An ugly game for Philly's offense

    Week 1 is almost always crazy. NFL teams flip flop back and forth creating weird unpredictable situations. So let's start from the beginning. 

    No one was expecting a 21-20 Lions squeaker over the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes had the game several times, but drops from his receivers and a tough Detroit team sealed a close win. And right after that followed a Browns demolition over Cincinnati. Joe Burrow was held to 82 passing yards, and the Bengals team could only muster 142 offensive yards. Deshaun Watson looked rusty, but led Cleveland to a 24-3 win. Baker Mayfield and the Bucs stunned the Vikings, as Mayfield made another comeback player push. Minnesota was held to 17 points, as Mayfield's two touchdowns and Tampa's 20 points were too much. The Jets also shocked Buffalo, with Zach Wilson taking snaps after Aaron Rodgers went down with an Achilles injury. New York's defense picked off Josh Allen three times.

     However, the Eagles were not affected by the sudden slump. Their instant message to  New England was: you're losing. And they got down to business quickly. In the first 12.5 minutes they scored 16 points. They scored a field goal on their first drive, and then a Darius Slay pick-six gave them a touchdown. Then, a Jordan Davis force fumble set up a Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith touchdown. The Eagles looked right at home at Gilette Stadium. 

Hurts and the Eagles got off to a hot start

Photo Credit: Arkansas Democrat Gazette

   But they forgot about the second quarter, and things went down hill from there. The Eagles managed just nine points the rest of the game as Jalen Hurts and his offense couldn't get much going. A.J. Brown caught seven passes for 79 yards and Kenny Gainwell rushed for 54 yards on the ground. 

    It was the defense that carried the Eagles. You wouldn't have guessed it with Mac Jones's impressive stats, but they won in the trenches and their rookie showed up. Jalen Carter. Jalen Carter. NFL teams will tell the story for years, how they passed up on a 1st round worthy draft pick. Carter has turned the Eagles D line into a wall. Nothing gets past. That explains the Patriots' 76 total rushing yards. Carter earned a sack in his first ever NFL game and Jordan Davis and Josh Sweat shared another. The secondary was a whole other issue, as they gave up 316 passing yard and three touchdowns. But it was the last drive that really mattered, as Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte couldn't make a catch on 4th and 11. He was ruled out if bounds and the Eagles escaped with a 25-20 win. 

    The first game is never perfect. Obviously the team needs some fine-tuning, as the secondary got spanked and the offense burned out quickly. Jalen Hurts finished with only 170 passing yards and a touchdown. These are good stats, but if we want to see more of last year the Eagles are going to need to step up their game. At the same time, they came away with the W, and it's good to be watching Hurts play again. 

The above photo was taken from an Arkansas Democrat Gazette article. Photo was an AP Photo/Michael Dwyer. Image used for commentary.