Kiko Alonso

Four observations from the Philadelphia Eagles regular season debut

Published Sep. 15, 2015 6:30 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Brenden Peddigree

The Eagles opened their season on Monday night in Atlanta against the Falcons. After falling behind 20-3 after 30 minutes, the Eagles attempt at a second half comeback fell short and the Falcons won 26-24.

The game featured Bradford throwing a bunch, the Eagles running too little, drive-killing penalties and a Pro Bowl kicker who missed what was a chip shot to him a year ago. There are a few good things to take away from this game but as wide receiver Jordan Matthews said after the game, the Eagles will learn a lot more from the loss than they would have from a win.

Here are a few observations from the game.

Head coach Chip Kelly fooled everyone in the opening week by having Bradford toss the ball 52 times, second most in Kelly’s tenure in Philadelphia. The 52 pass attempts were plenty to knock off any rust Bradford had from a 694-day layoff from regular season football.

Bradford looked like a quarterback who hadn’t played in a long time in the first half. He completed just 15 of his 27 pass attempts and threw an ugly interception. In the second half, he looked like the quarterback Eagles fans got excited for in the preseason. He completed 21 of his 25 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown. He did throw an interception in the second half as well, but we’ll get to that a little later.

Overall, the first half was a sloppy one for the Eagles and Bradford was no exception. By the second half, the Eagles were efficient and looked like a Kelly-run operation.

“The second half was a blast,” said Bradford. “Once we got things rolling, then we took the lead, I don’t know if I’ve been that excited in a long time. Hopefully next week we can start a little bit faster and not dig ourselves into such a deep hole.”

Bradford’s second half was a memorable one. His passer rating (99.8) was almost double what it was in the first half (51) and his yards per attempt (8.8) more than doubled (4.3). Let’s hope the Eagles home opener on Sunday features second-half Bradford rather than first-half Bradford. Despite it being just week two, the game will be a big one.

New defensive acquisitions impress

After reading the headline you may think I’m crazy. I’ll take Byron Maxwell out of that right now.

Maxwell struggled the whole first half while covering Julio Jones. Jones lit up the Eagles defense for eight receptions, 97 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Maxwell adjusted well in the second half, though, not allowing Jones to get his hands on the ball at all in the third quarter and only allowing one catch in the fourth, albeit for 44 yards.

The defensive acquisitions I’m thinking about are linebacker Kiko Alonso and Walter Thurmond.

Alonso did his best Odell-Beckham-against-the-Cowboys impression when he made a one-handed, backward-falling interception in the endzone on a pass that would have given the Falcons an even bigger lead in the first half. In addition to the interception, Alonso also added on six tackles.

Thurmond continued his preseason ways as he intercepted a pass on the Falcons opening drive of the second half. Ryan had pressure in his face and Thurmond made a nice break on the ball before it was thrown and ultimately finished with the easy interception. He returned it to the eight yard line and running back DeMarco Murray punched it in two plays later.

Both interceptions came at big moments. Ultimately, the Eagles pass defense was not as improved as many believed it would be. The Eagles may have found a stud when they transformed Thurmond into a safety and Alonso looks to be back to rookie form after missing all of 2014.

Running game nonexistent

The Eagles struggled running the ball on Monday night, only averaging 3.9 yards per carry.

That average isn’t as bad as it actually was. Darren Sproles’ 10 yards per carry on five carries throws it off a bit. Murray and Ryan Mathews combined for 11 carries for just 13 yards, an average of 1.2 yards per carry.

The Eagles backs never got the opportunity to get the ball moving as they ran so infrequently and inconsistently. The 16 called run plays were the third-fewest in Kelly’s tenure and the fewest since week four of last season.

Wanting to get Bradford a lot of reps to get back in regular season form is understandable. However, he likely would have been more successful had the Eagles established the run early. The Eagles weren’t having success running the ball at any point but it still would have kept the defense on its heels. Enough of me playing coach, though. I promise you Chip Kelly knows a lot more about football than I do.

The Eagles running backs were a bit more successful in the passing game, combining for 14 receptions and 111 yards. Screens and wheel routes, once they got going, were daggers.

