Jalen Hurts’ Performance
Jalen Hurts’ performance was a mixed bag. He had a number of impressive plays, including two big runs on first down and an incredible throw downfield to AJ Brown that was overturned. However, there is room for improvement for Hurts. He missed two throws in the second half to Dallas Goedert which would’ve been big gains and he scrambled out of a number of clean pockets. Most importantly, his fumble at the end of the fourth quarter was a mistake that cannot be repeated in future games. Still, Hurts had a solid game.
Play Calling Growing Pains
Brian Johnson did not call a good game. His play calling was too conservative. On two separate 3rd downs, he called runs when the Eagles’ were in clear passing situations. He also ran out the clock at the end of the first half despite the fact that the Eagles had just under 30 seconds and 2 timeouts to work with. The Eagles also did not run enough RPOs. Johnson’s playcalling did improve in the second half but there was nothing in particular that stood out to negate his mistakes.
State of the Eagles Pass Rush
The Patriots did a great job negating the Eagles’ pass rush. They ran no-huddle to prevent Eagles’ defensive linemen from substituting and got the ball out quickly on passing downs. There are a number of Defensive linemen performances for the Eagles that are worth noting. Jalen Carter looked phenomenal. He looked explosive off the ball and finished with 4 pressures and a sack. He is going to be an immediate contributor for this defense. Haason Reddick, on the other hand, didn’t make much of an impact. This was surprising considering the Patriots started backup Calvin Anderson in lue of Reilly Reiff’s injury. Fletcher Cox came up big with two clutch plays in a row in the fourth quarter. His run stop on third down followed by his pressure on fourth down single-handedly caused a turnover on downs for the Patriots offense. Not a dominant performance for Philadelphia’s pass rush, but they still managed to make an impact.
Patriots Offense Looks Strong
Bill O’Brien had a great gameplan coming into this contest. He made sure the Eagles defensive line didn’t take over the game and also took advantage of the Eagles linebackers in coverage. After the injury to Nakobe Dean in the second half, the Patriots continued to target Christain Ellis and Zach Cunningham over the intermediate areas of the field. Mac Jones also had a number of really impressive throws on top of not making any mistakes. He had no turnover worthy plays and only took one sack.
New Roles for the Eagles
If week one is good for anything, it’s seeing how roster turnover creates new roles within each franchise. Today, Eagles’ fans got a glimpse of how multiple roles will play out in the 2023 season. The big one was the increased role of Kenny Gainwell amidst the loss of Miles Sanders. Gainwell played by far the most snaps of any Philadelphia running back, finishing with 18 total touches and 74 yards from scrimmage. Jordan Davis was also a player whose usage stood out. Davis played in a lot more four man fronts than he typically would’ve last year. In those four man fronts, he often lined up in 2i and 3 techniques, which is reminiscent of how Sean Desai used Akiem Hicks in Chicago. Two players who took on small roles were Nolan Smith and Olamide Zacchaeus. I would continue to expect limited snap counts for them in upcoming games.