Eagles Evaluation: Monday Night Victory

By Gia Lanci, Sports Talk Philly Staff

The Eagles were in continuous search for a position to go to the play-offs. Every game is a must win for them. The Eagles are expected to win this game against the Redskins because of the injury to the Redskins starting quarterback. Everything is coming into line for the Birds, who are coming off a win last week. They need to show up to the game, and be the team with more motivation.

Below are my drive by drive analyses:

First Quarter

Drive One (Offense)

• The Eagles offense looked very excited. After a touchback, a short throw was completed to Zach Ertz. It is essential for them to get off to a good start and get ahead early on.
• Josh Adams carried the ball for five yards. Another hand-off was given to Adams, that only gained one yard. Wentz did a good job of faking it, and some defenders fell for it.
• Alshon Jeffery gained a first down by getting physical to get the yardage through defenders. 
• A play-action play was made and then Wentz threw the ball to Golden Tate who was able to beat out the defender and reach for a catch. He ran for a few more yards and then the ball was knocked out of his hand. He gained a first down and 22-yards. Really great play by both Tate and Wentz.
• Another pass was completed on the slant to Zach Ertz. It was a very quick route that had great timing because of the chemistry between Wentz and Ertz. Wentz was able to knife the ball into Ertz’ chest as he was well-covered. 
• Adams carried the ball and was looking for a gap in the middle, but there was nothing. He was able to swerve into the outside and got a gain of 11 yards by stiff-arming the defender. Finally, the offense was able to gain some yards by using the run game.
• Clement carried the ball to what looked like an open field, but a defender came up and got the stop. Clement fumbled the ball and was able to recover it. They attempted to run the ball again with Clement. He went to run up the middle but the defense was right there. He was able to push his way in, however, and gain a first down.
• Wentz scrambled and threw the ball on the run for a touchdown pass to Golden Tate. It took Wentz a long time to find an open receiver, but Tate was able to get open and the timing was perfect to him to take the lead. 

Good as Golden.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/9R6o7FZVyP

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 4, 2018

Drive Two (Defense)

• The defense was already coming onto Colt McCoy, but he scrambled and got the ball away. 
• Adrian Peterson carried the ball, but Michael Bennett was right there, ready for him, and got the stop.
• Chris Long almost got to McCoy, but he put pressure on him. The defense stopped the ball, and it was a quick drive for the Redskins. That’s what the defense needs to do, make big stops quickly and let the offense take their time.

Drive Three (Offense)

• Sproles was prepared to return the ball. He was stopped at the 12-yard line. 
• Josh Adams carried the ball and was able to get decent yardage, six yards. 
• A pass was incomplete to Dallas Goedert. It was a low pass and Goedert was well covered.
• A run was attempted by Sproles. There was no gain on the play. This forced a three and out.

Drive Four (Defense)

• Cameron Johnston punted the ball for 50 yards. The offense returned the ball for only one yard because Hall got the tackle.
• A play-action pass was thrown to the receiver. The receiver was wide open, but Rasul Douglas read the play and was able to get to him after he already caught the ball.
• A pitch was thrown and the runner was stopped right before the line of scrimmage by Rasul Douglas. Douglas got the tackle on the next play as well, allowing the receiver to gain only one yard.
• A pass was thrown and there was a pass interference call made on LeBlanc. It was a controversial call.
• Another penalty was called on the defense on the next play for an illegal use of hands. This pushed the Redskins offense up into the Redzone.
• Nathan Gerry stopped the runner to not allow him to get any further than the line of scrimmage.
• Fletcher Cox put pressure on their quarterback, but the QB was able to escape. He was sacked by Malcolm Jenkins and lost six yards. Cox and Long assisted in getting Colt McCoy to scramble. Colt McCoy was injured on this play.

Second Quarter

Drive Four (Continued)

• Fletcher Cox stopped the runner on the run. He was able to anticipate the play and get to the runner while he was running through blockers.
• The runner attempted to run the ball, but a bunch of defenders came up to him and he couldn’t go anywhere. 
• They took a 44-yard field goal attempt, that was made.

Drive Five (Offense)

• After a touchback, Wentz was scrambling and fumbled the ball, but recovered it and threw it away to Zach Ertz for no gain.
• Josh Adams carried the ball and gained four yards.
• The pocket came in and collapsed and Wentz was sacked. The offensive line was not able to protect him and push back their men. The sack was negated by a penalty on the Redskins defensive line, however.
• A pass was thrown to Ertz. Both tight ends ran routes to distract the defense. Ertz was able to get open and stretch out for the pass from Wentz. It was an incredibly athletic catch by Ertz.
• A pass was overthrown by Wentz, intended for Agholor. Wentz has been inaccurate for his deep passes. Usually his interceptions this season have been from deep passes or they have just been completely overthrown with bad timing.
• Wentz had tons of pressure coming onto him, but was able to scramble and get rid of the ball to Jordan Matthews. It was a great play by Wentz. Matthews had a penalty called on him for offensive pass interference. This made them repeat third down. An incomplete pass was thrown, intended for Agholor. This forced the punt.

