Eagles Week: Studs, Duds, and Hat Tips

[Canadian Hog]

I figure the faster I flush my thoughts out on my keyboard, the faster I will be able to move on from Sunday...but it won't be easy. Good thing there is a quick turnaround and we play on Thursday, because this one hurts. Let's get right to our picks for Studs, Duds, and Hat Tips this week.

Studs:

1. Sam Howell - the kid had an amazing turnaround after the debacle of a performance vs. the Bills last week. People questioned if he would be able to respond, if he would be able to pick himself up off the mat, and if he would be able to recover. On Sunday in Philly, Howell checked off all the boxes. He was accurate in the short passing game, had some really nice intermediate downfield passes, showed better awareness in the pocket, and used his scrambling ability and feet really well. He single handedly carried the Commanders on his back for a game-tying touchdown drive in the final minute and a half. Sam was really clutch and gave us a lot to smile about. Hope has been reignited that he can potentially develop into the QB we all so desperately want him to be.

2. Eric Bienemy - much like Howell, EB bounced back really nicely against Philadelphia. In the first half, he did everything you could have asked him to do to help set the team up for success. There was a nice mix of run and pass, and we neutralized the Eagles' defensive front by opting for the short/quick hitting passing game. While the offense and EB's playcalling sputtered in the third quarter, they put together some nice series in the 4th quarter to eventually force OT. Putting up 31 points against the Eagles on the road in most situations should set you up for victory...

Duds:

1. Defensive Line - unfortunately, the supposed strength of this team disappointed for the second straight week. Is it Del Rio who is the blame, or the players themselves? No matter which way you slice it, when you have four first rounders up front who form what is supposedly the identity of this team, you need to be able to ride them in the biggest moments of the game and to me, they fell flat on their faces again.

2. Jamin Davis - he seemed fairly active early on in the contest, but the ugly side of Jamin Davis showed up in OT when he had D'Andre Swift one on one and all squared up to be tackled, but flat out missed. It lead to an Eagles' first down which ultimately would prove to be enough to set up the game winning field goal. You can't have that happen as a former first rounder - you are going to be judged harshly for it.

3. Ron Rivera - just brutal...in my opinion, maybe one of his worst coached games in his tenure as Washington's coach. EB and Howell helped generate 31 points offensively on the road in Philly. Those guys earned the opportunity at the very least to have one more play to end it on a two point conversion. Instead, Rivera opted for OT. I don't get it. A week ago down 10-0 against Buffalo in the first half, he went for it inside the Bills' five yard line on a day when the offense was struggling. Taking the points and being conservative there could have potentially helped settle Howell and the offense down. Today, he bets against them when they had all the momentum in the final minute. Ron cemented for me today that he has lost all his feel for the game as an NFL coach.

4. Emmanuel Forbes - welcome to the NFL, kid. AJ Brown had 9 receptions and 175 yards, largely at the expense of Forbes on many occasions today. We got a clear look at why the likes of BSJ and Kendall Fuller have had the lion's share of the snaps at corner this year. For a first round pick, he certainly doesn't seem ready for the NFL stage quite yet. Almost a quarter into the year, Rivera's 2023 draft has the looks of one that might go down as his worst in Washington. It's early though and I am not trying to overreact...

5. Officiating - Terry McLaurin's foot was in bounds in OT. There was a dark space on my television screen between his toe and the sideline (and I'm not being a homer). I get why they wouldn't overturn it though, especially at that juncture in the game. Officials aren't usually that brave to make the correct call. As well, the Eagles' LG clearly jumped offside in OT on the 4th and 1 tush push, but it was ignored. Unfortunately, bad officiating surfaced at the most important juncture of the game and that's when it hurts most...

6. Tress Way - This may be the first time in three seasons that Tress Way has been placed on the dud list. Unfortunately, he shanked a punt at the worst moment in the ball game - overtime. The way our defense was playing, there was little chance they would recover from that and of course, they didn't.

