More Observations from the Eagles Game

I just posted this over at SF, but I figured it would be useful to post here too. I just went through the game again, rewinding every play to watch pretty much every player, and here are some observations that I came up with:

1. First of all, it's pretty clear that this game was not played at regular season speed. The game would have been pretty different if everybody was giving full effort.

2. A lot of the plays that didn't work offensively were definitely physical errors, and not scheme issues. I am thinking in particular about the two redzone possessions. I originally assumed that DeCastro contributed to the lack of push, but he actually did well here. The weaknesses were mostly failures to catch up to one's own assignments.On the first play of the second possession, for example, Saunders and Essex, on opposite sides, both fail to lock up their men and they converge on the tackle. On the second play, Foster pulls, but fails to engage his assignment, and he makes the tackle. On the first play (the one to Rainey), Legursky allows the lineman to shoot the gap, although Foster could have offered more help as the line ran left. Cotchery also missed a block that, if the other block was made, could have prevented what would otherwise have been a touchdown.

3. Will Johnson really did have a good game. I honestly didn't see him make a mistake. On one play, John Clay did not follow Johnson's block and instead ended up with 1 yard or something, but the right side was open. He never even looked right, so I'm not sure if that was his assignment or he simply lacked vision on that play.

4. On the other hand, Clay impressed in pass protection and on a block downfield.

Leonard Pope was very solid in his blocking assignments. I'd expected much worse based on what Dave Bryan had written about his blocking credentials being overblown, but I came away from this viewing confident in his abilities.

5. In addition, and this was one of the two biggest surprises for me, David Paulson was also very solid in his blocking assignments. He was rarely asked to do anything overly demanding, but I didn't see him make any errors. On only one play did his man escape after a second, but he had no chance to make the play anyway. Granted, he was blocking against inferior competition, but this was a strong first showing for him, for which I'm slightly relieved.

6. The other major surprise was that Chris Scott, outside of one sack that he allowed on which he should have gotten help from Kyle Jolly, had a pretty damn good game. He was probably their best lineman of the second half. They even had him pull left multiple times when he played right guard and he was hitting his man. Again, a strong first showing for him. Perhaps if Trai Essex continues to struggle, he could sneak on to the 53 man roster. He will need to face stiffer competition and continue to do well for that to be up for debate though. But for what he was asked to do on Thursday, he met just about every challenge.

7. This is more kind of funny than anything, but on the play that Trai Essex allowed a sack of Byron Leftwich, David DeCastro tried to help out, but he actually made it worse and possibly was responsible for the sack. Essex had interior leverage while Brandon Graham was attempting to work on the outside, and when DeCastro came over to help, he just helped push Graham out to the edge, allowing him to get the leverage to separate and get to the quarterback. This is probably the worst thing that DeCastro did all night though. I came away just more impressed with him.

8. Maurkice Pouncey is just about ready for the regular season already.

9. Marcus Gilbert attempted an exorbitant number of cut blocks. I don't know if they were asking him to do this or if he was using it as an out when he thought he was already beat, but it's not working.

10. This is not the Ramon Foster from the regular season. As I previously mentioned, Foster really struggled in the preseason last year too, but played much better in the games that mattered, and even gradually became more skilled when asked to pull. He failed to pull successfully even once in this game, however, despite getting multiple shots at it.

11. Stevenson Sylvester had a mixed bag of a game. After rewatching every one of his snaps, I have no problem with anything that he did from an assignment perspective, and was always on his man when asked to cover. He just made some physical errors, however, missing a couple of tackles and, worst of all, leaving his feet on the breakout 70+ yard touchdown. That was the difference between a throw away and a deep pass downfield.

12. Speaking of that long touchdown pass, after rewatching the replay several times, I'm a little more forgiving of Brown.The receiver attempted actually a triple move, where he cut inside, then outside, then back inside, and on the third cut, he actually caught Brown's foot, and that's why Brown fell. If you get your feet tangled up in the receiver, there's really not much you can do.

