Roob’s Observations: Eagles win a wild one in New Orleans originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
They were missing 40 percent of their offensive line, including all-pro Lane Johnson. DeVonta Smith was out of the game along with A.J. Brown. Nick Sirianni was making bizarre call after bizarre call.
And then Saquon Barkley and Dallas Goedert – really, the Eagles’ only remaining weapons – refused to let the Eagles lose.
Barkley’s 65-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter and Dallas Goedert’s 61-yard catch down to the 4-yard-line late in the fourth quarter helped the Eagles beat the Saints 15-12 after the Saints took the lead moments earlier.
They haven’t played a complete game yet, but the Eagles are somehow 2-1.
Wow.
It’s never easy with this team, is it?
Here’s our 10 Instant Observations on a huge road win in the conference:
1. The turnovers remain a concern, but Jalen Hurts really came up huge Sunday and helped the Eagles win a game they very easily could have lost. And he did it with almost half the offense missing. Hurts completed 76 percent of his passes for 311 yards and on a day when he didn’t throw a touchdown, he made some huge throws under pressure and he did it all behind an offensive line missing Mekhi Becton and Lane Johnson, with both Smith and Brown both out of the game. The Superdome is a loud, difficult place to play, and this was a game the Eagles really needed to win and a game that Hurts needed. I still believe he’s an elite quarterback but it was natural to wonder about him after the first two games and I get the doubts. He wasn’t very good in some key moments. But this was vintage Jalen Hurts, making key throws at important times, staying confident in the face of adversity and rallying the Eagles to a win when things looked really bleak. If this Jalen Hurts keeps showing up, the Eagles are going to win a lot of games.
2. Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter coming into today: No sacks, no tackles for loss, no pass breakups, no quarterback hits. Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter vs. the Saints: One sack, two tackles for loss, two pass breakups, one quarterback hit. It was sure encouraging to see monster performances out of both Georgia interior linemen. Especially Davis, who hasn’t had a game like this since very early last year. This defense can’t be elite without Davis and Carter both playing at a high level, and it’s something we haven’t seen in quite a while. But when they play like this? When they dominate the line of scrimmage? When they play like the beasts the Eagles expected when they drafted them in the first half of the first round? We all saw Sunday what kind of defense this can be when Davis and Carter play inspired football. Now they just have to keep it up.
3. Can someone explain to me what on Earth Nick Sirianni was thinking on 4th-and-1 with 15 seconds in the first half left and the ball on the Saints’ 14-yard-line? Saquon Barkley got stuffed trying to find room around left end, the Saints got the ball and took a knee, and the Eagles went into the locker room without a point. Down 3-0? You kick the field goal because if you get the first down the odds that you’re getting more than a field goal anyway are minimal. So you’re taking this 4th-down risk for what? Even if you get the first down, now you’ve got 10 seconds left with the ball at the 13, and I’m sure Sirianni will say they wanted a fresh set of downs to take one shot at the end zone before kicking a field goal if they didn’t get the touchdown. Realistically, the way this game was going, points were at a premium and you take three and have something positive heading into the locker room after a miserable offensive first half. While we’re at it … 4th-and-5 from the Saints’ 35 in the middle of the third quarter … still trailing 3-0 … Jake Elliott has made seven of his last eight field goal attempts from 53 yards and out … they go for it and Hurts gets sacked. On that field, a 53-yarder is a layup. Being aggressive is great. Being wrong isn’t. And Sirianni’s in-game decisions are growing more and more baffling.
4. We’ve all been wondering when we’ll start to see Dallas Goedert become a big part of the offense, and, wow, 10 catches for 170 yards isn’t too shabby. Goedert was a big focus of the offense early, but once DeVonta Smith went out and joined A.J. Brown on the sidelines, he was just huge. He had catches of 22, 30, 43 and 61 yards and that’s insane. He’s been in the league eight years and had two of the four-longest catches of his career Sunday. Those 170 yards are most by any Eagles tight end in 59 years – since Pete Retzlaff had 204 in a game in 1965 at Franklin Field. Even Zach Ertz never had a 170-yard game. That was such a big-time performance by a guy the Eagles desperately needed. The key thing is when the Eagles are back at full strength, Goedert needs to remain a big part of this offense. He had 69 yards the first two games and he’s just too good to play such a small role on this team. He’s still a stud, and when he had to make plays he made plays. Huge clutch performance.
7. OK, how freaking good is Saquon Barkley? My goodness. And you’ve got to love the way he responded six days after that devastating drop that cost the Eagles a win over the Falcons. He’s a total pro. The dude has this crazy combination of speed, power, balance and vision, and any questions about the way the last few years with the Giants went have been sufficiently answered as far as I’m concerned. Three games in, he’s a flat-out beast. He ran 17 times Sunday for 147 more yards, and three games in he’s got 63 carries for 351 rushing yards with three touchdowns and 10 catches for 53 more yards and another TD. That’s 404 scrimmage yards in three games, most by any Eagle through Week 3 since 2013, when LeSean McCoy had 514. Other than Shady, the only other Eagles running backs with at least 400 scrimmage yards through three games are Timmy Brown, Wilbert Montgomery, Duce Staley and Brian Westbrook. What I really love about Saquon is how tough he is late in games. He’s so physically strong that he’s just as good on his 25th touch as his first. And that’s rare. Keep feeding him, and he’s going to make a huge play, and on Sunday he made a bunch of them.
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