7. Sam Cosmi - he was praised in the media during the first three weeks for his successful transition to RG. He looked like a shopping cart on Sunday.

8. Jahan Dotson - Despite the TD to force OT, Dotson dropped a super easy ball in the second half that would have extended a drive. Instead, that drop seemed to tilt the game in favour of Philly, and we had to start chasing points...

Hat Tips:

1. Brian Robinson Jr. - 14 carries, 45 rushing yards and 1 TD. He always makes his impact felt whether he is getting the ball 10 times, or 20 times a ball game. I really enjoy having this kid on our team, as good things usually happen when he is involved in the offensive game plan.

2. Terry McLaurin - McLaurin was targeted early in the ball game and also made his impact felt on our two scoring drives in the fourth quarter. He was a questionable officiating call away from notching his fifth career 100 yard game vs. Philly. Despite all that, he still finished the day with 8 catches for 86 yards.

3. Curtis Samuel - 7 catches for 51 yards on the day was the stat line for Curtis. If EB focusses on continuing to find ways to involve this guy in the offense, we will be better off for it.

That's it for now. Do you agree/disagree? Who did we miss. Please make Thursday get here quick so the pain can go away...

 

[Boone]

I can understand the argument for going for it. But a couple things. The 'momentum' argument doesn't make it any likelier that we convert. Historically, 2 point conversion attempts are successful 50% of the time. If you think your team is playing better and has momentum, I think that argues to take it to overtime where it doesn't just come down to a single play. The feeling that a lot of fans express that they want the HC to 'be aggressive' or make a 'ballsy' call and go for it is understandable, but it doesn't mean that option gives you the best chance to win. We can say all day 'I think we should have gone for it' but there is literally no assurance that they get it if they go that route.

I don't think that's a reasonable reason to criticize Rivera (there are so many better reasons to, lol). Blowing a timeout because you can't decide whether to challenge a call in a timely fashion is deserving of criticism for example.

On the McClaurin disputed catch - his shoes had black trim. I am not at all sure that we are seeing grass there between his foot and the white line. Also - the screen cap folks are using to 'prove' McClaurin's foot was inbounds was taken before his foot came down with all of his weight. That shot (for me anyway) with his foot completely down clearly shows his foot touching the line. That's what I saw. I wish the official had called it a catch initially so that we weren't relying on overwhelming evidence to overturn the non-catch call.

I think it was our lackluster 3rd quarter performance that cost us the game today. We let the Eagles off the hook with 10 unanswered points.

I would probably add Logan Thomas to the hat tips just because he was coming back from a bad concussion, had some nice catches, and took ANOTHER big shot to the head and continued playing.

 

[Boone]

BTW, great post even if I don't agree with those 2 points personally. This is consistently one of the best threads every week and thanks for doing them CH

 

[Canadian Hog]

Very good points on the McLaurin catch, John. I was not at all surprised it wasn't overturned. We ended up on the wrong end of the call on the field and it put us at a disadvantage on the review.

 

[Boone]

You'd think the officials would be coached up to call a catch a catch if there is not absolute certainty it wasn't. And let's face it, even with repeated replay reviews that one was a tough call, so there's no way the official could've been sure it WASN'T a catch in realtime.

 

[Canadian Hog]

BTW, great post even if I don't agree with those 2 points personally. This is consistently one of the best threads every week and thanks for doing them CH

Thanks, John...I HATE writing these after stinging losses like today, but oddly enough, they are somewhat therapeutic.

I do appreciate all the differing opinions and it is quite alright if we don't always align! I like reading about how different fans interpret what we all saw on Sunday. I am Canadian - I won't start yelling at you if we disagree. I think we will have an interesting pod on Wednesday. 🙂

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Boone Since they lost the game, it's perfectly reasonable to criticize Rivera for that decision. That decision meant there was a chance the Eagles could get the ball back and win.