Murray, despite averaging just 1.7 yards per touch, did get into the end zone twice for back-to-back scores. One came after the Thurmond interception and he ran a sweep to the right for eight yards and got into the end zone untouched. His second came on a five-yard reception in which he made a defender miss. The second score moved the Eagles within three points of the Falcons.

The regular season debut by the Eagles three-headed attack wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Hopefully the Eagles can take advantage of a worse defense when they face off against the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon.

Penalties were brutal

As with most of the week one games, the yellow flags were endless on Monday night. The Eagles got called for ten penalties and lost 88 yards on them.

The first killer penalty came right before halftime. The Eagles had just turned the ball over on a Bradford interception and the Falcons were in scoring distance on the Eagles 27 yard line. On the first play of the Falcons drive, Fletcher Cox got into the backfield and sacked Matt Ryan, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Connor Barwin. The play was nullified, though, as Kiko Alonso had grabbed the arm of a passing receiver and was penalized for illegal contact.

Ryan connected with Julio Jones on the next play for a 22-yard touchdown that put the Falcons ahead 20-3.

The second was a drive destroyer and ultimately may have decided the game. On the Eagles second-to-last drive, they offense was moving with ease. Bradford connected with Ryan Mathews on a screen on to the left and he took it 25 yards to the Falcons ten yard line. Jason Kelce was penalized for holding on the play which brought the ball back to the 41. Essentially, the penalty was for 31 yards. The Eagles failed to get a first down after that and settled for a 44-yard field goal.

The field goal was missed by Cody Parkey and the Falcons took over, leading by two. Parkey was 4-for-6 on kicks from 40-49 yards in his rookie year. His preseason struggles appear to have carried over to the regular season and it is something that the Eagles will need to monitor.

The Eagles were able to overcome some of the penalties and still finish drives with touchdowns. Some, like the two listed above, were brutal and unable to be overcome. Let’s not put too much emphasis into it, as it was the first game of the season. From here forward, the Eagles need to be more disciplined though.

Extra Points

- Jordan Matthews was Bradford’s go-to receiver down the stretch. He finished with a career-high 10 catches for 102 yards with seven of his catches coming in the second half. Matthews took full responsibility for Bradford’s second interception which ultimately ended the game. The pass was high but went right through Matthews’ hands before it was intercepted by Ricardo Allen.

- The offensive line needs to get some cohesion. The running backs were getting hit as soon as they got the ball and Bradford was being pummeled all day. They didn’t allow a sack but Bradford was seemingly hit on half of his throws. Once Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner get some reps next to Peters, Kelce and Johnson, they should get better.

- Speaking of Barbre, it wasn’t all bad for him on Monday night. The Eagles go-ahead touchdown, a one-yard run by Mathews should be credited to Barbre. Mathews was stuffed at the line of scrimmage and Barbre came from behind and basically tackled Mathews and the defender into the end zone. It put the Eagles ahead 24-23.

- Darren Sproles is a Monday night king, accounting for 2161 total yards in 14 Monday night games. He was responsible for 151 total yards Monday, with 126 of them coming on offense. He was the only Eagles running back who was effective with the ball in his hands.

- Many are saying that the missed field goal could have been Chip Kelly’s fault. Kelly hesitated on the call and decided to kick the field goal on fourth down and about a half yard. Kelly pointed out after the game that Parkey kicked it with seven seconds left on the play clock. If he were so rushed, he could have used a few more seconds. The miss was Parkey’s fault, not Chip’s.

- Zach Ertz is a beast. Exactly one month ago Ertz had sports hernia surgery and week one was in doubt. He suited up, though, and made body-sacrificing catches for the Eagles. He finished the game with three catches for 46 yards including a 21-yarder on the go-ahead touchdown drive.

- Bradford’s 52 pass attempts were his second most ever. He threw 55 times on three occasions. His 36 completions were a career-high. His 336 passing yards were the third most in his career.

- Third downs were awful for the Eagles. They converted just three of twelve. Bradford attributed a lot of that to failing to produce on first down and penalties.

The Eagles are now 0-1 and the Cowboys take the early lead in the division as the lone team at 1-0. The two will meet on Sunday and the Eagles will be looking for a lot to improve from their season debut.

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