First things first: this game was clearly a trap game, despite the comments that Nick Sirianni made last week. How could it not be? Philly riding high after a tough and physical win over Baltimore and anticipating a tough two game stretch to come (Steelers, @Commanders) and with one of the league's very worst teams coming to the Linc? It's next to impossible to get any collection of athletes to get to their max level in that scenario. Frankly, you could make the case that it isn't even a good thing to shoot your best emotional bullets for a game like this. Whatever the case, Philly predictably slogged through the game and escaped with their ninth straight win.
How unimpressive was this win? Philly was a heavy favorite (as this moron with more money than brains knew) and yet never led by more than six. They actually led the game for nearly 34 minutes but it didn't at all feel that way (I was surprised to learn that upon looking it up). Carolina earned close advantages in yards (302-292) and first downs (20-18). This marks the third Eagles win that probably could have gone either way, if we're being honest (Green Bay and Baltimore were the others).
As bad as that all was, I think the worst takeaway from the game has got to be Jalen's continuing struggles to see the field. I think we're all more than tired of the ball being held too long and WRs getting frustrated after getting open and ignored. Thankfully it wasn't ALL bad (Jalen did some damage as a runner, had no turnovers or turnover worthy plays and earned a favorable scores from the advanced stat people), but this game didn't feel right and AJ Brown's behavior underlined that point. Jalen was quoted as saying "Everybody has a reason to want more,” and "I play my role in how we execute, but ultimately it's about what position we put ourselves in. It's not my choice." One wonders about the context of these words but to my ears it sounds like buck passing. It's shades of last season, unfortunately.
There are two positives about the last paragraph that give hope that this will be more blip than trend: first, the coaching staff and franchise as a whole seems to be doing a better job holding players accountable than they did last season. Second, a week of the classic Philly media speculation and fan overreactions will (hopefully) inspire the players to get their act together and deal with their issues. It should also be pointed out that I'm not sure the Eagles from mid-December of last year pull that game out at all; they failed in similar moments against Seattle and Arizona last year. I think this team has grown since last season and will have a real opportunity to demonstrate that over the next couple weeks.
I do have some good news in two parts; first, the game never even gets to its heart-stopping conclusion (seriously, I'm not sure my heart has slowed down yet from that drop by Legette at the end) if the following play is correctly called by the officials just before the Bird's final punt:
You can see the official watching in the background but what this shot doesn't show is the official immediately to the left that watched Jewell try to tear Calcaterra's head off and swallowed his whistle. The commentators mentioned it, but if that obvious flag is thrown the drive is extended and the Birds would either run out the clock or give Jake Elliott a much more makeable field goal.
Second, and more important for the big picture, I present for your enjoyment a gallery of playoff contenders that struggled with or lost to really bad teams:
Just a reminder that even good teams have bad games against bad teams. Let's keep getting healthy and get set for the Keystone Bowl next Sunday.
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