I’ve been hard on Bill Davis over the past couple of days, and while he did not have a good game, the fact is that several players the Eagles rely on to play well did not.  Therefore, I figured I’d highlight a bad defensive play that was purely the result of players not doing their jobs; the Ryan Matthews 20 yard run.

Situation:  Game tied at 3.  4:49 remaining in the 1st quarter.  SD has 2nd and 8 at its own 9 yard line.  This is important to note.  SD began the possession with terrible field position (penalty on kick return after an Eagles field goal) and was still able to score a TD.  This play played a large role in the success of the drive.

Here is the pre-snap look:

I’ve illustrated the movement of the O-Line as well as the rush angles for the D-line.  Note Patrick Chung is in the box on the left, and rushes on this play.  Also, the blue lines are the resulting running lanes Matthews has after the play develops.

Above is the play just before Matthews gets the handoff.  Notice his running lanes.  Kendricks as one blocked, Ryans as another blocked.  However, nobody has sealed the left edge, which Matthews sees and capitalizes on.

Next, the handoff has been made and Matthews has chosen his lane (cutting back away from the direction of the line’s blocking).  At this point, Kendricks is the only Eagle (on screen) in position to make the play.  Cary Williams, of screen, has noticed the run and come out of coverage (this view is more instructive than the All-22, though it keeps Williams off-frame until next shot).

Below, we see Williams attacking and Kendricks pursuing.  This is the most important frame in the breakdown.  At this point, the Eagles have the play well-contained.  The LOS is the 9 yard line, so if the tackle is made, the resulting gain will likely be just 3-4 yards.

Look at the angles I highlighted above.  Put simply, they’re not good.  If Williams cuts off the sideline, Matthews has nowhere to go.  Instead, he pursues aggressively (not necessarily a bad decision).

Above, we see the result of the angles I highlighted in the last frame.  Kendricks is beat, though it’s not really his fault.  Both he and Matthews are running laterally towards the side-line, and I don’t think expecting Kendricks to match Matthews’ speed is fair.  The bigger issue here is Cary Williams.  His poor previous angle means the sideline is now open for Matthews; all he has to do is beat Williams to the spot.

Below, we see the moment of truth.  Williams has put himself in position to make a tackle, but he’s also failed to contain Matthews, meaning if Williams DOESN’T make the play, nobody else can.  Conversely, had he contained, Kendricks would be in position to make the tackle.

That leads us to…

Williams doesn’t make the tackle.  Contain is broken, so nobody else is in position to make the play.  A 3-4 yard gain has turned into a 20 yard gain, moving the Chargers from 2nd and 8 at its own 9 yard line to 1st and 20 at their 29 yard line.

Just to review, at one point the play looked like this:

Which led to this:

I still don’t understand Davis’ reluctance to incorporate the 4-3 into his defense, at least until the team has the personnel to commit to the 3-4.  However, if guys like Williams and Kendricks (to a lesser extent here), don’t perform, it doesn’t matter what defensive scheme the team runs, or how well blitzes are disguised.

We know Nate Allen isn’t good.  We know the backup CBs will be overmatched.  It’s wasted energy to lament those areas.

Guys like Williams and Kendricks, however, are fair game, and need to be much better.

I said after the game that the biggest disappointment for me was Bill Davis, the defensive coordinator.  Put simply, the defense was SO BAD at times, that a response of “let’s try anything because it can’t possible be worse than this” was warranted.  I still have to go through the All-22, but at the moment, it seems like Davis wasn’t nearly as creative as he could have/should have been.

At 1:42 pm on Sunday (early in the game), I tweeted this:

As Eagles players have since confirmed, Rivers was consistently identifying the Eagles defensive alignment and pass-rushers pre-snap, then making the corresponding adjustments.  I’ve repeatedly stressed that I’m not a scout, nor do I have any professional experience.  The fact that I (and many spectators) quickly saw an issue should tell you how obvious it MUST have been to Davis.

Frankly, Rivers’ comfort level was so obvious that it should have warranted an immediate adjustment.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen (at least not to the extent it should have.)

In that vein, I paid particular attention to the defensive snap counts from Sunday’s game.  Seeing as it was competitive the entire time (as compared to game 1), I thought it would give us a really good idea of what Chip Kelly’s current roster hierarchy and player usage philosophy is.  It’s likely, of course, that Davis has full control of the defense, though I haven’t confirmed that.  Regardless, what I saw was, in light of the performance, unsettling.

