Let's hand out some thumbs up and down:
THUMBS DOWN: Jalen Hurts (I think). The caveat is that it's nearly impossible to say from game tape why this was, but for some reason he didn't test the Patriots on the deep pass until the third quarter. This could certainly be because NE made a conscious effort to take that away, but it did seem that he didn't see the field as well as he should have. His estimated TYP was 4.53, which is well below average and would have been his second-worst game of the regular season last year.
THUMBS UP: the pass rush in general, which only nailed two sacks but bothered Mac Jones all game long. I'll be eager to see the advanced stats come out and find out how many QB hurries they piled up.
THUMBS DOWN: Deandre Swift, who made no impact plays (3 total yards) and had a critical drop. I'd include Penny here too, but Swift was the buzzy guy coming out of camp, and at least in Week 1, didn't live up to the billing.
THUMBS UP: Kenny Gainwell, who was easily the best player on offense in the first half, and who's 74 total yards was second to AJ Brown.
THUMBS DOWN: Dallas Goedert, who had no catches and no particularly impactful blocks that I recall.
THUMBS UP: the Georgia D tackles, who were in on both sacks. Fletcher Cox deserves mention here as well, as he showed up in some big moments for the team.
THUMBS DOWN: the entire special teams unit other than Jake Elliott. The coverage teams were as lousy as ever, and the team clearly had no confidence in Siposs in a high leverage moment. Why else would they take the chance at that 4th down conversion at the end?
THUMBS UP: Jake Elliott, who overcame a wonky missed XP to be the team's MVP with three long clutch field goals.
THUMBS DOWN: general tackling on defense, which at times was nonexistant and gave me flashbacks to last year's season opener. One has to think that the Eagle's light practice schedule plays a big role in this. The good news here is that the tackling improved notably after the opener last year, and for that reason I think it can improve here too.
THUMBS UP: the new linebackers seemed largely up to the task. Hoping that Dean's injury isn't anything nagging.
THUMBS DOWN: officiating, which seemed overly aggressive with tacky penalty calls.
THUMBS UP: (generally) the entire secondary, which covered well on the whole. Slay showed no signs of slowing down and earned a couple positive mentions in my game notebook. Bradberry and Maddox were both solid, and Blankenship was lights out. Jobe earns a mention for coming in during the game's climactic moment and forcing out Boutte to win the game.
THUMBS DOWN: a head injury to Bradberry that forced him out of the game. Hopefully he makes it back in time for Minnesota.
THUMBS..... I have no idea: the coaching staff. Sirianni seems to be doing the overly aggressive game management thing again (the aforementioned 4th down attempt, and acceptance of the NE penalty that gave them another shot at third down come to mind). I thought that Desai did a good job overall but he got weirdly passive with a few calls in the second half. I have no idea what to make of Brian Johnson, but he certainly isn't running the same offense from last year. Again, no deep shots till the 3Q and I don't think Brown or Smith touched the ball until the 2Q.
Overall, this game was OK. You never know what to expect from season openers, and this Patriots team was just what was expected: tough defense, limited offense, well coached and able to hang around till the end. It seems that Philly got out of Boston with no major injuries, and a five point win is pretty much exactly what I expected. The Eagles were certainly outplayed statistically but their big defensive stops spelled the difference. Philly has a quick turnaround as they get back late tonight and are back in action Thursday evening against the Vikings.
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