Drive Six (Defense)

• Adrian Peterson was handed the ball and ran it down field for 90 yards. The gap was created for him and no one was able to catch him. Fletcher Cox could not get to him because of the offensive lineman holding him back. Sidney Jones dove and tried to get the tackle but missed. If he was able to trip him up, the other defenders in the secondary may have been able to catch him and prevent that touchdown from happening.

Longest TD run of his career (90 yards).

Fastest top speed this season (20.84 MPH).

Ties Jim Brown for 5th all-time in rushing touchdowns (106).@AdrianPeterson | #TouchdownTuesday pic.twitter.com/DsgdZRCqNV

— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) December 4, 2018

Drive Seven (Offense)

• Corey Clement was in position for the return. He caught it and ran it for 22 yards.
• Wentz tried to throw the ball too quickly and it was incomplete to Ertz. Wentz needs to find his timing that he had last season. He is either taking too long or trying to get it away too quickly. His rhythm is not right and he is still trying to figure it out.
• Jeffery was able to get away from his defender, Josh Norman, and catch the ball on the inside and gain a few extra yards and a first down.
• A big throw down field was thrown to Agholor for 39 yards. Finally, Carson was able to throw the ball down field as he scrambled. He tried that play a few times in the past few games and finally completed it. Great throw by Wentz and catch by Agholor.

On the move. On the money.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/lbzdiGoF3r

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 4, 2018

• Zach Ertz received a short pass, and was able to get through receivers to get within a few yards of the end zone. Ertz had a good block on this play, and was able to release at the right time to catch the ball.
• Two attempts to run the ball up the middle were tried. Both failed. The defense stopped them right away. On third down, a short pass was thrown to Agholor that was just short of the end zone. They went for it on fourth down and gave it to Josh Adams but he failed to get into the end zone as well. The defense was able to stop the Birds here.

Drive Eight (Defense)

• The ball was carried and there was a loss of two yards on the play. Then, Mark Sanchez, the Redskins third-string quarterback, had an incomplete pass.
• A pass was thrown and the receiver ran the ball and almost got a first down, but Chris Long was able to come up with the stop.

Drive Nine (Offense)

• The punt by the Redskins punter was bad. Darren Sproles caught the ball and returned it for 14 more yards. This gave the Eagles a nice starting position at Washington’s 40-yard line.
• The ball was carried by Corey Clement and the lead blocker was Jason Kelce. Clement should have decided on a path and stuck with it, but he hesitated. He still had a good run but, if he was confident, he could’ve gained a few more yards instead of dancing around before the defenders came to him.
• Wentz was able to get rid of the ball to Tate to gain one yard. Wentz was hit after he got rid of the ball and a roughing the passer penalty was enforced for the Redskins 28-yard line.
• Darren Sproles carried the ball into the end zone for his first touchdown this season. It was a 14-yard rush. Jason Kelce had the block of the season with a one-handed block that paved the way for Mighty Mouse. Great teamwork for a touchdown.

.@DarrenSproles, officially back.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/orwZLxSFXh

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 4, 2018

Drive 10 (Defense)

• After a touchback, a 20-yard pass was thrown and Douglas was able to halt the play.
• Mark Sanchez was sacked almost instantly by Brandon Graham. The offensive line could not hold Graham back. He hit him so hard that Sanchez fumbled, but recovered the ball right away. This pushed the Redskins back seven yards.
• A short pass was thrown and LeBlanc was able to get to him. Due to the man-to-man coverage, LeBlanc had to read the play and try to get the tackle after the catch instead of preventing it.
• The same circumstance happened in the next play with Tre Sullivan, when he was able to read the play while it was happening to get to the receiver after he already caught the ball. It was a bad tackle and he could not hold onto the receiver. This meant the receiver was able to shake him off and gain just two more yards for a first down.
• LeBlanc missed two opportunities. One pass was right in front of him that he could’ve intercepted and again another pass inches away from his hands when he could’ve prevented the pass from being complete.
• Mark Sanchez took a shot down field into the end zone, but it was just a bad pass. The coverage was good by Sullivan.
• D.J. Alexander put pressure onto Sanchez. He hit him, but Sanchez was able to throw it up. It was almost, and should’ve been, intercepted by Nigel Bradham.

