What They’re Saying About the Eagles

Here’s a roundup of what the national and local media are saying about the Eagles today.

Don Banks of SI.com weighs in on the Eagles’ performance:

I’m sure it wasn’t fun to sit through for an Eagles fan, at least in the first half. But Philadelphia showed me something by not panicking after that dreadful opening 30 minutes of football against the Jaguars, when it trailed 17-0. Staying calm and poised helped the Eagles exert their dominance in a 34-point second-half outburst, and that should serve Chip Kelly’s team very well the next time it digs itself into an early hole, or has to mount a late-game comeback.

Same goes for quarterback Nick Foles. At least he got last year’s ridiculous 27-to-2 touchdown to interception ratio off the conversational front burner with his three first-half turnovers (two fumbles and one INT). Foles was shaky but then bounced back in a big way, completing 15-of-21 passes for 183 yards and pair of touchdowns in the second half. That’s the kind of resiliency the Eagles need at the game’s most pivotal position, and Foles has the kind of mindset that believes the game will always last long enough for him to win it.

Peter King of The MMQB offers his take:

The Eagles’ turnover-proof quarterback, Nick Foles, coughed it up three times in the first half and the Jaguars raced to a 17-0 lead. Form prevailed, but not before leaving Eagledom with some questions about their team’s goodness. The final: Philadelphia 34, Jacksonville 17.

NFL.com’s Kevin Patra reviews Week 1:

1. Nick Foles’ luck didn’t carry over from 2013. The quarterback lost fumbles on the first two drives of the game and tossed a terrible interception in the end zone. He often threw high or off-target, floated passes and held the ball way too long in the pocket. Foles made plays in the second half to lead the comeback, but it was far from a reassuring performance.

Jacksonville wide receiver Allen Hurns did damage against the Eagles in the first half. Chris Burke of SI.com talks about how he stayed under the radar:

The Jaguars’ coaches and quarterbacks sang the praises of undrafted rookie wide receiver Allen Hurns all preseason. Anyone who did not listen then probably will now. Hurns, who averaged 16.6 yards on 14 receptions during the preseason, exploded early in Week 1, posting two touchdowns and 101 yards in the first quarter of Jacksonville’s game at Philadelphia, and 110 yards overall, as the Jaguars fell to the Eagles 34-17. The Miami (Fla.) product arrived in Jacksonville with far less hype than a pair of fellow rookie receivers: Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson, both taken in Round 2 of the 2014 draft. Both players dealt with injuries this preseason, though, hence Hurns’ initial bump up the depth chart.

Tommy Lawlor of Iggles Blitz weighs in on Chip Kelly’s play-calling:

I wasn’t thrilled with Kelly’s playcalling. The Eagles seemed to go to the screen game a lot and it felt like the Jags figured that out. Kelly also was running to the outside and it wasn’t working. The Jags have a fast defense. Getting outside of them is hard. I really hated the pass play inside the 10 when Foles was picked off. The young QB was not playing well. I think you need to run the ball at least once there. I get that you want to show confidence in Foles and you also hope you’ll catch the Jags thinking run, but that was a highly frustrating call.

Paul Domowitch of the Daily News recaps how the backup offensive lineman grew as the game continued:

David Molk, the backup center who had taken no practice reps at guard here or anyplace else, was sent in to play left guard. Three plays after Gardner went in at left guard, he was beaten for a sack by defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks. Molk also initially struggled. “The pass rush is totally different at guard than it is at center,” Molk said. “At center, it’s literally right in your face. All you have to do is get on it and it’s there. I tried to do that at guard the first play I was in and the guy just blew past me.” After rough starts, though, Gardner and Molk ended up turning in very solid second-half performances to help the Eagles win a game that seemed lost at halftime.

Rich Hofmann of the Daily News reviews how the defense played:

As it turned out, the concerns of last January were identical to the concerns of last week. First, could they get to the quarterback on a consistent basis? Then, could they force mistakes and, just as importantly, do something with them? We now have one game’s worth of evidence. And what we saw was an Eagles defense that gave up 17 early points, largely because of quarterback Nick Foles’ turnovers, and then gave up nothing after that. What we saw was an Eagles defense that stopped the avalanche until Foles and the offense were ready to begin climbing.

Matt Cassidy is a journalism student at Temple and an intern at Birds 24/7.