The Eagles will return to the practice field Thursday as the team prepares for a critical Sunday matchup on the road against the Colts.
The NFL world is still reacting to the Commanders’ 32-21 upset win on Monday night. Philadelphia will have to adjust after placing Dallas Goedert, Avonte Maddox, and Marlon Tuipulotu on injured reserve with various injuries.
Teams can learn a lot from a loss, and we’ve highlighted four key takeaways and what we learned from Monday night.
Things happen
It was the closest thing to a disaster you’ll ever see during an NFL performance, and Philadelphia still had an opportunity to win late in the fourth quarter against Washington.
The Commanders held the ball for 40 minutes, rushed for 152 yards, forced Philadelphia into four turnovers on the evening, and benefited from a blown facemask call on Dallas Goedert.
Winning in the NFL is very hard, and we learned that even outstanding teams could have an off night.
Eagles have to be aggressive on defense
At some point, Jonathan Gannon will be forced to decide how to help his unit produce pressure on the opposing quarterback because the “organic” recipe isn’t working.
Philadelphia blitzed about 50% of the time in the second half, but it was too late as Taylor Heinicke, and Terry McLaurin found their groove in Gannon’s zone-man concepts.
Robert Quinn wasn’t signed to play linebacker or drop back in coverage, and it’ll be on the Eagles’ defensive coordinator to fix his passive approach to playcalling down the stretch.
Eagles need to play more 4-3 defense
Gannon likes to employ a 5-2 and 5-1 scheme, but the stats suggest that teams are focusing on efficiently running the football, and that could call for less Nickel and Dime coverage and more three or four-linebacker sets.
Philadelphia’s starting secondary (Slay, Bradberry, Gardner-Johnson, Epps) logged a season-high 83 snaps against the Commanders, with Josiah Scott next at 54 snaps in the slot.
Employing Haason Reddick at the defensive end spot would allow the Eagles to insert Nakobe Dean in at the SAM linebacker spot on select downs, allowing for three athletic and aggressive linebackers to help alleviate some of the stress being put on his defensive front.
Poor tackling will cost Philadelphia a Super Bowl
The Eagles are one of the worst-tackling teams in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, and some of their most important starters are guilty in being madly inconsistent.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Kyzir White, Haason Reddick, Marcus Epps, and Fletcher Cox are the group that misses the most weekly tackles.
This is the fifth straight week the Eagles have allowed 120 or more yards rushing to opposing teams, and they’ll face the Colts, Titans, Packers, Cowboys, and Giants twice down the stretch.
On Sunday, Commanders’ rookie running back Brian Robinson recorded 86 rushing yards on 26 carries.
According to NexGenStats, Robinson’s 86 yards all came after contact, or 86 yards of YAC, meaning the running back essentially broke a tackle on every carry.
