Wake-Up Call: Jaws On Foles’ Struggles

Ron Jaworski had some interesting things to say about Nick Foles‘ struggles in the opener against the Jaguars.

Like most of us, he saw a quarterback on Sunday that didn’t seem to be processing information quickly and who was holding onto the ball too long.

But Jaws believes there was more to the story; that part of the problem was that Jacksonville had a bead on what the Eagles were doing on offense.

“I felt that one of the great traits last year of Chip Kelly was getting Number One open. In other words, when you call a play, you design to get the ball to Zach Ertz and he pops open. If you’re designing a play to get the ball to Jeremy Maclin, he pops open. And he was really, really good at that,” Jaworski said during an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic. “I thought for the most part [on Sunday], especially in the first half, Jacksonville kind of knew what they were doing. They were taking away where Nick wanted to go with the football. And he wasn’t getting the ball out of his hand quick enough when Number One wasn’t open. That was the big difference in Week 1 to me.”

One of the questions heading into this season was whether life would get more difficult for coach and quarterback now that tape and tendencies were out there for the NFL world to see. According to Jaworski, there were instances where the Jags benefitted from their understanding of what the Eagles like to do.

“The interception was a bad decision, not a bad throw. It’s a smash concept that the Eagles run all the time. The Jaguars are ready for it, the corner baited Nick into throwing that ball into the back corner and he was just waiting for the throw,” he said. “These are things now that teams are starting to see more of this Chip Kelly on offense what they saw on the offseason study, so now there is some predictability to it.”

Even so,  receivers routinely shook loose against Jacksonville. Eventually, Foles found them.

“You get hit in the head, slapped in the face a few times,  it takes a little bit of that confidence away,” said Jaworski. “He took some shots and a couple were blindside shots and a few were self-inflicted because he was holding onto the football. As time goes on, he’s going to have to develop a better clock in his head. In other words, feel that pressure.”

WHAT YOU MISSED

A busy day on the transaction front for the Eagles. They sent Najee Goode and Allen Barbre to injured reserve and Evan Mathis to short-term IR.

They also signed offensive lineman Wade Smith, and added a pair of players to the practice squad.

“We will not lose sight of his value.” Brandon Boykin‘s agent talks about the cornerback’s role and future. 

Player-by-player breakdown of the Eagles’ defensive performance against the Jags from Sheil.  

Kapadia gets us more familiar with the Colts. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Sam Donnellon of the Daily News on what the second half against Jacksonville tells us.

[Y]eah, some fans called for Mark Sanchez before the half had ended at the Linc, but most of us simply gripped the arms of our chairs tighter as Foles piloted so unevenly, the way you do on an airplane when there’s unexpected turbulence.

And if you’re the kind of passenger who believes the pilot will figure it out before your vessel plunges irretrievably, you probably place a lot of stock in what unfolded in the second half, your team tapping into every one of its resources – passing, rushing, pass defense, run defense, special teams – to score 34 unanswered points and get out of Dodge alive.

In the process, they also fed the hope, so tested in those first 10 minutes, that they will not be as flawed defensively as they were at this time last year, that their quarterback has that “It” that can clean up messes, even self-made, and that the tonic your coach came in here selling is still being guzzled by a team that, at the very least, doesn’t crumble as it once did when faced with adversity.

Tommy Lawlor writes about Bennie Logan‘s performance Sunday.

Logan decided to go ahead and put those worries to rest on Sunday. He played very well. Logan was a key part of the excellent short yardage defense. He drove his blocker into the backfield on the initial 3rd down stop of the game, which disrupted the play. Logan added a couple of solo tackles in the game. He read a TE screen well and helped to disrupt that play.

Logan wasn’t dominant or great, but played well. Some fans were on him due to the Saints loss, but I think Logan can be a good NT for the Eagles. He is strong enough to 2-gap and is athletic enough to move around and be effective when the Eagles want to mix in stunts and things like that.

COMING UP

We’ll speak to Pat Shurmur and Billy Davis prior to today’s 12:15 practice.