Zone Read: Eagles-Colts, the Day After
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GAME BALL OFFENSE: DARREN SPROLES
Regular readers know I’m not afraid to go with the obvious here. Sproles had caught 378 passes prior to joining the Eagles. But he had never topped 128 receiving yards in a game. That changed Monday night when Sproles totaled 152 yards.
Foles targeted Sproles seven times, and all seven balls were complete. Overall, 11 touches for 178 yards and the key to the Birds’ victory.
GAME BALL DEFENSE: MALCOLM JENKINS
With 5:15 left, the Colts were in control of the game. They held a 27-20 lead and had driven to the Eagles’ 22 yard line. With a field goal from Adam Vinatieri, they would have been able to make it a two-possession game with the clock winding down.
Luck dropped back and looked for T.Y. Hilton, but Hilton ended up on the ground, and Jenkins was in the right place at the right time, coming up with the interception.
Asked about the play after the game, Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said: “I think I had the same view as you did. It sure looked like [Hilton got held] on the Jumbotron. We’ll look at the tape.”
Pressed further about why the Colts didn’t just run the ball and kick a field goal, Pagano added: “I think everybody saw what happened on the play. The last thing we said to the quarterback was, ‘Take care of the football.’ If a guy gets whatever, gets tackled and dragged down, whatever it was, there’s nothing the quarterback or anybody else can do about it. Your thinking is not wrong. Our thinking was the same thing. We’ve got the field goal, take care of the football. It didn’t work out.”
Overall, Luck completed 20 of 34 passes for 172 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. But he averaged just 5.1 yards per attempt. That’s the second-lowest mark of his career.
The Colts did not produce a single pass play of 20+ yards.
Don’t get me wrong. The defense had plenty of issues – specifically in the first half. But Jenkins came up big in a key spot.
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THAT’S WHAT HE SAID
“First and foremost, Darren is a receiver and I’ve said that since day one, since we’ve had him here.” – CHIP KELLY
Kelly decided to have a little fun at the podium. All offseason, he’s been adamant that Sproles is a running back. He’s questioned why Sproles didn’t receive more carries at his previous stops and often bristled when reporters suggested Sproles would be more of a factor in the passing game this season.
But on Monday night, Kelly unleashed Sproles as a receiver, and he averaged 21.7 yards per reception.
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FIVE RANDOM THOUGHTS
1. Surprisingly, the Eagles’ run defense was an issue in the first half. The Colts had 101 yards on 19 carries (5.3 YPC) before halftime. In the second half, the Birds tightened up, allowing 68 yards on 19 carries (3.6 YPC).
“When you go back to the Stanford and Oregon battles, they had gone to the big personnel [packages],” said Billy Davis. “Pep Hamilton was there and the quarterback, so we prepared a little bit more for that this week. We didn’t do as much tackle over as they gave us tonight, which is the unbalanced look. And we had a couple misalignments there, and they hit us. They had a good plan. … The rushing yards were way more than we wanted to give up, but the guys fought.”
The Eagles are built to stop the run. That’s the strength of a two-gap 3-4. They held up well in that respect last year and also in Week 1 against the Jaguars.
So for now, we can chock it up to one bad half. But Alfred Morris has 176 yards through two games and is averaging 4.9 YPC. So the Eagles’ run defense will be tested in Week 3.
2. Many observers (including yours truly) hyped Ertz up this summer. Sometimes it felt like we were going overboard. But by all accounts, he’s making the leap.
“That guy’s unbelievable,” said Peters. “He’s almost like another receiver at tight end. He can catch, he can run. It’s a mismatch problem for the ‘backers.”
I asked Peters who Ertz reminds him of.
“He kind of reminds me of a [Julius] Thomas, just a mismatch problem. He can run real good, athlete, and he causes mismatches for the linebackers.”
3. Eagles first-round pick Marcus Smith II did not dress Monday night. In week 1, he was in uniform but did not play any snaps. The move wasn’t really a big surprise. The team has maintained for weeks now that the rookie is not yet ready to contribute.
The question now becomes: How much progress can Smith make this season if he doesn’t see the field? Or is he destined to not have a role at all until 2015?
The team will preach patience, and I still think Smith has a chance to be a good player. But it’s reasonable for fans to question the pick, especially when they see players like Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller and Saints WR Brandin Cooks making immediate contributions.
4. As suspected, the Colts played a lot of man coverage, and it was the running backs and tight ends who did damage in the passing game.
The wide receivers combined for six catches and 70 yards on 18 targets. Jeremy Maclin had four grabs for 45 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets. Jordan Matthews was a non-factor (one catch, 17 yards). And Riley Cooper had one catch for 8 yards on three targets. He also drew a 35-yard pass interference penalty that looked questionable based on the replay they showed at Lucas Oil Stadium.
After the game, Kelly voiced no concern about the play of the wide receivers. Watching live, it seemed like they did little to help out Foles and the offense. The All-22 will provide some answers, but the wide receivers’ ability to beat man coverage is a storyline we’ll be revisiting again soon.
5. It was tough to get a good read on Foles in this game. Watching live, it seemed that he was better than last week, but still rough in spots. The numbers: 21-for-37 for 331 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was obviously helped by Sproles’ monster gains in the screen game.
Of course, the Eagles had multiple drops – two by Matthews, two by Cooper, one by Brent Celek. And I don’t really fault Foles for the interception. Cornerback Greg Toler made a tremendous play, and Maclin didn’t do much to stop the turnover.
Foles didn’t take a sack, and he seemed to make good decisions for the most part. His accuracy was up and down. Foles misfired on a couple wide receiver screens and couldn’t connect with Maclin on a couple downfield throws.
Overall, an improved performance, but he has yet to play his best football through two games.