Jackson was getting torched all night by Ceedee Lamb. If it wasn’t for Lamb dropping two balls, we could be here writing about how the Cowboys knocked off the defending Super Bowl champions.
Thankfully, that is not the case and the Eagles escaped with a 24-20 victory. But we can not overlook the fact the the CB2 spot needs to be addressed. There were a lot of haters of Darius Slay who I bet are now wishing he was still here. Vic Fangio made the adjustment in the third quarter to have Quinyon Mitchell shadow Ceedee Lamb as well as Cooper DeJean at times covering him. That’s great an all as it helped close the game out for the Eagles but it’s a recipe for disaster going forward.
The combination of Adoree Jackson, Kelee Ringo, and Jakorian Bennett is not going to be good enough going forward. The Eagles need to make a move to help solidify the CB2 position. Howie Roseman has proven time and time again that when something isn’t up to his standard, he will try to fill that hole. He did just that over the weekend when it comes to the edge rushers.
Howie saw the lack of pass rush without Jalen Carter and went out and signed some help in the form of Za’darius Smith. Now, he needs to do the same with the cornerback position. Stephon Gilmore and Asante Samuel Jr. are two of the names that have already been connected to the Eagles as possible additions. Will Howie pull the trigger and bring one of them in?
Now, onto the reason that the Eagles are indeed 1-0. Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts once again proved all of his doubters and haters wrong. Hurts was 19-23 for 152 yards through the air and made some key throws when he needed to. No, he didn’t throw a touchdown pass but he didn’t need to. Hurts carried the ball 14 times for 62 yards and two touchdowns.
With new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo it was expected that the offense would look a little different than it did under Kellen Moore. It certainly did look different and while most people are a little concerned it didn’t look as explosive, to me it looked more methodical.
The Eagles offense looked patient and that’s not a bad thing. Hurts was going through his progression and finding the right read. Was it as exciting as maybe fans would have wanted it to be? No, no it wasn’t but it got the job done. Keep in mind here it was only week one and there are 16 more games left for plenty of explosive plays.
Let’s not forget that the Eagles still have the reigning offensive player of the year in Saquon Barkley. He looked like he hasn’t missed a step and picked up right where he left off last season. Sure he didn’t have that long touchdown run but he still rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown.
Saquon also added 4 catches for 24 yards in the game. Getting him more involved in the passing game is not something the rest of the league wants to see.
Speaking of the passing game, the Eagles have two of the best receivers in the game with AJ Brown and Devonta Smith. But it was Jahan Dotson who led the team in yards with 59. Granted, that came mostly on a long 51 yard reception but the point is that neither of the top two receivers were really involved.
AJ Brown had 1 catch for 8 yards and Devonta Smith had 3 catches for 16 yards. If you just looked at those numbers you would assume that the Eagles didn’t score much and probably lost. Well, that wasn’t the case and while obviously you want those guys more involved in the offense, it proved once again that the Eagles can find multiple ways to win games.
Dallas Goedert had himself a nice night as he had 7 catches for 44 yards. For a guy that wasn’t sure he was going to be back in the Eagles green he seemed like he was out to prove that he is just as important as anyone to this offense. That could have been the future dad bump for Dallas as him and his partner announced they are having their first child together. So congrats to them!
It was a tough week one for the Eagles between all of the emotions of raising that Super Bowl banner and going up against their most hated rival. But, they got the job done and they are 1-0. They are well aware that there are things that need to be worked on and improved and with the great leadership this team has they will do that.
The NFL is a hard league and being 1-0 is much better than being 0-1. “Keep the main thing the main thing and improve week to week”, that has been the Eagles mindset and that’s not going to change. Week 2 doesn’t get much easier as it’s a Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs. Dealing with injuries or not the Chiefs are still the Chiefs and after losing to the Chargers in Brazil, you know they are going to be ready to go come Sunday afternoon.
-Walsh
The Philly Phan Cave 
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