Glendale, Arizona – It wasn’t pretty but the Eagles were undefeated.
The Eagles defeated the Cardinals 20-17 at State Farm Stadium on Sunday to advance 5-0. But the nature of this game made it difficult to classify.
There is a lot to improve, but a win is a win, right?
quarterback
Galen Hurts: 26/36, 239 yards; 15 lunge attempts, 61 yards, 2 TDs
This wasn’t Hurts’ best match. The whole pass game was a bit disjointed on Sunday and I really struggled to get going. INT was a bad throw. Most of their passing matches were horizontal against the Cardinals. They turned on a lot of screens and I kept waiting for the deep shot to follow and it never came. However, Hurts did enough for the Eagles to win. Added two more quick landings. He’s made it to six through five matches, which is the record-breaking for the Eagles.
B degree
running back
Miles Sanders: 15 gigs, 58 yards
For most of Sunday’s games, the Eagles weren’t really successful in executing their running attack. But on that 7:58 run in the fourth quarter, they’re already starting to dig up some tough yards on the ground. Sanders’ numbers won’t surprise you, but he did a great game. The safety of the ball is no longer called into question in these situations, which is a huge problem.
B degree
receiver
DeVonta Smith: 10 catches on 11 goals, 87 yards
I’m not sure why the Eagles would get into this game plan without making AJ Brown a big hit. Smith ended up getting 10 high-level passes, but saw a significant drop in the second half. Quiz Watkins scored 3 for 19, his first catch since the Vikings match.
B-grade
tight end
Dallas Guedert: 8 catches, 9 goals, 95 yards
Goedert proves every week that he is not just a true TE1 in the NFL, but one of the best ever in his position. Another dynamic performance from Goedert, a performance that included a big catch in the decisive 3 and 12 in the fourth quarter.
Grade: A
offensive line
At one point in this game, the Eagles were no left-handed, left keeper and center, but they still managed to play fairly well – Credit Jeff Stoutland for that – so we’re going on a curve. And that last race happened in the last quarter because the Eagles let their men run up front. And all those QB hackers? Big wins for OL.
Grade: A
defensive Line
Haason Reddick: 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 QB stroke
The Eagles were very leaky in this match and failed to put pressure on Keeler Murray. The Eagles entered Week 5 with the most sacks in the NFL (16) but only scored one in this game. It sure was a big sack in third for Riddick, who now has 4 1/2 in his last three games.
Grade: C +
back
Keizer White: 6 pieces of competitor
Give credit to White for spying on Murray in a lot of this game. Murray finished with four buggies for 42 yards but didn’t destroy the Eagles with his legs. TJ Edwards led the Eagles midfielders with 8 tackles but it wasn’t his best match. He missed some interventions and the Cardinals seemed happy to cover him. The Cardinals really took advantage of that.
Grade: C-
secondary
CJ Gardner-Johnson: 10 treatments, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 1 PBU
Murray only threw for 250 yards with one touchdown and one interception. CJ Gardner-Johnson chose this INT, his first as a team member. Al-Nisour High School did well in this match; I felt that some of her completions were more responsible for the scheme.
B-grade
special teams
Cameron Decker: 2/2 in FGs, 2/2 in PATs
Sure enough, the Cardinal converted a desperate fake kick in this game and that’s a loss for the Eagles Special Teams unit, and yes, Britain’s Kofi missed another kick. But Decker kicker came on his NFL debut, digging in 42 yards in the third and then hitting a game-winning 23 yarder in the fourth. These are high pressure kicks and he shot them unlike the Cardinals.
Grade: A
training
Record: 5-0
The Eagles won the match and were not defeated… but I didn’t like their attack or defense game plans in this game. In the event of an attack, we learned that the Cardinals were going to blitz and it seemed that the Eagles weren’t ready for that. They found out in the fourth quarter that they could run all over the Cardinals. They really did try to attack the apartments in this apartment and it seemed like the cards were happy to let them do that.
And in terms of defense, I felt that the Eagles were very conservative as they advanced again. I’m not saying you should call zero blitzes up and down the field but they were pretty weak and that was shown by their failure to get off the field on the third touchdown in the second half.
Grade: c
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