Only the Eagles can calm the nervous…the plan should be easy

by John Kincade

After a week of fans being split on who to blame as their undefeated football team finally lost a game, one thought keeps rattling about my mind. Don’t forget who you are. I believe that on Monday night the Eagles lost their identity. I think panic set in a bit on the offensive side of the ball. The defense absolutely had a very soft plan vs the Commanders and executed it poorly, but the offense did them no favors.

Up 14-7 in the game with complete energy on their side, for some reason Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen decided to get pass happy. There are so many reasons that this was a completely illogical plan.

Up 14-7 this was what transpired;

The Commanders went on a 12 play drive for 6:30 and it resulted in a field goal.

Up 14-10 the Eagles started on their own 25 and decided to pass the ball 4 straight times. The last attempt resulting in the interception in the deep ball attempt to AJ Brown. They possessed the ball just 1:17

The Eagles already weary defense had to go right back on the field and what transpired was a 16 play , 7:04 drive where Washington took the lead 17-14.

So what do the Eagles do after their defense had already been asked to defend two drives that lasted almost 14 minutes? They inexplicably passed the ball again 3 times and were forced to punt. They controlled the ball just :33

It left 1:06 on the clock and Washington used their timeouts and managed to run 8 more plays and kick another field goal to go up 20-14 at halftime.

Of course the strategy after halftime would be to establish the run. They had to. Right? Nope. The Eagles run just 3 plays, 2 of them passes and take just 1:24 off the clock. What followed was another long Washington drive and a field goal to extend the lead to 23-14.

Last season the Eagles understood their identity. They were 2-5 and the season was circling the drain. They remembered that they have the best run blocking offensive line in football and they salvaged a winning season at 9-8 and snuck into the playoffs. It was exciting and a bit unexpected. They stopped being cute. They realized it was OK to just win in a boring fashion. This years team is much more dynamic in the passing game, but there isn’t a reason to ignore the running game to assist a night where their defense was uncharacteristically struggling. This shouldn’t have been hard yo comprehend. I doubt it happens again.

When you are 8-0 and have 2 score leads at some point in every game, arrogance can set in. It did them in on Monday night. Make no mistake about it, the Colts defense is very impressive. What isn’t impressive? The Colts offense has been putrid. They average just 15 points a game. They want to run the football, but they have very little success doing it. The Eagles went out and added some large veteran talent to bolster the loss of Jordan Davis. A rookie missing a month shouldn’t cause this disarray. If the Eagles remember who they are at their core, it won’t.