• If he goes for 2 and they miss, then he will get blamed for that decision, because they lost.
• By not going for 2 and going to OT and losing, he gets criticism for not going for 2 because they lost.
• If they win in OT, that decision doesn't matter because they won anwyay.
• If he goes for 2 and gets it, he's Riverboat Ron, Kenny Rogers, and James Holtzhauer rolled into one, because he had the guts to go for it and he won big.

So whether we agree with it or not, because they lost, the decision deserves criticism. That's the nature of sports and the nature of coaching. You win, your decisions are genius. If you lose, every decision is under a microscope and all the wrong ones are the reason you lost.

 

[Boone]

My point is, there is nothing inherently dumb or wrong about opting for OT for whatever reasons he had. Statistically, your chances are 50-50 either way. And yes, if it works folks will rationalize why that was obviously the right call to make. If it doesn't, the HC is a moron

Unfortunately for Ron, he has had more of the latter results in Washington.

Regardless of which way you go, the players had to step up and there we fell short.

 

[Chris]

Rivera was ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ on the 2 pt conversion decision. Would there be more or less outrage if they attempted it and failed? I’m pretty sure I know the answer.

This 2023 defense is less than the sum of it’s parts. I’d call that anti-synergistic.

Though technically a sack I’m not counting Sam tripping over his left guard as one.

 

[burgold]

Time for Burgold to be unfair again. I was reading the Post and Rivera said in his press conference there are no moral victories. I don't know that I agree with that, but I like the sentiment. After that, he followed up by saying, "We will learn from this."

I don't think he can say that. It's year four! Okay, Sam Howell is allowed to be learning, maybe even Eric Bienemy, but the team, the defense, Jack Del Rio??? Hell no! That defense needs to be leading the way and imposing its will on offenses. It's got to be the unit that holds up the offense and makes it easy for the rookie QB. By year four, you better be done learning (okay, none of us are ever done learning) and ready to go. Rivera still way too often acts like this is a young squad taking its first steps. In year four, "We're not ready yet. We'll learn from this" translates to "We'll never be ready and we failed to learn in years 1, 2, and 3."

It's worse because this is a divisional opponent that we know. So, we're not learning about the Eagles. We're not surprised by what they do or who they do it with. The failing is not about learning (I hear you saying Forbes deserves an opportunity to learn, but maybe if Forbes being a slight guy is overmatched by the much bigger, more physical Brown then you put the much bigger and physical St. Juste on him.)

The Commanders in their fourth year need to be out of school and in the work force. In year four, we don't grade you on a curve. We expect you to be a finished product. So don't tell me you will learn. This D had four years to learn how to play the Eagles if they haven't figured it out that's on the team.

 

[Boone]

I think Rivera is dead man walking. What can he say, in any circumstances, that will make losing a close critical game better? I think Rivera gets a relative pass the first 2 seasons. He got saddled with Dwayne Haskins, had to navigate that mess, then COVID, his cancer diagnosis, etc... and still made the playoffs once. His 3rd season with Wentz was a disaster, and that's completely on him. And this year - we don't know how it will pan out yet, but I still have to believe the Harris group will want fresh faces at the top.

I would say, on offense, it's a total re-do, new OC, new offense, new language, and essentially a rookie under center. There is a ton of learning taking place. On defense, other than Forbes who is experiencing a lot of very tough lessons (whether he is 'learning' from them we will have to wait and see), it is a D full of vets, many of whom are underperforming, at least against quality opponents.

I think you have to lay the responsibility on Jack Del Rio (and to the extent he may not have had final say on defensive draft choices, Rivera and Mayhew). Del Rio's squads have been pretty wildly inconsistent over his time here. And lately, the defensive additions, both free agency and draft, have not performed to expectations. Then there's the whole gameplanning thing which seems to be 'lets see how it goes out there and we'll adjust' in a lot of games. I don't know - as someone said yesterday, JDR talks a great game, but when push comes to shove...