– Jeff Maehl played 5 total snaps (3 offense, 2 STs).  Maehl is not a defender.  However, given the Vinny Curry controversy, it’s very fair to question if 5 snaps of Jeff Maehl is worth an active roster spot.  That suggests to me that either Chip is being really stubborn, or the Curry inactivity is the result of an “attitude” or “example-setting” rationale.  Everyone knew going into the game that the pass-rush was going to be vital to success.  Passing over Curry for Maehl (who was barely used), looked bad then and much worse now.  It’s possible that Curry wouldn’t have helped at all (I think he’s being overrated by the general fan base); but he DEFINITELY would have helped more than Jeff Maehl (and several others).

– Jordan Poyer played just 7 snaps, all on STs.  Given what we know about the Eagles CBs and what happened during the game, it’s clear that Poyer has ZERO trust from the coaching staff.  If he couldn’t get on the field in game where the Eagles lost a starting CB and were getting absolutely shredded with the pass, then when can he play?  If at this point, he is solely a STs player, we again have to question the value of his roster spot.  Granted, STs have been very good so far, so obviously they’re doing something right there.  If this continues though, we might have to revisit the “overweighting STs” storyline.

– Geathers played 14 snaps on defense, Square played 12.  I haven’t yet looked at their individual performances, and I assume they were just as ineffectual as the starters.  However, could they really have been any worse than the starters, who weren’t getting anything remotely resembling pressure?

As the game progressed and it was clear the defense was not going to stop SD absent some good luck, wouldn’t it have made sense to rotate backups/young players into the game more frequently?  They gain experience and/or make an impact on the game.  The veterans get a breather and/or a message that their performance simply isn’t good enough.  As I said before, what’s the downside?  The veterans/starters couldn’t possibly have believed they “deserved” to keep playing.

– One Caveat, though it doesn’t excuse Davis.  Rivers used a lot of quick throws and three-step drops.  In that case, it’s nearly impossible to pressure the QB, there simply isn’t enough time.  The counter-move is to drop more players into coverage.  Ideally, you’d hide players at the line, disguising them as pass-rushers, then have them drop underneath the short passing lanes in hopes of either cutting off passing lanes or forcing an interception.  Pending All-22 review, I didn’t see Davis try this often enough, and when he did, there was no adequate disguise.  Of course, dropping players into coverage assumes they’ll actually know to COVER…which apparantly is not an entirely reasonable assumption (see Eddie Royal’s hilariously open TD grab against an Eagles D rushing just 3 players).

First, I need to let everyone know about a structural change to the weekly Rewind post.  Last season, I typically posted at least 2-3 plays per game, with accompanying diagrams and breakdowns.  As you all have undoubtedly noticed, now everyone is doing it.  I’ve repeatedly stressed that my overall objective here is to provide analysis that ISN’T offered anywhere else, so the proliferation of All-22 Breakdowns puts me in a tough spot.

Therefore, this season, I will still be doing a weekly “Rewind” column, but I will likely focus on particular aspects of the game that I think are going unreported.  That will usually be accompanied by screenshots and/or illustrations when appropriate.  However, I will reserve the play diagrams for only the most important situations.  For now, if you want really good play diagrams, see Derek Sarley at Philly.com or Sheil Kapadia at Birds 24/7.  If you’re at this site, you have probably already seen those breakdowns for this week, but if not, definitely take a look; it’s really high quality stuff.

Now to the game.  After re-watching with the coach’s film:

– RG3 was CLEARLY not 100%. That’s not meant to decline detract from the Eagles’ defensive performance (you can only beat who you play), but it’s an important thing to remember as the season progresses.  For example, look at this picture:

This play occurred on a 3rd and 11 with 4:47 remaining in the 2nd quarter.  Connor Barwin rushed upfield, beat the RT outside, and chased RG3 down from behind.  Above, you can see Griffin as he begins to leave the pocket, as well as Barwin as he turns the corner.  The result of the play was a 2 yard gain.  To be fair, RG3 was not running full speed.  However, it’s a good example of what I saw throughout the game.  Namely, RG3 played differently than he did last season (when fully healthy).  Consequently, the Eagles were able to defend him differently.

The Eagles did not have to “spy” or “mush-rush” or run any sort of QB contain scheme with the D-Line.  They attacked RG3 as though he was just another  “normal” QB.

As we all know, what makes the Redskins dangerous is RG3.  Put simply, if RG3 is playing like “just another QB”, then Washington is no longer a division favorite.  As the season moves on and this game recedes into our memory, it will be tempting to say “the Eagles D handled a great offense under RG3”.  That’s a mistake.  Monday Night, the Eagles defense did NOT play against a great offense.  So it was a good performance, but hardly indicative of what we can expect against powerful offensive teams or mobile QBs.

