Eagles Squeak out a Win Over Colts

Passing Leaders:

Matt Ryan: 23/32, 213 YDS

Jalen Hurts: 18/25, 190 YDS, 1 TD

Rushing Leaders:

Jonathan Taylor: 22 ATT, 84 YDS, 1 TD

Jalen Hurts: 16 ATT, 86 YDS, 1 TD

Receiving Leaders:

Micheal Pittman Jr: 6 REC, 75 YDS

DeVonta Smith: 6 REC, 78 YDS

Man I really wanted this one, I wanted it bad man. After we came out on the first drive just fuckin marching down their throats, I thought for a brief second, a wonderfully brief second “oh my god, are we good? Like good good? Like SUPER BOWL good?”. Nope. Not at all. That first drive had everyone in the NFL scared, Bill Cowher was cowering in his seat on the NFL on CBS as Jeff Saturday looked like the right man for the job, did Saturday change the culture so much that an entire team changed over night? Well, kind of yeah, he even said it this Sunday after saying that Jeff Saturday was “a disgrace to the coaching profession”, really? You would think he could pick-up a few things while giving the ball to Peyton Manning for 13 years straight, he was around one of the greatest coaches of all time in Tony Dungy and learned the game from him, I would say Jeff knows what the hell he’s doing. The problem with Jeff being there is actually wanting the Colts to go to the playoffs rather than just wither and die to get a top 10 pick to grab a lineman and then get Hendon Hooker late 1st or early 2nd round. Now I am emotionally attached again, the Colts CAN hurt me and that is almost worse and they hurt me this week, again. With this loss, it puts the Colts at 4-6-1, 10 wins will most likely get you into the playoffs, Indy will most likely have to win out to make the playoffs, along with other things to go right, 9 wins could maybe, possibly, find their way in but it’s unlikely. The Colts are awesome at fooling you into thinking there is possibly a chance in hell that they can do something magical, and it get’s more fun and heartbreaking every year. The Colts really are like an ex-girlfriend who had a lot of money, a lot of fun to hang out with, she gets you revved up and ready to go thinking things are going to the next level, maybe a full relationship with her but nope, she dumps you on your ass and you guys keep reconnecting every year and every year the same thing happens, you have fun, you get excited and hopeful and bam, missed the playoffs. 

Offensive Keys to the Game:

1. Protect Matt Ryan: You did a horrible job! Ryan was sacked 4 times this game but those 4 times were in critical moments in the game where it set us behind the chains. 2nd and goal from the 5, late in the game, they run some stupid ass double fake reverse and the defense doesn’t bite, Ryan is swarmed and has to throw it away, the very next play he is sacked for a loss of 5+ and the Colts settle for a field goal to go up 6, that burned us because we didn’t score again and lost by 1. The first drive everything looked awesome, the line was protecting but they just got tired, too many needless penalties (looking at you Raimann). 
2. Please Avoid Turnovers: The one damn time they win the turnover battle, they lose the game. The JT fumble was stupid, I know that’s what JT does but all he has to do is go down once he get’s the 1st but they kept pushing, honestly, pushing the pile helps us more than it hurts us in the long run but today it hurt us, losing at least a field goal in that situation could be why we lost.
3. Run the Damn Ball: 2 straight games with 20+ carries for Taylor, now he didn’t have the result he wanted but with their addition of Suh to the front, it’s going to make the Eagles run stopping game much better, they were middle of the pack in stopping the run but now they are going to be top 10. That first series I thought Taylor was going to rush for 10,000,000 yards, but after that it seemed like they abandoned the run in almost every situation. What I don’t see much from them is play action,  multiple times the Eagles defense loaded the line ready for the run, it’s up to Ryan to audible out of the play and run play action, leaving the big guys in man coverage for the Colts is going to workout more than most of the time.

Defensive Keys to the Game

1. Finish the job: Hurts was sacked 3 times on the day, which almost seems impossible giving his speed, the colts defense put a good amount of pressure on him all day but in one of the bigger moments, they failed to account for his legs, not putting a spy on him and letting him waltz into the end zone for the game winning touchdown, Hurts don’t it?
2. Limit the Weapons: No Philadelphia receiver had over 100 yards, the Eagles struggled a little bit in the RedZone and mid yardage situations, showing the clear absence of Dallas Godert. Miles Sanders was limited to under 50 rushing yards but Hurts was the problem, they did such a good job of stopping almost everyone on the team, they forgot about the best player at quarterback, they did not do their due diligence with leaving Okereke or Franklin to spy on Hurts all game, as he proved his legs aren’t there for show.
3. Pounce on Their Mistake: 3 fumbles, 2 recovered, 2 turnovers in a game is good, but that third fumble can also ring loud as a missed opportunity to jump on it quicker, that would have taken 3 points away from the Eagles. The other issues was Jalen Hurt’s under thrown ball to Miles Sanders on a wheel route with Bobby Okereke in coverage, first off, super intelligent play by either Hurts or Sirriani to recognize that they were in man coverage and pull a Carson Wentz and under throw the ball to draw a PI, if Okereke just turned his head around  and looked for the ball, he could have made a play on it and picked off Hurts but nope, he tucks his head down and bull rushes Sanders before he even comes within 5 yards of the ball, any person watching the game immediately knew it happened, especially Colts fans because Wentz did that all the time last year and it would usually end up in a catch or a PI.

I have to say, anyone blaming Okereke for the loss or/and McLaughlin for missing the field goal and “losing the game”, have no understanding of football. First off, asking your middle line backer to play man coverage on a deep ball, running with his back to the play who has statistically been bad in coverage this year, is bad coaching. A 50 yard field goal is absolutely no gimme in the NFL, it’s like asking a QB to drop a ball in the bread basket to win the game in man coverage, it’s difficult to do, most people can’t even get the ball to go 50 yards, plus McLaughlin has been AWESOME all year for us, he singlehandedly won the Denver game for us and has pretty much kept us in every game this year because we can’t score a TD, so anyone giving him shit can come see me. The only time that should be pointed to as losing the game would be 1st and goal from the 5 for the Colts to go up by 2 scores with 5 minuets left. If you cannot score a TD from the 5 yard line, knowing it would win the game, you don’t deserve to win that game, that is much more of a gimme than a 50 yard field goal, the offense is solely to blame for this. Any “game changing play” that would “lose us the game” cannot happen outside of the 4th quarter, pointing to something that happened in the 2nd quarter and saying “that’s why we lost” is childish, if the thing that went wrong goes right, that changes the entire course of the game and it is more than likely something else goes wrong, you don’t know. I can’t make Okereke the scapegoat of why they lost because the defense should have never been in that situation in the first place, they SHOULD have been up by 2 scores with 5 minuets to go but the offense’s inability to score cost them, if your defense gives up under 20 points in the NFL, generally you should win, if you lose and your defense gives up under 20, then the offense is entirely to blame, the defense did their job, the offense failed and constantly asks way too much from the defense

(If the Colts scored OVER 20 points in every game this season, they would be 8-3 compared to 4-6-1, wow)

Fun fact: The Colts have lost 2 games by an exact score of 17-16 at home, in both of those games they gave up the game winning touchdown in the North end zone inside of 2 minuets to play, both of those games they also had a chance to drive down the field and win the game, they failed.

Player of the Game Prediction:

Man was I wrong, I thought after that first drive though, man I had a crystal ball but alas, I was wrong as hell

My score prediction was Colts:25 Eagles: 17, I called them scoring 17 point humble brag

Next Game: vs Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football