I don't think speaking is Ron Rivera's thing. He is prone to blurting stuff out that on inspection doesn't really make sense. The 'the offense was tired' stuff yesterday didn't ring true to me. And yeah, at some point, moral victories because these guys are learning stuff gets pretty old. Every team has young players who are learning. If we are not careful, we are going to find ourselves with a bunch of older vets at key positions who have never won anything.

I just don't think Rivera is a good enough football coach to get us to the Promised Land. Yesterday was a great effort, but there are too many times where we walk away with the other team's 'respect' but lacking on the scoreboard.

 

[Boone]

I guess this has been the positive trend on JDRs defenses, so that could be good news...

 

[Neophyte]

And yet he supposedly emphasized a "fast start" to both games and the season.

 

[DixieFlatline]

Had to record the game yesterday and watch it last night. While I was watching it, the good things that stood out to me were Howell and EB. One shouldn't be surprised about EB. He's been a pro for a while, but I was very encouraged by Howell. He seemed to learn from last game and made quicker decisions. I can't remember who he was throwing to when his hand got hit on that long ball. But man....how the game might have been different if they hit that.

On the dud side, I felt for Forbes, but I don't think it's unexpected for a rookie to have a bad game against a great WR and team. We'll see how he bounces back. The other was the DL. For a such a hyped line, they certainly tend to disappear in the pass rush at times or lose containment. I mean...on almost all of Howell's runs he barely squirted out from the pocket collapsing whereas for Hurtz, he seemed to have a lane to run right up the field. I don't know if that's scheme or what.

 

[burgold]

It seems to me a great Dline is insufficient against a good oline with a mobile QB.

The way I see it is in a four man rush you are hoping for push and one man to win. The problem with that is if one man wins and the offense has the other three engaged then all the mobile QB has to do is evade one man who is probably slower than him. Plus, you have at least five going against four and maybe seven against four if you keep in a RB and TE.

So a conservative pass rush is probably designed to contain and not pressure which means the mobile QB probably will always have time for a receiver to break free.

In other words, Del Rio is scheming to lose the game.

 

[Neophyte]

I think you are right, burgold.

I'd add that I have read numerous places that when Philly got pressure on Sam, it was nearly always with a 5th man coming from a LB position. Their DLine struggled to get pressure rushing just 4 as well.

It's obviously a small sample size but I think it shows something of the reality of today's NFL.

 

[Henry]

If Forbes was struggling against Brown ... maybe move some guys around? How do we give them that matchup all game long when it was obviously not working.

The OL is atrocious. Six sacks a game? That's 102 sacks over 17 games ... and it doesn't look like that's an outrageous prediction at this point. Howell won't survive another four games like this. The kid played out of his mind yesterday. I hope he doesn't get punchy like Ramsey did when the team hung him out to dry with no pass protection for an entire season.

Howell ... boy did he look good. When you look that good behind that bad of a line ... that's encouraging. Again, I hope he lasts.

 

[Knightingale]

I have two thoughts on Defense.

I think the line plays worse with Chase in there. He has his moments, but I’m not sure he’s in sync with Allen, Payne, and Sweat. Maybe it’s just because he’s missed so much play time and it’ll just take time to get that chemistry right. But as it is I think, despite his talent, he may be the odd man out at the end of the season…

Unless…

Gotta think that JDR is not getting the best out of this unit. On paper we have talent all over the place, and especially on the line. And for stretches we can dominate. So why are we inconsistent? Why do we underperform so often?
Gotta think it’s coaching. Maybe a new DC could get this unit running consistently and get Chase meshed properly.

 

[Boone]

I absolutely believe this too Knight. I know everyone's on the DL (and probably fairly so), but our DBs are really what's killing us, as well as having Barton in the middle. The DL is doing a great job stopping the run - they basically neutralized one of the most electric backs in the league yesterday (Swift). But the pass defense is absolutely killing us.

 

[DieselPwr44]

Baldy Breakdown on Howell yesterday: