It wasn’t a pretty win for the Birds. It was in fact it was ugly win 20-17, but sweet nonetheless. All the Eagles players and fans agree that we will take it, ugly and all. The difference in the game was Cameron Dicker our new kicker. He was signed last week and kicking in the place of our injured kicker, Jake Elliott. Dicker was outstanding. He booted the kickoffs deep, and was perfect kicking extra points and two field goals. Each kick was perfect and right down the middle.
On the other hand, with seconds remaining and the game on the line the Cardinals kicker, Matt Ammendola, who had been sent packing last week by Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs, missed a 42 yard field goal attempt wide right, which could have tied the game up. On the television broadcast, they showed Ammendola missing kick after kick wide right. He did the same thing when given the chance with the game on the line.
Still, the Eagles did not play the best football against the Arizona Cardinals. They built a big lead 14-0, then hung onto it in the second half, which has been their pattern thus far this year. At some point in the season it will come back to haunt them if they don’t push themselves to be sharper offensively in the second half. This team must correct this patten or they will regretting it later on.
I thought they got away from the running game, which I think limited the passing game because they started throwing the football too much. You have to give the Cardinals some credit. They were ready and they were prepared for what the Eagles like to do and I thought Arizona did a good job of battling back and making it a game. The Eagles have got to play better and put together a full game offensively. They don’t need to get away from the running game. I think pounding the football on the ground opens up the passing game much more. When the Eagles establish their dominance on the ground, it’s make getting open much easier for the receivers and it makes the job of the offensive line less difficult. Defensive linemen can’t get their best pass rush, if they’re not sure of the Eagles running the football.
Again quarterback Jalen Hurts was the key to the Eagles being able to score early in the game and build a 14-0 lead. On the first drive, the Birds receivers were wide open and Hurts was on target because the Cardinals weren’t sure if the Eagles might run the football. Jalen was doing a great job of taking what the Arizona defense was giving him. The Eagles knew coming into the game that the Cardinals love to blitz and they like to play zone behind it which is some what unusual.
The zone coverages force a quarterback to be patient. You’re not going to get the big play as easily because you know they’ve got their safeties deep. Defensive coordinators play zone in order to limit the big plays and I thought the Eagles did a good job early in the game of taking what was there, but as the game went on I thought that they got away from that running game. In fact, Hurts threw a pass that should have been intercepted, but the Cardinals defender dropped the ball.
The Eagles can run the football on anybody and I think this is going to play out in the upcoming game against the Dallas Cowboys who have an outstanding defense. The Eagles have got to run the football on them because Dallas will put some major pressure on Hurts if the Eagles get one-dimensional. If the Birds are just throwing the ball every play the Cowboys defensive linemen are going to pin back their ears and come flying off the line on the snap of the football. The only thing that can stop that is a running threat, meaning even if you’re not having a lot of success running the football they must continue to run it often enough to keep the other team’s defensive linemen honest. That will help the Birds offensive line keep pass rush pressure off of Hurts.
Ultimately I thought the game was decided by a mistake by the Cardinals because their quarterback Kyler Murray, who doesn’t seem to be the quality of the leader that we’ve got with Jalen Hurts. Throughout the game, Murray was arguing with his receivers. He was making motions after incomplete passes to highlight that the receiver had done something wrong. It was kind of showing them up by pointing where they should’ve been on a different plays. If you’re not a highly accomplished quarterback, you’re not supposed to show up your teammates like that.
I wasn’t surprised because I saw him doing that in games they’ve played this season. Murray’s reputation for not being a guy who likes to study film seemed to show because he doesn’t have good leadership qualities. I’ve always heard that “Preparation time is not wasted time”. I know what sitting and looking at the tape of the opposing team and seeing what they like to do is not a waste of time. I don’t care what kind of talent you’ve got and Murray is extremely highly talented player but the fact that he doesn’t like to look at film shows. He definitely made a mistake at the end of the game by sliding and he didn’t get the first down. He immediately got up and clocked the ball down and that wound up costing them a chance to get a first down. It was a costly mistake by Murray.
After the game, numerous media people were trying to blame the mistake by Murray on the guy who was operating the scoreboard.
