Zone Read: Eagles-Colts, the Day After
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CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN…
1. Why the Eagles ran the ball on 3rd-and-15 in the third quarter?
“I was actually thinking if we could get into field goal range,” Kelly said. “They were doing a great job and when you get into real long yardage situations, [they] do the same thing when you watch them on tape. They are going to rush three, they are going to drop everybody into coverage. There are not a lot of holes in there to fit the ball in, so I said, ‘Screw it. Let’s run it and get out of it.’ And we got a first down fortunately.”
McCoy ended up picking up 21 yards, and three players later, Sproles had the 19-yard touchdown.
It’s the second week in a row that the Eagles have converted a 3rd-and-10+ with a running play.
2. Why the Colts didn’t put the ball into Andrew Luck’s hands at the end of the game?
With 3:25 left and the game tied at 27, they ran Trent Richardson on back-to-back plays. That set up 3rd-and-5. Nolan Carroll II blitzed up the middle and hit Luck as he threw incomplete. The Colts were forced to punt.
Indy’s ground game had slowed down in the second half. The Colts probably wanted to run clock and get into field goal range. But Luck led 11 game-winning drives in his first two seasons. I think I would have given him more of a shot there if I were the offensive coordinator.
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THE NO-22
In the first half, the Eagles were able to get Sproles matched up against linebacker Josh McNary.
As Chris Brown explained, Sproles ran an option route. Depending on the linebacker’s positioning and coverage, Sproles could take his route in multiple directions. Jon Gruden referred to it as “halfback choice” during the broadcast.
Sproles sets the linebacker up, gets inside leverage and takes off.
I would say this qualifies as “left him in the dust” territory. Foles found him, and in a first half where not a lot went right offensively, Sproles picked up 57 yards.
THE NUMBER THAT MATTERS – 6
That’s how many receptions of 20+ yards Zach Ertz has through two games. That’s tied for tops in the NFL with Julio Jones. That’s two more than Calvin Johnson and four more than Dez Bryant.
With the Eagles down 20-6 midway through the third quarter, the offense faced a 3rd-and-11 from its own 43. Foles dropped back, surveyed the defense and fired a pass to Ertz in the middle of the field. The Eagles’ second-year tight end made a leaping 21-yard grab for a first down. Three plays later, McCoy found the end zone from 1 yard out, and suddenly it was a one-possession game.
Just a huge grab at a critical time for Ertz. Last year, he had eight catches of 20+ yards on the season. This year, he’s got six through two games. Overall, Ertz caught for balls for 86 yards on six targets.