– One of my assumptions about Chip Kelly’s offense was clearly wrong.  I expected the Eagles to focus more heavily on creating “matchup advantages” with their personnel groupings and formations.   However, It looks as though the Eagles offensive options and read progressions will not change depending on the pre-snap defensive alignment.  The Eagles will run the play called no matter what, and just force the defense to expose a weakness.  There aren’t any pre-snap reads or adjustments for Vick to make (allowing the offense to move more quickly).

From a spectator’s perspective, it’s not a big deal.  However, from my perspective, it clears up some of what Chip Kelly’s overall philosophy is.  It’s less about maximizing the “weapons”, and more about the design.  The upshot is that the game-plan should be more resilient in the face of injuries.  The loss of a guy like D-Jax won’t have nearly as big an effect as it would in a more playmaker-focused system.  If the QB makes the right decision, SOMEONE will be open, meaning the marginal difference in skill between receivers becomes less important (scheme gets them open rather than individual skill).  For example, this play (from Bill Barnwell’s breakdown) would probably work with anyone at TE:

The run fake draws the LBs, the bubble screen draws the safety, and Celek is left with an open seam, all he has to do is run straight and catch the ball.  By comparison, think back to Brian Westbrook and all the moves Reid made specifically to get him the ball.  Chip doesn’t appear to work that way.

– Don’t worry too much about the 2nd half defense.  The Eagles didn’t go into a full “prevent” D, but it wasn’t far off.   Allow me to illustrate.  Washington has the ball, 1st and 10 on it’s own 24 yard line.  The score is 33-20, and there is 8:51 remaining on the clock. This doesn’t look like a “prevent” defense (instant after the snap):

It’s certainly conservative, but still fairly “normal”.

Running the play forward, we get this:

This is one step before RG3 makes his throw.  Notice the 30 yard line, which I’ve highlighted in red.  There are 5 Eagles beyond it, and NO Redskins. Nate Allen, deep at the start of the play, backpedals even more, despite all of the underneath routes from Washington.  Clearly, the Eagles were content to allow short completions at this point.  We can argue about the correct time to shift into this type of defense, but the point is that the 2nd half “rally” was largely a function of the score/time, and less a result of the Eagles not playing well.

– I would have liked to see a bit more scheme flexibilty from Bill Davis.  Given the big lead, and obvious passing situations, I hoped to see the defense shift to a 4-3, putting both Cole and Graham in a position to attack.  Graham ended the game with just 16 defensive snaps.  Going forward, I’ll be keeping an eye on this.  In theory, if you believe the offense will score a lot of points, then the defense should be more concerned with the passing game.  Here’s where Vinny Curry’s inactive/active status becomes interesting.  In general, I don’t have a problem with Curry being inactive, since I assume it’s because he’s missing assignments that we can’t see.  However, he is clearly on of the most disruptive pass rushers the Eagles have.

With a late lead and in passing situations, being able to play a 4 man D-Line composed of Cole and Graham on the ends, and Cox and Curry in the middle, seems like a very valuable option.

That’s all for now.  There were some other players I was watching, but whose performance necessitates a “not enough info” or  “incomplete” grade, particularly the Sopoaga/Logan situation and the Safety play.  I’m sure we’ll get a better look at them next week, in what will probably be a more “normal” game.

Following Saturday night’s game, there were two major issues I wanted to address.  One is Vick’s performance, the other is the overall defensive performance.  Vick first:

Vick

If anything, Saturday’s game was a good illustration of what we should expect from the team this year.  The previous two games, the offense had looked very good.  There were a few miscues but, overall, the unit moved quickly and consistently.  That, of course, was not the case on Saturday.

I’m not that concerned, but that’s because my expectations were already different from many commentators/analysts.  I’ve said it several times, in several different places, but:

56.3%

80.6

1.5

What are those?  Michael Vick’s career completion percentage, QB Rating, and TD/INT ratio.  To be clear, I think the offense will be very good this year with Vick at QB.  However, the guys has played 10 seasons in the NFL; our expectations for his performance this year should be made in reference to that sample.

The upshot?  The offense is going to be good, but inconsistent, if Vick is the QB.  Derek Sarley, formerly of IgglesBlog, has a great breakdown here. (Promo code Q42B).  The reason I like his analysis so much is that it perfectly highlights two of the biggest issues I have with Vick (both of which I’ve mentioned before):

– He doesn’t anticipate routes, he waits for receivers to be open.

– He often turns down the open short throw (and primary option) in hopes of getting something downfield.

