3 Things We Learned From the Philadelphia Eagles After Week 6
The previously undefeated Philadelphia Eagles got kicked in the mouth in Week 6 by the New York Jets. Everything that could have gone wrong did, as they fell 20-14 after leading 14-3 in the first half. As the Eagles enter a gauntlet schedule that will have them face the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys twice over the next seven weeks, a lot needs to be figured out in a short period of time.
Here are three things that stood out the most in Week 6.
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- Lane Johnson is the Team MVP
It’s hard to justify naming an offensive lineman the team MVP of a Super Bowl-caliber roster, but Lane Johnson’s importance to the Eagles cannot be stressed enough. The All-Pro right tackle has not allowed a sack since Week 11 of the 2020 season, and everything went south once he left the game due to injury. The pocket continually collapsed on Jalen Hurts, and replacement Jack Driscoll was getting embarrassed. The Eagles pride themselves on having an elite offensive line, but they could lose Johnson for a couple of weeks as an expected prognosis of a high ankle sprain looms. They’ll need to maneuver some things around to protect Hurts.
- Defensive Depth Proved Itself
The Eagles came into Sunday with many injuries on the defensive side of the ball. Up front, Defensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner Jalen Carter was sidelined, and on the back end, top cornerback Darius Slay was ruled out. Other key depth pieces like Justin Evans and Marlon Tuipulotu were out, adding to the barrage of Eagles injuries, but they didn’t skip a beat. The Eagles’ offense continually put the defense in bad field positions with the four turnovers, but the defense stood tall in critical moments and gave the offense a chance to win despite how dreadful they played. That’s all you can ask out of your defense. They’ll need to get healthy ahead of their game against the high-flying Miami Dolphins in Week 7, but it was a promising outing yesterday.
- Jalen Hurts Needs to Look in the Mirror
Since the start of the 2022 season, Sunday was easily the worst we’ve seen Jalen Hurts look. He was indecisive in the pocket from start to finish and let the Jets’ pressure, once Lane Johnson got hurt, fluster him by forcing passes and escaping the pocket too early. He totaled three interceptions, but one was due to a Dallas Goedert drop, and one was the result of his arm getting hit, but the third interception late in the fourth quarter was inexcusable. It may have been the ugliest interception I have seen in a game all season. Still, the Eagles are sitting pretty at 5-1, but it all starts with Hurts if they want to be back in the win column. He was paid $255 million to figure this out. He needs to have more faith in himself as a passer and trust what he sees from the defense so we don’t find him rushing throws when the game is in crunch time. If not, the Eagles’ schedule will get ugly fast.
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