Drive 11 (Offense)

• The Eagles knelt, that ended the first half.

Third Quarter

Drive 12 (Defense)

• The Eagles defense came up with a three and out for the Redskins offense’s first drive in the second half.
• Grugier-Hill had a great tackle on Adrian Peterson. Flecther Cox had his hands on Peterson, but he spun out of it. AP is a dangerous player and needs to be locked in as soon as he gets the ball.
• Sanchez is able to scramble and get the ball away. He was tripped up. The pass was ruled incomplete as the receiver was out of bounds. This forced the three and out.

Drive 13 (Offense)

• It was good that the Redskins won the toss in the beginning of the game and had the ball to start the second half. The defense was able to come out with aggression and shut down the Redskins offense.
• Clement ran the ball for nine yards and got a first down. It was his first good run of the game. This play was a great example for the run game and Doug Pederson. It showed how the runner is able to make plays and gain great yardage by running to the outside. We have come to the point in the season where the run game is finally incorporated into the offense, but there needs to be more variety with how they are doing it. In the first half, it was mostly just runs up the middle. These work but not all the time.
• A short pass was thrown to Tate for 19 yards. It was a perfectly executed play. Carson looked very relaxed as he threw on the run. Dallas Goedert had a good block to let Carson run and read the field.
• Ertz was able to beat out his defender and get open for Carson to throw him a short pass. They make these plays look easy.
• Josh Adams ran right up the middle and lost four yards. This showed that they cannot keep trying to run the ball right up the middle, especially when there are openings on the side of the field.
• A big pass was thrown to Tate, who was having himself a day. He was covered, but, after he caught the ball, he shrugged the defender off of him and was able to gain a total of 32 yards and well into the red zone.
• A pass was thrown and intended for what looked like Nelson Agholor, but it was intercepted by Josh Norman. It was a terrible pass by Carson Wentz. It looked like he was aiming right for Josh Norman. Agholor was not even looking the way the ball was coming from. It looked like Josh Norman was going to run it all the way down field because the offense was not prepared to tackle him.

Another look at J-No’s pick. 👀🔥#WASvsPHI | #HTTR pic.twitter.com/aCifwHYyfK

— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) December 4, 2018

Drive 14 (Defense)

• The defense does look better than they have this season. However, it is really hard to judge because they are playing a team that has their third-string quarterback in and only have a few really good players.
• The offense tossed the ball back to Adrian Peterson, and LeBlanc was able to get right in there and immediately wrapped up to get tackle. It was a great tackle by LeBlanc. Throughout this game, because he is still so new, he has had a lot of missed tackles. He needs to review plays like this and note what he did correctly and apply that to each upcoming game.
• A pass was thrown underneath to a wide-open receiver. The secondary came up from behind and got the tackle. Man-to-man coverage works against this offense because they are not that good, but for upcoming games, it may not work so well. There has to be some plays where they prevent the catches instead of just getting the stop after the plays.
• Sidney Jones had a good tackle on the receiver to put a stop to their drive.

Drive 15 (Offense)

• Josh Adams carried the ball right up the middle and was able to find the gap through the middle, executing his way to the outside. Zach Ertz was able to block here and assist the play for Adams.
• They attempted a play-action play. They faked the hand off to Adams, then he ran and was not covered well. Wentz tried to throw it to Agholor, but Adams was open and Wentz missed that.
• Corey Clement carried the ball for 23 yards. He had great blockers in front of him. Vaitai, Seumalo and Kelce helped pave the way for Clement’s 23-yard carry. These were the plays the offense have been missing this season – run plays that gain great yardage.
• Ertz caught two nice passes from Wentz that moved the Eagles down the field.
• Sproles ran the ball and was stopped within five yards. It was a decent run. It was a good run for him because it gives him minutes on the field and a chance to dip his foot back in the water.
• Wentz threw a pass to Jeffery, who was able to get a first down. Wentz had plenty of time to throw the ball with the help of the offensive line.
• Adams had no help when he carried the ball in the red zone. He was able to get to the side, but the Redskins defense was right there and he could not get around them.

Fourth Quarter

Drive 15 (Continued)

• A short pass was thrown to Clement, who weaved his way through the defenders and gained 13 yards. This gave the offense a great position to score. He is a player that was missed when he was injured this season. No one else could truck through defenders like he could on this play.
• A touchdown pass was thrown to Jordan Matthews. Incredible pass by Wentz, who was able to configure the pass into his hands while he was well-covered. The timing was fantastic as well because of the chemistry between Wentz and Matthews. The pass was thrown just as he was stepping into the end zone. Well done.

