Does Colin Cowherd Have a Point About Eagles Fans?

After the Eagles disappointing, frustrating, horrible loss to the Falcons Monday night, Philadelphian's were expectedly emotional. We may not have all agreed on what we were emotional about, but regardless, we all recognized that the Eagles lost a golden opportunity to improve to 2-0 not only on the season, but also in the conference. 

During his show Tuesday, Colin Cowherd of FOX tried to get a message across to Eagles fans. The video is attached, but I will react to everything that he had to say in this story (politics aside). Does Cowherd have a point?

Well, Colin, he didn't, and it isn't that simple. I know that the play was there, and if he does catch it, Colin would be correct. But because he didn't, the clock stopped and gave the Falcons enough time to go down the field, score a touchdown, and win. They did all that with 0 timeouts remaining. Because Saquon didn't catch the ball, the Falcons gained 25 seconds on the clock.

I watched Kirk Cousins look like an old man in week 1 against the Steelers. You know why he looked "good" Monday night Colin? Because the Eagles do not have a pass rush. Bryce Huff is looking like Byron Maxwell, Josh Sweat remains to be just a guy at times, and Jalen Carter is double and triple-teamed because Jordan Davis does nothing against the pass. Kirk Cousins didn't beat the Eagles, the D-Line killed them.

Yes. The Eagles should still be on top of the division when all is said and done. But is that all we are aiming for this season? No! Home-field advantage still matters in the NFL. The other major sports, not so much. Having the 1 or 2 seed still means something and the Eagles gave away an opportunity to be 2-0 in the conference.

Don't compare Nick Sirianni to Andy Reid. Don't compare Jalen Hurts to Patrick Mahomes. They are on a level of their own. The question is, is Nick Sirianni winning or losing games for the Eagles? He made decisions on Monday that lost them the game. He coached a good game week 1 against the Packers. Which one is more of the norm with Sirianni? For the majority of times over the last 10 games for the Eagles, it has been the latter. 

This may be the most important note of his entire diatribe, but what I said before the game Monday night, and how I still feel today, name me a team that loses their number one wide receiver and still has another receiver that is considered in the top 10 at their position.

The Eagles had DeVonta Smith, they had a top 5 running back in Saquon Barkley, they had a top 10 tight end in Dallas Goedert, they had a quarterback that is argued as a top 10 at his position, and they have a top 5 offensive line. Yes, the loss of AJ Brown and how late in the week it was is an important part of the story, but lets not act like the Eagles had to rely on Na Brown and James Thrash.

What does this do for me? This just tells me they choked away the game. This tells me mistakes were made at the end of the game. This tells me coaches and players came up small against an inferior team. Was this supposed to make me feel better?

He says this and makes the point about the defense taking a hit because of it. Colin! Except for the pass rush, the defense wasn't the problem! If they kill the clock and the Falcons don't score the game-winning touchdown, Atlanta leaves the Linc with a loss and just 15 points on the board. And with your point of the high-priced offense, see my response to point number 5. They had enough to win, and they didn't.

So, does Colin have a point that we need to relax, take a deep breath, and not freak out after every single loss? Maybe. But after this week? No. This week allowed people to bring up last season and ask if similar issues are still with the Eagles. If they lose on Sunday to the Saints, giddy up. So no Colin, I am not going to relax because it is just week 2, and that the Eagles were better for most of the game.

Talk about a kick in the teeth. To go from having the ball, in the Red Zone, with the lead, and under 2 minutes to go, to losing, is about as painful as a regular season loss gets. The Eagles should have won this game. They should be 1 of 10 2-0 teams. Instead, they gave the Falcons the ball back, Kirk Cousins drove them down the field, and Drake London caught the game-winning TD.

Related: Eagles Let Easy Win Slip Through Their Fingers, Literally

The following day has led to a lot of debate about who and what is to blame. There was a questionable decision by the Eagles to throw the ball on 3rd and 3 stopping the clock. There was a drop by Saquon that would have gone for a 1st don and clinched the win. There was the coaches playing it safe, kicking the FG, and giving it back to the Falcons with the chance to take the lead. And there was of course the defense imploding on that final drive.