13. Brandon Johnson is really making a strong case for his inclusion on the roster. He played well inside in the 3rd quarter, but not many plays went his way. The main thing that I took away from his play inside was that he was very conscious of his responsibilities within the scheme, despite not being the one to make the play. Outside, however, he obviously did very well, especially in pass defense.

14. Chris Carter is showing a willingness to fully acclimate to his responsibilities at an outside linebacker, including setting the edge in the running game and covering receivers. He was held multiple times as well due to his pass rush, although only one was called.

15. Cortez Allen did not actually have a perfect game. There was one play on a deep reception in which he covered the wrong man in zone. He seemed to know it after the play as well. He also blitzed a couple of times as well to no avail.

16. I like Sean Spence's performance in this game even more after watching it again. He looks like he's not thinking as much as you'd expect a rookie to. He had a real nice smack in the run game in the third quarter I believe as well.

17. Alameda Ta'amu did not receive a lot of double teams, especially on his early snaps, and his effort was not always 100%, but I thought that he got some good pressure often even though he didn't make any plays. Several time he drove his man 5-7 yards off the line of scrimmage. He even shot a gap once, which I found interesting.

18. Although he allowed the last 4th down conversion at the end of the game, and did miss one open field tackle (that didn't really hurt anything), I thought Terrence Frederick had a pretty good game. He's got some good coverage skills.

19. Myron Rolle is pretty mediocre in terms of getting in position to make a play. I believe he may also have been responsible for assisting Curtis Brown on the second touchdown that he allowed, but it's impossible to know without knowing the scheme. He started a linebacker depth and then dropped, and then just didn't seem to know where he should be.

20. Adrian Robinson did get some good pressure. That's really just about all you can say about his performance though. He didn't play as much as I thought he did. Brandon Hicks also had an okay game.

21. Al Woods was the best defensive end for the Steelers on the night, even taking into consideration the level of competition, He didn't get a lot of pressure, but he was always in his gap.

22. On the one notable big run for the Eagles in the second half, Corbin Bryant and Mortty Ivy attempted to run a cross, but ended up taking each other out of the play. However, Damon Cromartie-Smith missed a tackle that would have kept it to a short gain, and then Rolle missed another tackle further downfield. Curtis Brown was also getting mugged by Marvin McNutt down the left sideline; a penalty could have easily been called.

23. Although Kelvin Beachum got off to a terrible start, he settled down at the end and had a pretty good 4th quarter as the left guard. John Malecki had some good plays and some bad plays.

24. Marshall McFadden and Robert Golden both had good days.

25. Being a long snapper is terrifying.

Awesome! Did the torrent I sent your way come of any use?

Yeah, I used the converter you also sent and it plays fine. Thanks for that.

Excellent read!!

nice analysis DG thanks for sharing

I should add that I meant Walter McFadden (CB, Bryant McFadden's brother), not Marshall McFadden (linebacker, unrelated).

Also, in hindsight, Ramon Foster and Marcus Gilbert didn't play all that terribly, especially on that first drive. And to be fair to Foster, I was wrong, he did pull successfully twice, although he's still not particularly...gallant.

I'd also like to reiterate again that Stevenson Sylvester, from an assignment standpoint, actually did have a great game, keeping in mind that everything in this game was vanilla. His problem was a couple of physical errors. He missed a handful of tackles, maybe three or four. However, he also made some good, solid plays too, including a tackle for a loss. What was particularly impressive was that he seemed to have a real nose for the gaps in getting through the line and into the backfield. He continues to play with his pad level too high, however, which I suspect is a factor in some of his missed opportunities.

Solid assessment, Dodens! I don't have the time (or the desire) to go back and look at the games in quite that much detail so it's nice to see someone's opinion who actually does. It makes me feel a little better to hear that maybe some of the weaknesses shown in the first game weren't as bad as perceived.

Wow, this is some fantastic analysis, Dodens. I appreciate someone willing to put in the kind of time it takes to do this. With stuff I noticed from just watching the game myself, I agree with what you said, so I trust your judgment on the stuff I didn't notice.