Eagles vs. Browns: The good, the bad, and the ugly
The Eagles and Cleveland Browns could not have collided at a better time on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Both teams needed a panacea. The Eagles were looking to remedy their horrid performance in their previous game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the Cleveland Browns were looking for anything to salvage a listing season that may now be lost.
The Eagles are 3-2 after a 20-16 victory over the 1-5 Cleveland Browns, who suffered their fourth-straight defeat.
For those looking for an Eagles’ “style-points” win, they did not get it. Picking through the breadcrumbs, the Eagles did not turn the ball over for the first time in 10 games; and Jalen Hurts looked sharp, completing 16 of 25 for 264 yards and two touchdowns—and, for the second-straight game, did not throw an interception.
And hey, Bryce “just call him Reggie White” Huff had a season-high two tackles, and on more serious notes, tight end Grant Calcaterra had a season-high four catches for 67 yards after Dallas Goedert was lost in the first quarter due to an injury, while rookie safety Cooper DeJean showed flashes he can be very good, making six tackles.
The truth is, Nick Sirianni’s Eagles may not be much better than the Cleveland Browns, who were on their third center this season and were tied with the Eagles, 13-13, with 9:49 left to play.
The Browns entered the game averaging an NFL-low 239.4 yards a game and gained 244 against the Birds. Deshaun Watson, who looks like a shot fighter, completed his first two third-down conversions of the season—after going 0-for-25. Cleveland’s makeshift offensive line entered the game giving up an NFL-high 26 sacks, which the Eagles helped reach 31 after a five-sack performance.
Cleveland botched a possible game-tying score when the Browns committed two false start penalties with 3:54 to play inside the Eagles’ 10.
That slim line is often the difference in the NFL between a winning team and a losing team hemorrhaging minor mistakes.
The Eagles won, though will that siphon off the “Fire Nick” chants that broke out at halftime as the Eagles left the field after a blocked field goal resulted in a 50-yard tying touchdown?
Probably not.
This is still Sirianni’s offense. It’s just Kellen Moore’s interpretation of it. Hurts is only under center for the “tush push” play. There is hardly any motion, and more a reliability on A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to make plays, rather than schemes in which to get them open (with the exception of that shallow crossing route Smith ran for the winning score, which opposing defensive coordinators will decipher in time).
On the surface, it may appear Sirianni is a “CEO coach.” Behind the curtains, what is blatantly on the field is another story. Sirianni is still very much, it appears, the puppet master of this clunky, inconsistent offense.
The Eagles somehow forgot about Saquon Barkley, who with 9:30 to play had only three touches in the second half.
We’ll add this: For the first time in the 91-year history of the Philadelphia Eagles, they have failed to score a point in the first quarter of their first five games. They remain the only NFL team to be shutout in the first quarter this season. Even the 1972 Eagles (of the nightmare white helmet era), arguably the worst team in franchise history (2-11-1), scored at least six points in their first five games.
There was a healthy dose of good, a sprinkling of bad, and some laughable ugliness in a 20-16 victory over the dubious Cleveland Browns.
