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Eagles Standings By Position After Disastrous Loss To Falcons

Vaseline September 17, 2024

Eagles Rankings By Position After Disastrous Loss To Falcons originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles should have been up 2-0, but they lost in the final minutes of Monday night’s game to the Atlanta Falcons.

It looked like the Eagles were going to pull off an ugly win, but they ended up losing 22-21 and now have a short week away against the red-hot New Orleans Saints.

Let’s look at the numbers:

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 23/30, 183 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; 85 rushing yards, 1 TD

The Eagles quarterback made some poor decisions in Week 1, but had a better game in Week 2. Sure, he threw an interception late in the game, but it’s hard to fault him for trying to make a play with the clock ticking down. Still can’t pick on that, but Hurts wasn’t the biggest problem in this game. Hurts threw for just 183 yards, but he looked really good running the ball. He was decisive and fast, and had more rushing yards than in any game all of last season.

Grade: B–

Run back

Saquon Barkley: 22 carries, 95 yards; 4 catches, 21 yards

For the second straight week, Barkley had 26 touches in the game. He was the best player on the field for much of the night. Even though he didn’t hit 100+ on the ground, he looked good with the rock and picked up yards that didn’t seem to be there. Sure, Barkley dropped the ball on 3rd-and-3 late in the game on a play that could have iced it. He’d like to get it back. But you can certainly make an argument that he shouldn’t have been in that position.

Grade: B+

Recipient

DeVonta Smith: 7 catches on 10 targets for 76 yards, 1 TD

There is no doubt that the Eagles were missing AJ Brown in this game. The offense is just a lot different without the Eagles best skill player. But Smith had a nice night with one touchdown and would have had another if Jessie Bates hadn’t made a great play on the ball in the end zone. But after Smith, the other receivers had 7 catches for 29 yards. Britain Covey was 6 of 23 and Jahan Dotson was 1 of 6. Johnny Wilson had one target without a catch (and was called for a hold) and Parris Campbell wasn’t even targeted. Dotson was the No. 2 wideout in this game and he barely made an impact. The Eagles traded to get Dotson for situations like this and he had a quiet night.

Grade: B-

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 3 catches on 4 targets for 38 yards

Without Brown in this game, it would have made sense for the Eagles to go to Goedert a lot and that didn’t happen. He just didn’t have a huge output. Grant Calcaterra had 2 catches for 19 yards but also got blown out on a couple of blocks.

Grade: C

Offensive line

The offensive line was solid in this game. Hurts seemed to have a clean pocket most of the night and was only sacked once for a loss of 4 yards. The offensive line also did a good job of blocking for Barkley to pick up some big yardage. The only thing that needs to be cleaned up here are the ineligible man downfield penalties. They are tough, but the Eagles had three of them and that is not a new problem.

Grade: A-

Line of defense

Thomas Booker IV: 3 solo tackles, 2 TFLs

The biggest concern for the Eagles right now is probably the play of the defensive line. They were completely crushed in the run game by Bijan Robinson (14 for 97) and Tyler Allgeier (9 for 53). The line also failed to generate much pressure on Kirk Cousins, who was sacked just once for 8 yards. That sack came from Milton Williams, but it was one of the few pressures of the entire game. Cousins was far too comfortable. Booker made some plays in this game, but the edge rushers still haven’t had a sack in two games.

Grade: D

Line defender

Zack Baun: 9 combined tackles

Baun had 9 tackles in the game and Nakobe Dean had 7. Both made some plays but gave up some in the game. Dean was penalized for illegal contact that negated a Brandon Graham sack in the second quarter. With how bad the pass rush has been, taking a sack off the board is a killer.

Grade: B-

Secondary

Quinyon Mitchell: 3 tackles, 1 PBU

Definitely a mixed bag from the secondary. The CJ Gardner-Johnson hit stick on 4th down should have been the play everyone is still talking about, but the Eagles ultimately blew the lead. Quinyon Mitchell’s PBU in the first half was also a great play. But the secondary missed tackles and Darius Slay gave up the final touchdown after getting beat hard by Drake London.

Grade: C+

Special teams

Braden Mann: 2 points, 93 yards, 1 inside 20

Mann had a good day kicking the ball and also got a high snap for a field goal by Jake Elliott. Elliott made both field goals and an extra point. Will Shipley had a nice kickoff return of 27 yards and Covey’s lone punt return went for 9 yards. They didn’t give up any big plays either. Special teams were fine.

Grade: B+

Accompaniment

Score: 1-1

This is a game the Eagles should have won. They were the more talented team. But there were plenty of questionable decisions in this game, especially in the fourth quarter. Nick Sirianni deserves to be questioned for his decisions to throw the ball on third down and then shoot a field goal on fourth down with under 2 minutes left. Those are decisions that could have cost the Eagles this game. On top of that, the Eagles were penalized nine times in this game.

Figure: F