Game Review: Eagles Offense Vs. Giants

Here’s a player-by-player breakdown of the Eagles’ offense after having re-watched Sunday’s game against the Giants.

QUARTERBACKS

Nick Foles – What’s the right way to put this? There was plenty of good with some really bad mixed in.

Overall, Foles went 21-for-34 for 248 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. There were a lot of short and intermediate throws, although he took more shots downfield than he did against St. Louis. Many of the shots came off of play-action, and Foles had some wide open receivers. He went 4-for-6 on passes that traveled 20 yards or more downfield, according to Pro Football Focus. Foles made a good read and did a good job of getting the ball out quickly against a blitz in the first, finding Zach Ertz for 23 yards on a crossing route. Fantastic throw on the corner route to Ertz in the end zone that resulted in a toucuhdown. Great play fake, and the throw was on the money to James Casey for a 26-yard score. Good patience and good throw downfield to Jordan Matthews for 26 yards in the third.

Now, the bad. Foles was nearly intercepted by the middle linebacker on a throw to Riley Cooper over the middle in the second, and he airmailed one to an open Ertz later in the quarter. Bad interception late in the second. The pocket started to collapse, but Foles just fired to his check-down, Sproles, without looking to see if a defender was in the area. Chip Kelly said Foles was trying to throw the ball away, but that’s not what it looked like off TV copy. He held on to the ball on first down of the next series and took a sack. Bad decision in the third quarter. Foles escaped pressure, rolled to his right, threw into traffic and was intercepted again.

On the season, he is completing 59.5 percent of his passes and averaging 6.9 YPA. He’s thrown 10 touchdowns, and only Kirk Cousins (8) has thrown more interceptions than Foles (7).

RUNNING BACKS

LeSean McCoy – Easily his best game of the season. McCoy carried 22 times for 149 yards (6.8 YPC). The Eagles ran the ball with Foles under center quite a bit. They had success on the split zone and the sweep. And it looked like they added a new counter run where McCoy started one way in the backfield before taking the handoff and changing direction. McCoy showed great patience and broke a tackle on a 12-yard run on a sweep during the first drive. He had a big hole up the middle on an 18-yard run in the first. McCoy later had another 18-yarder. Great individual effort in the second, making a man miss, getting to the sideline and picking up 15. He gained 28 yards on a sweep in the third. McCoy broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage and got to the sideline for an 18-yard gain in the third. Great game overall. He’ll see if he can keep it going after the bye at Arizona. If all goes according to plan, McCoy will have his starting offensive line back in Week 10.

Darren Sproles – He suffered an MCL sprain in the third quarter and could miss some action. Sproles was his usual productive self before that. He had a 43-yard punt return in the second. And as a running back, Sproles turned the corner on a 15-yard TD (sweep) in the third. On the reverse in the third, his toss to Josh Huff hit his elbow, but the Eagles recovered the fumble. Sproles had seven carries for 39 yards.

Trey Burton – He had to fill in as an emergency RB down the stretch and had five carries for 10 yards. Great block on Sproles’ 43-yard punt return.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Jeremy Maclin – He had two catches for 16 yards on three targets. Maclin had a 9-yard catch for a first down on the first drive. Good block on McCoy’s 15-yard run in the second.

Riley Cooper – This was his best game of the season. Cooper had five catches for 59 yards. He made an 11-yard grab for a first down on the first drive and had a 14-yarder on the next drive. Cooper had back-to-back catches of 15 and 13 in the second. Nice block on McCoy’s 9-yard run in the third.

Jordan Matthews – Matthews finished with four catches for 50 yards. He had a 7-yard catch and run late in the second quarter and came down with a 26-yard grab off play-action in the third. Matthews picked up 10 on a screen in the fourth and gained 7 on a 3rd-and-3 screen in the fourth. It still feels like he should be more involved. Perhaps that’s coming after the bye.

Josh Huff – The Eagles tried to get him the ball on the reverse, but Sproles had a bad toss. Huff was targeted on a screen late that was incomplete. He had some good moments as a blocker. Huff had a good block on Sproles’ 43-yard punt return in the second. Really nice job with his block on Sproles’ 15-yard TD in the third. Huff whiffed on his block on a McCoy run that picked up 2 yards in the second.

Jeff Maehl – He was not targeted.