.@jmattjmattjmatt with the tdtdtd.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/mbThYFYdmC

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 4, 2018

• The offense went for two points, which was a great call by Doug Pederson. He was able to read the confidence of his team. An extremely accurate pass was thrown to Golden Tate. It was a little low but right into the hands of Tate. The two-point conversion was a success. The Eagles were leading the Redskins 22-13.

Gimme two.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/qDjuJUWJzI

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 4, 2018

Drive 16 (Defense)

• After a touchback, a short pass was thrown. It was surprising that Adrian Peterson was not used for a big play right here.
• Adrian Peterson carried the ball, but only for three yards because Brandon Graham tackled him and rejected his run.
• The ball was intercepted by Nathan Gerry. Mark Sanchez had pressure coming onto him and threw the ball on the run, making it inaccurate. Malcolm Jenkins had good coverage on the intended receiver which allowed Gerry to intercept the ball.

.@NathanGerry take it away!#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/G9edLCVmlw

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 4, 2018

Drive 17 (Offense)

• A pass was overthrown by Wentz. Again, it was a pass that was too quick, and the receiver did not get to where Wentz had thrown the ball. He has to wait on passes like that for the receiver to be in the right spot.
• Another incomplete pass by Wentz forced Jake Elliott to attempt a 46-yard field goal, that was good.

Drive 18 (Defense)

• After a touchback, the ball was carried up the middle and Ngata pushed him back four yards. In the process of that, the ball was knocked out of the runner’s hands by Ngata. It was then recovered by the runner. Good play by Ngata. Some of the defensive players need to be more aggressive like Ngata on this play.
• A pass was thrown by Mark Sanchez, but it was incomplete. He then threw another pass and was hit. Then they lateraled to another receiver who was tackled by Douglas. It was a trick play and Douglas had a really good read on the play. This forced the punt.

I had been waiting to see this angle on that big play from Rasul Douglas on MNF. He really saved the #Eagles on this trick play. pic.twitter.com/8uY3ApxMgh

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) December 5, 2018

Drive 19 (Offense)

• Wentz was looking for weapons to seal this game and passed it to Ertz and then Tate. Both made decent plays but not gaining anything more than seven yards.
• Adams carried the ball again for 13 yards, which was one of his better carries this game. He was able to run through defenders like its nothing. It looked like they weren’t going to make a play with the throws by Wentz, so it was good they changed it up and tried a run play. There was a defensive penalty on this play that pushed the Eagles up further.
• The Eagles struggled to get down the field. Golden Tate caught the ball and gained only a few yards. Josh Adams carried the ball but only gained a few yards as well.
• Wentz tried two passes, and both were incomplete. This forced the field goal attempt, which was good. With less than five minutes left, it put the Redskins in the position of having a must-score drive.

Drive 20 (Defense)

• After a touchback, an incomplete pass was thrown by Mark Sanchez. The defense does not even really have to focus on putting too much pressure on Sanchez because he throws inaccurate passes anyway.
• The offense did not huddle, but the pressure was coming onto Sanchez from Fletcher Cox. That forced Sanchez to throw a bad pass that was incomplete.
• A short pass was thrown to Thompson, but Rasul Douglas was right there to get the tackle. Douglas had a good game today. He was there and ready to get the tackle right after the catches, but he needs to work on getting there to prevent the pass.
• Sanchez was sacked by Fletcher Cox, and that pushed the Redskins back six yards. That pretty much sealed the game. There were a bunch of penalties this drive, which showed the Redskins fell apart in the end. This forced the punt.

Drive 21 (Offense)

• After a touchback, Adams attempted a run up the middle but only gained three yards.
• Corey Clement carried the ball through defenders for 11 yards. A great run by Clement, and it was great that he was able to keep able to keep his momentum up even in these circumstances.
• The clock went down under two minutes and that allowed the Eagles to kneel.

Game Notes

• It was a good game played by both offense and defense. The offense had some great plays. The play calling improved from recent games by using different offensive weapons and the run game. Golden Tate and Darren Sproles were both able to have some action in this game, which gave a spark to the offense.
• Each running back was able to take turns throughout the game, giving them rest so that they could come out and make bigger plays each time.
• Carson Wentz had good and bad moments throughout the game, but mostly good. He completed 27/39 passes and had one interception.
• The offensive line was able to hold the defense back and Wentz was not sacked at all.

• The defense looked good. But it is hard to tell if they are as good as they played today. Were they good because they improved or because they were playing a team without a good offense? I guess we will find out next week against Dallas.