The Eagles tried to run on the #Patriots defense with the same gap-read (counter) concepts that Baltimore and Chicago burned them with last season. After Gainwell’s 16-yarder on the opening drive, thought the Pats defense shut them down. Good sign.
The Eagles tried to run on the #Patriots defense with the same gap-read (counter) concepts that Baltimore and Chicago burned them with last season.
After Gainwell's 16-yarder on the opening drive, thought the Pats defense shut them down. Good sign.
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) September 11, 2023
6 comments
The Patriots have historically been bad against mobile QBs and yesterday was the first time I remember them actually shutting down mobility of the QB. Hopefully a good sign moving forward.
That opening run had me cringing and thinking the worst. Didn’t even think about how much they tightened up after that but they absolutely did
The Eagles were baffled too. They kept trying to do the same thing and got shut down every time.
Is anyone else surprised the Eagles did not attempt even once their unstoppable run plays from last year with Hurts under center?
Super excited after this game.
Sure, if it wasn’t raining, maybe we don’t tip that pick6 or have the fumble in 1st Q. We’d probably win. Not to mention the Elliot lucky doink kick, or our flashy rookie wr’s forgetting to toe tap. Lastly, that last catch seemed like a push out.
We saw similar vs mediocre teams last season, but yesterday was against an elite team.
This Fins game will be telling. Not a must win game, but if we beat Fins, I’m starting to see 11-12 W compared to 7-8.
Go Pats!
That first drive felt like the Pats went super vanilla / bend but don’t break to get an idea of what the eagles wanted to do in the game
Hurts is an interesting QB, in college he struggled more so in the pocket but was great and scrambling and making plays outside the pocket, while in the NFL it’s been reversed (hurts had a 24 QBR while throwing outside the pocket last season). The pats have changed their philosophy on the edge a bit the last few years, leading to more sack production from edge guys like Judon, and I think the combination of those two factors really unfolded with the pats crashing the edge hard, seemingly wanting to push Hurts outside the pocket. The difference maker there is the insane defensive speed this roster has to pursue and finish the play through and keeping the pressure up even once he escaped
In hindsight I bet the eagles wish they would’ve spread it out and threw it more, that seemed to open up more as the game went along and the pats went softer in coverage
Hard to ask for a more promising week 1 performance given the team on the other side. Can’t wait to see this team against a pocket passer as well