TIGHT ENDS

Brent Celek – This was his best game of the season. Nice sift block on Jason Pierre-Paul on the 5-yard McCoy run in the second. Great job on Pierre-Paul on McCoy’s 18-yard run in the first. He handled Pierre-Paul in pass protection on Foles’ 26-yard completion to Matthews:

Celek got just enough of Mathias Kiwanuka on a down block on McCoy’s 28-yard run in the third. Good seal on the sweep to McCoy that picked up 5 in the fourth. As a receiver, Celek had four catches for 45 yards. He came down with a 24-yard grab in the second.

Zach Ertz – Excellent game for Ertz too. He finished with three catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Ertz had a 9-yard grab on the first drive. He then picked up 23 on a crosser. And Ertz made a fantastic grab on the 15-yard TD in the first. He had Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on his back, but stretched out for the ball and got his knee in bounds. Afterwards, Ertz and McCoy went through their handshake routine as Duce Staley patiently waited to do some coaching:

As a blocker, Ertz got just enough of the safety to allow McCoy to pick up 15 in the second. Good job on the DB on Sproles’ 6-yard run in the third. It was only one game, but it looked like the extra work he’s putting in as a blocker is paying off.

James Casey – Casey delivered as well. He took out Pierre-Paul, and a defensive back ran with him on McCoy’s 18-yard split zone run in the first. Nice block to help spring McCoy for an 18-yard gain in the third. He got loose after a play-fake and scored on the 26-yard TD in the second.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Jason Peters – Great game for Peters. He held up well in pass protection and was a a key to the run game success. Excellent block on McCoy’s 18-yard run in the first. Good double team by him and Matt Tobin on McCoy’s 5-yard run in the first. Excellent job on the defensive tackle on McCoy’s 18-yard run. Great job taking out two defenders on McCoy’s 9-yard run in the third. Pulled and got to Jon Beason on the Sproles sweep that scored from 15 yards out. Good kick-out block on Sproles’ 6-yard run in the third. Nice job on the screen to Matthews that picked up 10 in the fourth. Peters threw another key block on McCoy’s 5-yard run in the fourth. He went up against Robert Quinn and Pierre-Paul in consecutive weeks without allowing a sack or a QB hit.

Matt Tobin – Better than last week, but still had plenty of issues. Tobin failed to control Johnathan Hankins on a 2-yard McCoy run in the first. He didn’t get to the LB on a sweep in the first where Sproles was stopped after a 2-yard gain. He gave up some pressure that led to a sack in the second, although Foles did hold on to the ball on the play. He gave up a hit on Foles on the very next play. Cullen Jenkins beat him badly with a spin move to pressure Foles in the third. And Tobin couldn’t sustain his block on Hankins on a McCoy run that gained 1 in the fourth. On the flip side, Tobin did a good job on McCoy’s 18-yard run in the first. Good double team with Peters on McCoy’s 5-yard run in the first. And he hooked the D-Lineman inside on Sproles’ 6-yard run in the third.

David Molk – He’s playing better and did a good job specifically on some sweeps to the perimeter. Molk pulled and took out Beason on McCoy’s 28-yard run. He also took out a DB on Sproles’ 15-yard TD. Molk pulled and blocked the LB on McCoy’s 5-yard run in the fourth. There were some miscues as well. He got out in space, but didn’t block anybody on the screen to Huff in the fourth. He pulled, but didn’t block anyone on McCoy’s 12-yard run in the first. Molk was beaten badly by Jenkins in pass pro in the first, but Foles escaped and threw the ball away. He pulled, but missed his block on McCoy’s 3-yard run in the second. And Molk could not square up the linebacker on McCoy’s run that lost a yard in the third.

Todd Herremans – He had some very good moments in the run game, but there were issues in pass pro. Herremans pulled and knocked a defensive back to the ground on McCoy’s 12-yard run in the first. He did an excellent job pulling on McCoy’s 28-yard run in the third. In pass pro, he got beaten cleanly and gave up a hit on Foles’ TD to Ertz in the first. Herremans was beaten by Jenkins in the second and gave up a hit on Foles. He was driven back by Jenkins in the third, forcing Foles to step up and scramble. And Herremans was bull-rushed back into Foles’ lap on a fourth-quarter incompletion.

Lane Johnson – He was OK. Johnson got bull-rushed into Foles’ lap on the third-quarter play that resulted in an interception. He set up unbalanced to the left side and got beaten by Hankins on a McCoy run that lost a yard in the fourth. Other than those instances, he held up fine.