And that is just the final two minutes. It is not even mentioning the run defense getting gashed, the pass rush being ineffective, and the offense getting blanked in the 1st quarter yet again. The final 2 minutes are dominating the conversation, understandably, but their issues did not start after the 2-minute warning.

There is lots of blame to go around. But what are the real takeaways? What things do we need to actually worry about? Are there any positives from the loss? Let's take a deeper dive into the game. the good, the bad, the really bad, and the things that should have us panicking two games into the season.

It is not just the number on the back of Bryce Huff's jersey, it is also his impact on the game. In fact, you can say the same thing for all of the edge rushers. Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, and Huff are all no-shows. They have 0 sacks from the Edge so far this season.

Howie took a big risk trading away Haason Reddick, and trusting in a former UDFA who had 1 good season where he was a part-time payer. Right now it is blowing up in his face. Huff does not look like a starting DE. It is on the Edge Rushers, but it is also on Howie. He picked these Edge Rushers. He thought they were good enough. We knew it was an issue, but he didn't address it, and now they are paying the price.

By the way, I pointed it out in the offseason, and it remains true. Reddick has more sacks than all 4 of the Eagles pass rushers combined over the last 4 seasons. They should have paid him.

The Eagles get no pass rush, but that is only the start of the Eagles' struggles along the line. They also can't stop the run to save their lives. This now marks 2 straight weeks where the opposing team had their way on the ground. Green Bay averaged 7.8 yards per carry, and the Falcons averaged 5.4. But Bijan Robinson himself averaged 6.9 yards per carry. It all brings the Eagles' grand total for yards allowed per carry this season to 6.4, the worst mark in the NFL.

Where is Jordan Davis? This is supposed to be his specialty. The Edge Rushers get the blame for the lack of the pass rush, but we can't let the Georgia boys in the middle off the hook either. The Falcons O Line bullied them. Every rush they were visibly pushed back. If they are this easy to run on, this defense will be no better than it was last year.

Could the Eagles have run more off the clock? Sure. They gave the ball back with 1:39 to go, but it could have been 1 minute. But for the people blaming that decision for the loss, the Falcons took just 1:05 to score that TD. And that was with them wasting some time. They got into the Red Zone so fast they started wasting time to give the Eagles less if they got the ball back.

It simply was not a factor. Even if they run the ball, and let the clock wind, there is zero reason to think that changes the result of the game. It was too easy for the Falcons to think having a bit less time would change the result, especially considering they had 34 seconds to spare.

If Saquon catches it, they win. That isn't an opinion, it is a fact. If they run it, maybe he converts the 1st and they win. Maybe he gets stuffed, they kick the FG and still lose. The only difference would be Hurts never gets the chance to throw that interception.

Saquon is a great player. Through 2 games, he has been one of their best players. But we saw a flaw in his game. Drops.

Saquon was billed as the Eagles version of Cristian McCaffrey. Someone who can impact the game in both the run and pass game. But the problem is, as we saw at the end of the game, Saquon has a drop problem. Per Jordan Raanan, that was his 16th drop since the start of the 2021 season. McCaffrey doesn't drop easy catches like that.

If he catches it the Eagles win and we would be talking about a 2-0 team. They get the 1st down and can take a knee. The clock doesn't even matter, because the Falcons would have no recourse to stop the clock. That sequence is not on the coaches, it is on Saquon for dropping an easy catch. Maybe next time they should throw it to Gainwell instead.

If we want a positive takeaway, Hurts looked like himself again running the ball. The first drive he ran it twice for 5 yards, and it looked like he still would struggle on the ground. But at some point, a switch flipped, and he was gashing the Falcons on the ground. He finished with 13 carries for 85 yards.

2 of those were Tush Pushes that went for a combined 4 yards. Obviously how many yards you can get on those plays is limited, they are designed to get 1 yard. On real runs, he had 11 carries for 81 yards, an average of 7.4 yards per rush. 

His legs were such a big part of their offense in 2022. You don't want to overdo it, but if NFL defenses have to account for AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goedert, Jahan Dotson, and also the legs of Jalen hurts, it becomes hard for the defense to account for everything. If he regains that 2022 form, it will go a long way to getting this offense to the next level.