Postgame Report: Eagles Soar, Remain Undefeated Against Jets

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles entered the half with a one-score lead.

A red-hot Gardner Minshew put the Eagles in position to be leading the Jets despite an embarrassment of a defense through half the game.

In the second half, the Eagles took the ball out of Minshew’s hands in order to allow the league’s top rushing offense to run clock, which they did very effectively but also lead to field goals rather than touchdowns; it’d be nice to see the rushing game be able to finish off those drives.

He wasn’t perfect and underthrew around four balls, but it was great to see the Eagles with a quarterback who could make reads. He completed 20 of 25 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. Perhaps most importantly, he operated well within the offense and made quick reads to find the open receiver and targeted the players he should (Goedert – 6, Gainwell – 5, Smith – 4, Sanders/Watkins – 3). He didn’t force throws and didn’t force the ball to players like Reagor as Hurts has been doing, a theme that goes hand in hand with finding the open receiver. He could certainly play better and was a near non-factor running, but the Eagles need their QB to throw the ball first so the backs can handle the run game.

In a game without many impact performers on the defense, Sweat was able to register one and a half sacks with a few pressures that helped to slow the Jets defense and keep the defense off the field as much as possible.

• A storyline not discussed enough this season is the resurgence of Jake Elliott. Fans were clamoring over how awful an investment he was after signing his five-year extension in the late stages of the 2019 season. He was strong again this week following his being named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month. His money no longer being seen as dead space is a huge development for the Eagles future plans.
• The first half saw Kenneth Gainwell score a touchdown and rack up 55 yards, but he struggled to haul in all but one of those catches with bobbles and trips. He shows strong promise for his yards after the catch despite that, but it’d be nice to see him clean that up because he is so dangerous in the passing game.
• The run game was limited to almost exclusively Miles Sanders this week (until his injury). Sanders is a great player, but in order to be most effective the team needs to utilize multiple backs with different running styles and allow their backs to get more rest. That was difficult in this game if Scott (who was active) wasn’t feeling well, but it’s something the Eagles coaches really need to be looking to address.
• I wrote that above point (minus the part mentioning his injury) prior to Sanders going down. It’s tough to ask a back coming off an injury to take that many touches, particularly when your second and third options are already out or not playing. Surprising Jason Huntley was not brought up from the practice squad.
• Big day stat-wise: Sanders eclipsed 100 yards rushing, making him the first 100-yard rusher for the Eagles this season. Goedert also eclipsed 100 yards in this contest as well as passed the 2000-yard mark on his career.
• It might have been the defense Gannon, who should be fired, was calling this week, but Darius Slay gave up a ton of passes this week (as did everyone else) with the way that the entire secondary was often nowhere near the receivers. That said, he did breakup a pass to Elijah Moore that would have otherwise been a touchdown to bring the Jets within nine. Not a great game from him, but, again, due in large part to the incompetence of the DC who is still miraculously employed.
• Robert Saleh went ballistic over every other call, even if it was correct, following that one bad PI call that went the Eagles way.
• The Eagles are still undefeated against the Jets.
• For as much crap as Marcus Epps took from fans over the last two seasons, he has come out really strong this season and made that interception this week.

Philadelphia Eagles at New York Jets – December 5, 2021