That second point, in particular, is a major reason why I was hoping for Foles to be named the starter.  All of Chip’s schemes and the entire idea behind the “simple math” option design, by definition, requires the QB to consistently take whatever the defense gives him. That’s definitely an attribute of the offense, not a drawback, but it means Vick needs to be willing, for example, to throw a quick screen rather than wait for a downfield throw.

Part of this might be confidence.  Vick’s strength is overwhelmingly in his deep throw accuracy and power.  Therefore, it makes sense that those would be the throws he looks for most often.  However, that mindset is going to result in some missed opportunities (like the missed screen in the link above).

With Vick as QB, there are going to be a lot of stalled drives.  The flip-side is that there will also be a number of deep-strikes.  The hope, obviously, is that the “explosiveness” more than compensates for the weaknesses.  Time will tell, but I’m hopeful.

Remember when I said that Vick as the starter is BAD for the O-Line?  I don’t have the All-22, but I suspect that played a role in the unit’s relatively poor performance on Saturday.  He holds the ball for a long time (partly because he doesn’t take the open short routes consistently), and he’s prone to rolling out of the pocket rather than stepping up in it.  Again, that’s NOT GOING TO CHANGE.

So far, this probably sounds like an “I told you so” post and a likely overreaction to one preseason game; that’s not my intention.  So let me repeat:

I expect the offense, under Vick, to be very good this year.

My overall point here is that, over the past two weeks, I’ve tried to remind everyone that Vick’s game has several large, and well-known weaknesses.  Over the first two preseason games, those weaknesses were largely hidden, which led some to suggest they were no longer there.  Saturday’s performance should have dispelled that notion.

The Defense

I’m guessing a lot of fans were disappointed with the defense, particularly on the long TD run.  Again, this goes back to expectations.  Odds are, the Eagles’ defense will not be “good” this year.  We’re going to see some ugly play, there’s simply no way around it.  The overall talent level on defense is low.  As a result, I’m not going to get upset over the occasional 60 yard run.  It’s terrible defense, and the team won’t win a SB until its fixed, but expecting better, at this point, is just foolish.  It’s going to take at LEAST another offseason to address the defense.  Until then, we all have to hope that the huge breakdowns can be minimized.  Whereas last year, the team was destroyed by long passes, I expect this year’s team to be attacked on the ground.  That should be a net positive, but it’s going to be frustrating anyway.

The Roster

Look for the Eagles to add a CB and/or S after league-wide cuts are made.  The DB depth is, by far, the biggest current roster construction issue.  Right now, the team is one or two injuries away from being in serious trouble on the back end.  As I said last week, if anything is going to blow this season up, it’s an injury or injuries to guys like Fletcher/Williams or Chung.  The Eagles desperately need some insurance there.  As cuts get made, that’s the only position group I’m really looking at around the league.

Reminder that we are without All-22 film until the season starts, so the diagrams won’t reappear until then.  However, last night the Eagles played a very good game, and I wanted to give you some takeaways:

– Both QBs look really good.  It looks like everyone is jumping on the Vick train, but I’m sticking with Foles.  Given the performance of both QBs, this is turning into a fairly simple decision.  If you want the highest upside for this season, Vick’s your guy (though he likely doesn’t offer as big an advantage as most seem to believe.

On the other hand, I don’t understand how anyone can watch Nick Foles and not get at least a little excited about his potential in the NFL.  Last night, Foles finally put a stake in the heart of the “too slow, not mobile” argument.  I’m not even talking about the TD run.  Watch him move in the pocket and avoid the rush.  He consistently helps his O-Line by sliding away from pressure while keeping his eyes downfield.  Most importantly, each of his throws was about as accurate as they could possibly be.

Finally, I don’t mean to bring everyone down, but just remember that Michael Vick has been in the NFL for a very long time.  He’s played 10 seasons and has thrown nearly 3000 passes.  That sample is likely a MUCH BETTER indication of what we should expect than these past two preseason games.  Maybe Chip Kelly “unlocked” Vick.  It’s possible, just know that its unlikely.

– Shady shouldn’t touch the field again until the regular season.  I said at the end of last season that the Eagles’ rebuilding plan was relatively simple:  Rely on McCoy and a healthy O-Line to carry the offense while you focus on fixing the defense.  Regardless of who the QB is, its clear who will be the driver of the offense.  Shady looks fantastic, lets not get him hurt.

– I’ve mentioned it a few times (including yesterday), but last season the Eagles offense started their drives, on average, nearly 7 yards behind where the opposing team did.  It doesn’t sound like much, but its a huge disadvantage.  A big reason for that was terrible Special Teams.

