Eagles grades by position after disastrous loss to Falcons

Eagles grades by position after disastrous loss to Falcons originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles should be 2-0 but they collapsed down the stretch to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football.

It certainly looked like the Eagles were going to walk away with an ugly win but ended up losing 22-21 and will now have to go on the road on a short week to face the red-hot New Orleans Saints.

Let’s take a look at the grades:

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 23/30, 183 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; 85 rushing yards, 1 TD

The Eagles’ quarterback made some poor decisions in Week 1 but had a better game in Week 2. Sure, he threw an interception late in the game but it’s hard to fault him too much for trying to make a play as the clock ticked away. Still can’t get picked there but Hurts wasn’t the biggest problem in this game. Hurts threw for just 183 yards but looked really good running the football. He was decisive and fast and had more rushing yards than he did in any single game last season.

Grade: B–

Running back

Saquon Barkley: 22 carries, 95 yards; 4 catches, 21 yards

For the second straight week, Barkley had 26 touches in the game. He was the best player on the field for much of the night. Even though he didn’t hit 100+ on the ground, he looked good toting the rock and was picking up yards that didn’t appear to be there. Sure, Barkley dropped the ball on 3rd-and-3 late in the game on a play that would have iced it. He’d love to have that one back. But you can certainly argue he shouldn’t have been in that position.

Grade: B+

Receiver

DeVonta Smith: 7 catches on 10 targets for 76 yards, 1 TD

There’s no doubt the Eagles missed A.J. Brown in this game. The offense is just very different without the Eagles’ best skill player. But Smith had a nice evening with one touchdown and he would have had another but Jessie Bates made a great play on the ball in the end zone. But after Smith, the other receivers combined for 7 catches for 29 yards. Britain Covey had 6 for 23 and Jahan Dotson had 1 for 6. Johnny Wilson had one target without a catch (and was called for a hold) and Parris Campbell wasn’t even targeted. Dotson was the No. 2 wideout in this game and he barely made an impact. The Eagles traded to get Dotson for situations like this and he had a quiet night.

Grade: B-

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 3 catches on 4 targets for 38 yards

Without Brown in this game, it would have made sense for the Eagles to go to Goedert a lot and that didn’t happen. He just didn’t have a huge output. Grant Calcaterra had 2 catches for 19 yards but also got blown up on a few blocks.

Grade: C

Offensive line

The offensive line was solid in this game. Hurts seemed to have a clean pocket for most of the evening and he was sacked just one time for a loss of 4 yards. The offensive line also blocked well for Barkley to pick up some big yardage. The only thing to clean up here are the ineligible man downfield penalties. Those are tough but the Eagles had three of them and that’s not a new problem.

Grade: A-

Defensive line

Thomas Booker IV: 3 solo tackles, 2 TFLs

The biggest concern about the Eagles right now is probably the play of the defensive line. They were absolutely gashed in the run game by Bijan Robinson (14 for 97) and Tyler Allgeier (9 for 53). The line also failed to get much pressure on Kirk Cousins, who was sacked just one time for 8 yards. That sack came from Milton Williams but it was one of a few pressures all game. Cousins was way too comfortable. Booker made some plays in this game but the edge rushers still don’t have a sack through two games.

Grade: D

Linebacker

Zack Baun: 9 combined tackles

Baun had 9 tackles in this game and Nakobe Dean had 7. Both made a few plays but gave up a few in this game. Dean was called for an illegal contact that wiped out a Brandon Graham sack in the second quarter. For how bad the pass rush has been, it’s a killer to take a sack off the board.

Grade: B-

Secondary

Quinyon Mitchell: 3 tackles, 1 PBU

Definitely a mixed bag from the secondary. The C.J. Gardner-Johnson hit stick on 4th down should have been the play everyone is still talking about but the Eagles ended up blowing the lead. The PBU from Quinyon Mitchell in the first half was a great play too. But the secondary missed tackles and Darius Slay gave up the final touchdown after he was beaten badly by Drake London.

Grade: C+

Special teams

Braden Mann: 2 punts, 93 yards, 1 inside 20

Mann had a good day punting the ball and also got down a high snap for a Jake Elliott field goal. Elliott made both of his field goals and an extra point. Will Shipley had a nice 27-yard kickoff return and Covey’s only punt return went for 9 yards. They also didn’t give up any big plays. Special teams was fine.

Grade: B+

Coaching

Record: 1-1

This is a game the Eagles should have won. They were the more talented team. But there were plenty of questionable decisions in this game, especially in the fourth quarter. Nick Sirianni deserves to be questioned for his decisions to throw the ball on third down and then to kick a field goal on fourth down with under 2 minutes remaining. Those are decisions that could have cost the Eagles this game. On top of that, the Eagles were penalized nine times in this game.

Grade: F

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