The Eagles are undefeated after week one of the 2014 NFL season. The type of game we played from start to end; hardly what any of us could have predicted.
After an absolute pathetic showing in the first half, the team collected their pride and amassed 34 straight points to secure a 34-17 win. The injuries to the offensive line, losing left guard Evan Mathis and right tackle Allen Barbre were only the beginning to an absolute worst case scenario start to the season. Foles was unsure of himself, not trusting his reads, missing throws and holding onto the football too long. The defense had their own issues; especially defending the deep pass. Undrafted rookie wide receiver Allen Hurns caught touchdowns of 34 & 21 to begin his NFL season with what appeared to be little trouble finding space in the Eagles secondary.
Halftime could not come quick enough, but it did and the Eagles came out swinging. Sproles played an important part of the comeback, showing elusiveness as a punt returner and scampering 49 yards on a 4th & 1 play, the longest run of his NFL career. McCoy looked decent but certainly was not his dominant self. Maclin had the one big touchdown catch for 68 yards, but was rather quiet the rest of the day. Ertz proved that the preseason was a small sample of his 2014 potential, the kid is a stud and he is going to be a vital role in the offense this season. The Eagles defense was great in the second half; taking one to the house late in the fourth quarter, hopefully a sign of what is to come in year two of the 3-4 defense. Kicker Cody Parkey did nothing to stop the fan club from building with his clutch 51 yard field goal.
It was a solid win if you were to only look at the final score, but not the case for Eagle fans, so let the speculation begin.
Obviously there are a ton of questions that will keep us busy as we prepare for Monday night football in Indianapolis, but first things first, the health status of offensive guard Evan Mathis. Mathis is a beast, his athleticism is up there with some of the best offensive guards in the game today; fingers crossed that the MRI on Monday shows no tears, and we don’t lose him for the season. Barbre will also have his ankle looked at, but his injury is not considered as serious and his role on this football team is not in the same conversation as Mathis.
The Eagles may have struggled early with their pass defense, but their run defense was solid throughout the game. I felt they were able to get decent pressure on quarterback Chad Henne, but will need to be better versus a quarterback like Andrew Luck who will dissect the defense if given that much time in the pocket. It was nice to see safeties Jenkins and Allen make plays in the backfield, and Kendricks an Cox start year three of their professional career with key contributions to secure the victory.
What Chip said to the team at halftime will forever remain a mystery; but it must have had some type of impact with the Eagles team we saw in the second half. I found his post-game press conference entertaining; especially when he mentioned that he was “booing” the team himself in the first half.
I’m focused on what is ahead, first the injury report, and then preparing for the Colts. No matter how I replay things I would have changed in the matchup in Sunday, the game is in the past, and we won.
This team is going to continue battling through obstacles and endure beatings in order to put themselves in a position to get back up, fight back and be victorious.
There is a different feel to games with Chip Kelly leading the charge, and it makes being a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles a special experience.
It’s wasn’t the start we hoped for; but the finish we expected. We won our season and home opener; not pretty by any means, but it got the job done.
If I had to guess, I would guess that Shady is banged up.
Again, I said that this game was a “donut” or “trap” or “look ahead” (whatever you want to call it – these games have these names for a reason) a week before it was played.
Birds getting picked by national media (P King nd others) to be in the SB. The offense is unstoppable! They’ll win the East easily.
Next week is the big Monday nighter against the Colts….but before that, there was all this “its just the Jags”
Go back and look at most of the talk in here…..”lowly Jags, win easy” etc etc
When I mentioned that the game would be tough early because the Eagles wouldn;t be up for it, but that they’d pull away in the second half, it was met with, “lowly jags, terrible offence, overrated D”
Now, did I expect 0-17? No….but I figured they’d be in tough…..because this happenes 997657x every year in the NFL. Big overhyped favourites struggling with lowly competition.
They did waht they had to do, pulled it together in the second and rolled.
I am still very concerned about the secondary vs the Colts next week….especially in the second half when Luck pulls his patented “I better wake up” routine.
Indy shows a propensity to start slow….Eagles need to pounce and never take the foot off the gas.
Yeah and If we pounce Chip and Foles will want to roll the carpet up and smoke the colts to get the week one taste out of their mouths.
Foles & McCoy were no shows this week as I expected after taking a beating last week vs the Skins… It’s a long Season and their long term health and confidence are more important than this game was…
Terrible Offensive Production today…
The Eagles D has been on the field all game and has played as well as it can, but it’s Frank Gore Time and Game is over in a meaningless game for the Birds in my opinion..
Has the Eagles Offense even crossed the 50 Yard line?
A shame to waste great Special Teams play and a Pick 6
In a “Goose Egg” by the leg weary, gun-shy,
And inept Offense by the entire Unit..
HC Kelky would have been better off sitting by Foles & McCoy and played Sanchez and Pokk respectively
Remember this game was played with house money in my opinion and not critical outside out of a loss of confidence which they will now have moving forward.. It is what it is…
Great Drive and Catch by Maclin
This Eagle Team has resolve, perserverence,
and never say die attitude which is a credit to Coach Kelly
Whether thisxrasults in a W or not remains to bee seen
Eagles were simply not ready to step up on the road
And beat a Good Team… No big deal really..
Strange Play Calling on the Final Drive..
3-1 after 1st Quarter is a Good Start and that what’s Eagles Staff,
Pkayers and yes Fans need to keep focused on
This way a throwaway game as I stated all week..
Though the Offense played like shit, but may bring some down down to earth and BMW a good thing for the long run…
Carlos Hyde haaaaa
I agree….in the end 3-1. We have the opportunity to survive the injuries going into the bye at possible 5-1 or 4-2. I dont see us losing two in a row.
Beginning of the year I had us 4-2 and this definitely a loss. Sucks…it was there…but everything makes sense.