Perhaps the biggest preseason development is how improved the STs look.  I’ve talked about how improvement was assured (by virtue of how bad the team was), but we might have to actually raise those expectations.  Punt return/coverage, the biggest weakness from last year, looks really good.  That should lead to a lot more points scored, regardless of whether the offense itself improves.

– Some bright spots on the defense as well, though I’m grading them on a curve.  Patrick Chung, if he can stay healthy, looks like he’ll be a big upgrade at Safety.  The fact that he can consistently step up and make tackles is big, even if he isn’t great in coverage (haven’t seen much of this without the All-22, so I can’t grade that part of his game).

– Bennie Logan and Vinny Curry are both flashing big potential.  A word of caution though, they haven’t been playing against #1’s.  My biggest hope for the next game is that we see a D-Line combo of Cox-Logan-Curry.  Given how well Logan/Curry has played so far, Kelly owes it to them to see if they can hold up against better competition.

If both players can turn into at least solid starters, the team’s defensive rebuild accelerates by at least a full season.

– Might be time to forget about Trent Cole and Brandon Graham.  We knew it was going to be a tall order to fit them into a 3-4/4-3 Under defense, and it looks like it’s not going to happen.  At this rate, I expect to see Graham quietly traded later in the season for a middle-round draft pick.  Maybe it’s too early to judge, but I’m firmly pessimistic that either one of these players can play a significant role in the new defense.  At best, they’re placeholders on the depth chart until the team can draft/sign players who fit the scheme better.

– Get ready to hate Cary Williams.  Last night was a great example of what he “brings” to the table.  He’ll be a big improvement over last year, but expect to see a high number of passes completed to his man.  The book on him is he gives WRs a lot of space to make the catch underneath, but tackles them after the catch to limit gains.  For this year, that’s fine, it’s a big step up from getting beat deep every other play.  However, I have a feeling Eagles fans will get tired of that style fairly quickly.

– I’m a little worried about Zach Ertz.  In my ratings system, I had this pick as a reach.  So far, he looks like a good receiver (which we expected).  However, the fact that he, a high second round pick, isn’t getting more playing time tells you he must be doing something wrong in practice. Update: After finding the snap counts, it seems Ertz played more than I thought (20 snaps).  I’d still like to see more of him in-line before the season starts. The easiest guess is his blocking, which was a known weakness.  Still, it’s not as if the Eagles TE corps comprises a bunch of pro-bowlers.  I like Celek a lot, but I’d expect the #35 overall pick to at least give him a battle for the #1 spot.  Definitely not a big deal yet, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

– Matt Barkley is quietly having a pretty good stretch.  Granted he’s not playing against starters, but considering he was a 4th round pick, he’s acquitting himself very well.

Lastly, some of you may have noticed that yesterday’s chart was also posted over at BleedingGreenNation.com.  I’ve joined that site as a contributor, but this site will remain the main focus.  In fact, for the time being, my BGN posts will consist entirely of what I feel are the most interesting/important EaglesRewind posts.

Two notes before we get to it:

1) There was almost nothing positive to take from that game.  On review, it was as bad as it seemed live (maybe even worse since the lack of effort was abundantly clear when each player was viewed individually.)

2) There weren’t many players of interest for the team’s future due to injuries.

In light of that, here are the Rewind thoughts, followed by some pictures:

– Anyone who watched Vick on Sunday should have a newfound appreciation for Nick Foles.  There are few things as annoying for a football fan than to watch the QB repeatedly miss open receivers.  The super-athletic “mobile” QB’s can have their speed, I’ll take accuracy over running any day.

– LeSean McCoy is crazy good.  The lone bright spot this week, McCoy might have single-handedly made the Eagles head coaching job the most attractive available.  I have mixed feelings on Chip Kelly, but there’s no doubt that he must be salivating at the prospect of having McCoy/Brown as his backfield.

As far as turnaround plans go, the Eagles is fairly simple:  Let McCoy carry the offense behind a healthy line while you fix the defense and get a longer look at Foles.

– I mentioned that Graham would be a focus while reviewing the tape, so…he played an OK game.  Wasn’t nearly as disruptive as he has been over the past few weeks, but the Giants are among the toughest match-ups in the league for pass rushers.  Graham made a few nice plays and repeatedly drove his blocker backwards, but couldn’t get off the block to finish the job.  However, given the fact that everyone else on the defense either mailed it in or didn’t have the talent to be on the field in the first place, it’s probably not a game to draw anything significant from.

– The LBs for the Eagles had an absolutely embarrassing performance.  I’d prefer not to mention their names in the hope that they will just disappear from both the roster and my memory.  Demeco and Mychael can come back, everyone else needs to go.   Complete lack of ability.

Now the illustrations:

Hand-off to nobody – One of the most frustrating aspects of the Vick era can be seen below.  Most readers here will recognize it, since we’ve seen it much more often than anyone should.  Vick either fakes the hand-off with nobody in the backfield, or does it to the side opposite the runner.

Running PA when you’re not a running team is problematic enough, but doing it without even having a RB to fake-accept the hand-off is downright obnoxious.  Normally I’d chalk this up to a miscommunication, but it’s happened often enough that simple miscommunication seems unlikely.  Additionally, though I haven’t gone back and checked, I don’t recall seeing this from Foles, which indicates it’s not by design.  Needless to say, I’m stumped.  Regardless, with Vick gone, let’s hope we never see it again.

Dear Colt, thanks for playing, better luck next career.

Though there were lots of plays that highlighted the myriad defensive holes of the Eagles, this one is particularly galling because of the situation.  The team is already losing 28-7.  There are just 10 seconds left in the half and the Giants are already in field goal range.  That means this is a pretty straightforward play for the defense:  KEEP THEM OUT OF THE END ZONE.  The Giants have 3 TOs, but with only 10 seconds remaining, they likely only have two plays left, this one and a field goal attempt.

The Eagles recognize the situation and line up accordingly in a quarters-zone prevent defense.  That means the two safeties and outside corners essentially split the field into four slices, with each of them responsible for one.   Meanwhile, the two LBs and Boykin (slot corner) each have an underneath zone.  The goal of the play is not necessarily to prevent a completion, it’s simply to force the Giants to complete a ball in bounds and tackle them in play, eliminating a TD as a possibility and forcing a field goal.  The DTs run a twist, but it doesn’t produce much pressure.

With the above picture and situation in mind, lets jump to later in the play:

This is the moment of the catch and the only correct response is either What?!? or various profanities strung together.  To recap, the Eagles’ only goal on this play was to prevent a receiver from getting behind them for a TD.  Not only does that happen, but Colt Anderson manages to wind up nearly 5 yards under his man at the catch!

So how did it happen?  Colt Anderson had a brain-cramp.

If you look back at the initial diagram, Cruz runs a seem, but stutter-steps twice.  His second stutter-step occurs just in front of Colt and causes Anderson to freeze.  The only thing Anderson CAN NOT do in this situation is stop moving and let Cruz behind him, so of course that’s exactly what he does.  Here is Colt’s freeze:

An absolute disaster of a play for Colt and the Eagles, though it obviously wouldn’t have changed the outcome.  Even if Anderson gets thrown by the stutter-step, he absolutely MUST maintain his momentum moving backwards.  That way, even if he guesses wrong on which direction Cruz is going, he has a chance to recover.  Instead, he stands still, while Cruz is still near full-speed.  The chances of Colt catching Cruz after giving him a head start?  Absolutely none.  We knew Anderson didn’t have the speed to run with fast receivers, but we’ve also learned that he doesn’t know how to compensate for it.

The Wheel Route strikes again.

This play is from earlier in the game, when the outcome was still technically in doubt.  The Giants are up 14-0 with 3:26 left to go in the 1st quarter.  3rd down with 4 yards to go.   The result of the play is a 41 yard completion to Bradshaw out of the backfield.  Here is the pre-snap setup:

Nothing too crazy going on, though there is one big note to make.  See Colt Anderson’s assignment (safety to the bottom of the screen)?  Immediately after the snap, Colt moves to double-team the slot receiver.  Not sure exactly what Todd Bowles saw to make him call this up, but regardless, it results in a huge hole that the Giants end up exploiting.  UPDATE: To clarify: this looks a bit like robber coverage with Colt playing an underneath zone.  However, at the snap Anderson moves full speed at the slot WR with no regard to his route.  Therefore, it seems more like a double-team than a zone read that Anderson saw and reacted to.

Below is the key moment of the play.  Say what you want about Eli Manning, but the guy is very good at manipulating defenses, especially with the pump-fake.  Here, he uses it perfectly to shift Demeco Ryan’s coverage angle, resulting in the separation he needs to get the ball over top to Bradshaw.  I’ve highlighted Demeco’s angle as he falls for the pump-fake and attacks where he thinks the ball is going.  Also highlighted is Colt Anderson and the space he vacated, resulting in a huge window for Manning to deliver the ball.

And finally, below, we see Bradshaw as he gets behind Ryans.

The Wheel Route is one the Giants have used with great effect against the Eagles over the past few years.  The key is that it forces a LB into coverage, where they are typically uncomfortable, and then increases the pressure on said LB through the pump-fake.  The fakes are hard enough for CBs to resist, but even more difficult for LBs purely because they aren’t in coverage as often.  Normally, the safety would provide deep help and ideally break up the play, but Colt left for the double-team, resulting in a very tough matchup for Demeco and 41 yards for the Giants. This particular play is not an indictment of Colt.  It appeared as though the double-team was 100% by design.

Also of note: Kurt Coleman (the deep safety) misses a tackle on Bradshaw after the reception and DRC makes the tackle after chasing the play from more than 15 yards back.

End of the Rewinds

That’s the end of the Eagles Game Rewinds for this year.  However, I’ll probably diagram a few big plays from the playoff games.

Meanwhile, we’ll shift to a roster evaluation and see what the weaknesses are heading into the offseason before an in-depth dive into draft history to see how much is luck vs. skill.

This week:   All-22 thoughts and 2 plays diagrammed.  Unlike previous weeks, there were not many positives to take out of this game.  Starting to see clear evidence of the lack of talent at several positions for the Eagles.  I talked about some of this in the post-game, so I’ll try not to repeat myself.

All-22 thoughts:

– RG3 was clearly not 100%….That should scare you.  I’m really not excited that this guy is in our division.  He appears to have just about every tool you can imagine for a quarterback.  Eagles fans should hope the Redskins continue to neglect the defensive side of the ball, because that offense is going to be tough to stop for a long time if RG3 stays healthy.

– A mixed day for Nick Foles.  3 bad moments surrounded by a lot of positives, which is becoming a theme.  The fumble was a huge mistake, likely costing the Eagles 3 points on what should have been a throw-away.  The missed throw to Maclin was Foles’ worst attempt of the day.  It’s impossible to know whether his hand fracture is to blame, but in any case that is a pass he has to make.  The final play of the game was painful to watch.  It doesn’t look like there’s much more he could have done, but he has to know that his two choices are throw it out the back of the end zone or put up a 50/50 ball, can’t take a sack there (essentially what he did by grounding it.)

However, the rest of the day was strong, and he again showed that he has the ability to move the offense down the field consistently.  There were a few plays where he was hesitant to pull the trigger, even though he appeared to have a receiver to throw to.  Probably him being risk-averse, but he’ll need to become more confident in his reads.

– Tough day for the defense against the run.  Allowed 4.6 ypc and 128 total rushing yards.  Alfred Morris is a tough match-up for anyone, but the Eagles really need to do a better job of stopping the runner at first contact.  You can’t expect to win every one-on-one battle, but there were several plays where Morris dragged multiple Eagles defenders for additional yards.  When you’ve got 2+ defenders in contact with a runner, he should not gain any additional yards.  The LBs were a bit exposed, though they didn’t get much help from the safeties….

-Speaking of safeties, Colt Anderson had a bad game.  I know he’s become a fan favorite, mostly due to his clear effort and big-play ability on special teams, but the guy really shouldn’t be anywhere near the starting safety position.  He missed several tackles and was beat in coverage for a TD by Santana Moss.  Great effort on every play, but clearly doesn’t have the athleticism to do that job full-time.

– OL had another poor game.  Not something to really focus on, as it’s about what you’d expect from a bunch of depth players, but it’s worth noting that Foles was pressured often.

– Bryce Brown?  Absolutely unacceptable to ignore Bryce Brown, regardless of his “fumbling problem”.  The sole purpose of this team for the last few weeks of the season should be getting young players game experience and trying to evaluate the talent they have.  4 carries isn’t getting it done.  The only reason for it is Andy Reid putting his own performance above the long-term best interests of the team (can’t blame him but it still sucks.)

I liked the idea of him at KR, but he was far too hesitant on Sunday.  The returner needs to pick a seam and attack it.  Hopefully he’ll step his game up against the Giants, but it’s a tough mindset to get into if it’s not natural.

– Questionable play-calling from Marty.  The Eagles continue to use a lot of draws, the reason for which is beyond my comprehension.  The general idea of the draw is twofold: it shows pass, which holds the LBs, and it also gives the DEs time to rush themselves out of position, hopefully opening up running lanes for the back.  However, it also gives the DL extra time to attack the backfield.  Considering the poor quality of the OL for the Eagles, is making them protect longer really the best strategy?  I’ve seen far too many of these plays get blown up in the backfield, yet the Eagles continue calling them.  They’ve had some success running PA while faking the draw, but those gains have been nowhere near great enough to offset the negative plays.

Play 1:  Foles to Maclin

1st and 10 at the Redskins 27.  10:24 remaining in the First quarter.

This was a very nice play all-around for the Eagles, as all 5 linemen handled their assignments, picking up an extra rusher, while Foles delivered a perfect ball to Maclin, who was running a corner route.  Below, we can see every player’s assignment.  The defenders noted with red circles all rush the QB at the snap.

The key to the play is the Redskins alignment.  They’ve chosen to blitz (sending 5 rushers, all on the LOS at the snap.)  In order to gain that extra rusher while still marking all Eagles receivers, they’ve left themselves with just a single deep safety, positioned in the middle of the field.

Riley Cooper’s route gives Maclin the space he needs to complete the TD.  Cooper runs a seam or a dig (he cuts it off inside after the play develops, can’t tell if it was part of the design), which holds the safety in the middle of the field.  Unable to commit until the ball is thrown, the safety isn’t quick enough to get to the sideline and break up the play.

Above, there are three things to note as the play is in progress:  the OL has given Foles plenty of space/time, the safety’s only movement has been two steps backwards, and Maclin’s CB has failed to recover after trying to jam the WR at the line.  The CBs play has allowed Maclin to get behind him, which gives Foles the window he needs to make the throw.

Below we see the final shot of the play, just after Foles releases the football.  Notice that the safety has just reacted and is just a step from his starting position.  Riley Cooper is about to break inside, but his job is done, as he forced the safety to honor his route and kept him from getting to Maclin.  Maclin has just made his cut and now has separation from the defender.  Foles is able to step into the throw, which he delivers perfectly, allowing for an easy TD catch.

The takeaway from this play should be familiar: when the OL diffuses the blitz, the odds shift dramatically in the offenses favor.  That, combined with a smart route combination (Riley seam + Maclin corner) led to a relatively easy TD throw/catch for the Eagles and a quick start to the game.

Play 2: Blitz Backfire

3rd and 10, 1:37 to go in the 3rd Quarter.  Ball on the Eagles’ 22 yard line.

This is the Santana Moss TD.  Similar to the play above, the key is that the Eagles rush 6 at the QB and don’t get home, leaving Colt Anderson in single coverage against Santana Moss…a poor matchup for the Eagles to say the least.

Here is the alignment at the moment of the snap.  The Eagles are in the nickel, with 3 CBs, 2 LBs, and 2 Ss.  The DL is in the Wide-9, and the LBs (Ryans and Kendricks) are on the LOS in the A gaps (to the left and right of the Center.)  Kendricks backs out at the snap, but the Eagles bring the slot corner blitz (leaving Colt to cover Moss), for a total of 6 rushers, highlighted by the red circles below.

There’s nothing fancy to the Redskin’s play design.  The key is that the RB stays in to block, leaving 6 blockers (5 OL + 1 RB) for 6 rushers, and everyone hits their assignment.  Meanwhile, Santana Moss runs a route similar to Maclin’s TD, just on the opposite side of the field.  Anderson underestimates Moss’ speed and his ability to maintain it through his break, allowing the WR to run past him and gain separation shockingly fast.

Below, we can see the play in action.  Notice RG3’s pocket, he’s got plenty of time to let Moss get downfield despite the blitz.  Anderson is still flat-footed, with 6-7 yards of space between him and Moss.

Finally, we see Moss just after his break and Griffin’s throw.  At this point, Anderson is in good position, however, now it’s just a footrace, which obviously Anderson loses badly (Moss is one of the faster players in the league, Colt is….not.)

Two final things to note on this play:  First, RG3’s throw was phenomenal (roughly 45 yards through the air with pinpoint accuracy.)  Exhibit A of why this guy scares me as a an Eagles fan (Exhibit B would be his running, but he decided to leave that at home on Sunday.)

Second, very questionable defensive play-calling here by Bowles.  It’s 3rd and 10, meaning if you play a standard defense you should have a very good chance of holding them to a field goal attempt.  Additionally, the ball is on the 22, so a sack doesn’t take the Redskins out of field goal range.  Therefore, rushing 6 men at the QB is really a High-Risk/Low-Reward decision.  This is something coaches do fairly often, and I find it infuriating, as it’s clearly not an optimal decision.  Some may argue that Bowles was trying to keep Griffin from having the time to complete a long pass, but the fact is that a 10 yard route does not take very long to develop and rushing TWO extra men leaves a lot of holes in the secondary, which NFL QBs typically do not need a long time to find.  The blitz needs to be used intelligently and sparingly…3rd and 10 in the red zone (practically) is not the time.