What we learned from Eagles-Cardinals: A.J. Brown absences a case of coaches overthinking

The Eagles might not have been sharp, especially after they jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but they did enough to outlast the Cardinals, 20-17, on Sunday at State Farm Stadium. Win, lose, or draw, here’s what we learned:

A.J. Brown played 54 of 73 snaps for his lowest playing time percentage (73%) through five games. The Eagles’ game plan, or at least the way their offensive play-calling unfolded when the wide receiver was either involved or not, was peculiar. Brown wasn’t on the field for the first four plays of the game and when he finally did get a snap, quarterback Jalen Hurts targeted him on his next three passes. But he saw only four targets the rest of the way, the last coming with 11 minutes, 32 seconds left in the third quarter. Coach Nick Sirianni and his assistants clearly wanted to exploit the Cardinals defense on the edges with screens. They had their share of success with the horizontal game as tight end Dallas Goedert and receivers DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins gained positive yardage on early attempts. But Sirianni and play caller Shane Steichen probably went to that well too often and the first two plays would eventually be dropped for untimely losses.

The bigger detriment to the offense, seemingly, was not taking advantage of the Eagles’ downfield mismatches, particularly any time Brown lined up opposite susceptible cornerback Marco Wilson. And if Arizona was shading coverage toward Brown, it’s not like Smith or Watkins couldn’t stretch the field. Sirianni talks about the importance of explosive plays all the time and the Eagles finished with just one 25-yard-plus pass play — a 31-yarder to Goedert. Hurts’ spray chart showed just one pass that traveled over 20 yards in the air. It seemed like the Eagles’ solution for countering Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s blitzes was to throw quickly to the outside. It’s not a bad formula, but why not a few screens to their best receiver after the catch? I didn’t see any comments from Brown after the game. I wouldn’t presume he was upset without him saying so. But it defied logic not to get him more involved when the offense sputtered.

Sirianni had some good moments. I’ll get to those in a second. And the Eagles ultimately won. The Inquirer covered the positive from the victory on Sunday. But Monday morning offers the opportunity to be analytical and that was a game the Eagles could have lost because they were guilty of falling too in love with their scheme. The game plan made sense. They scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions. But the Cardinals adjusted and Sirianni and company didn’t — until the final series.

The offense was briefly without three of its starters on the line. With left tackle Jordan Mailata already inactive, left guard Landon Dickerson and center Jason Kelce were sidelined in the first half with leg and ankle injuries, respectively. Dickerson (26 snaps) was out for the most of the first 30 minutes, and returned briefly in the second half, but Sua Opeta (47 snaps) handled left guard for the majority of the game. Kelce needed only three plays and the halftime break before returning. Rookie Cam Jurgens did well to spot the veteran. Left tackle Jack Driscoll, though, was under fire repeatedly. Joseph sent some pressures the Eagles had trouble handling. Some of the responsibility fell on Hurts’ shoulders for recognizing four-man-plus rushes, and running back Kenny Gainwell struggled again to pick up a few blitzes. But the Eagles’ pass protection could have been better.

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Sirianni, to his credit, limited Hurts’ drops when the Eagles got the ball back with the score knotted at 17 and 9:43 left in the game. In leaning toward the run, he simplified responsibilities for his patchwork O-line and utilized its physical advantages. My guess is he was also trying to compensate for his defense after the Cardinals had scored 17 points on three of their four previous possessions. Sirianni pounded the football and Steichen called runs on eight straight plays to open the drive. Running backs Miles Sanders and Gainwell picked up tough yards along with Hurts and kept moving the sticks.

But the Eagles faced third-and-12 on the Arizona 36. They would have to throw with Joseph sure enough to blitz again. The Eagles had a man-beater called, but Hurts checked to a play with a shorter drop so he could get the ball out quicker. Goedert ran a hitch route just short of the sticks, Hurts hit him, and the NFL’s yards-after-catch leader did the rest for the first down. It was the quarterback’s biggest completion of the day. Hurts had some other nice reads and throws. He also had a few suspect moments. He was nearly picked off in the second quarter when he didn’t see Jalen Thompson underneath on a Brown deep cross. The interception was ruled an incomplete pass when the safety trapped the ball. Hurts also made a poor decision on the final play of the Eagles’ last drive when he lobbed one up to a tightly covered Watkins. The play call didn’t result in any open receivers, but the quarterback should have just thrown the ball away on third down.

Hurts wasn’t patting himself and the team on their collective backs after the game. “I don’t like to hear 5-0,” he said about the Eagles’ record. He didn’t have a poor game by any stretch. Hurts completed 72% of his throws for 239 yards and rushed 15 times for 61 yards and two scores. He also converted 6 of 7 sneaks from 1 yard out, two for scores. But Hurts is never satisfied. When your leaders are willing to hold themselves accountable for their mistakes, or for not playing up to their expectations, it should filter down into the entire team.

A full film review should reveal what changed for the Cardinals offense after being held to just 50 yards on 18 plays (2.8 average) on their first four possessions, but it looked like the defensive coordinator had his secondary play more off the ball once the Eagles took a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Gannon played a fair amount of single-high safety in the early going, seemingly daring quarterback Kyler Murray to throw deep. The Cardinals had one of the lowest per-yard-pass-attempt averages entering the game, and it made sense to force Murray downfield. He took the bait early and was intercepted by safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson on a deep post route.

But a combination of factors flipped the script. The Eagles’ offense, for one, started stalling. But Gannon, it appeared, called more Cover 2 and 4 zones and the Cardinals started to gash the defensive front on the ground. Arizona picked up 13 yards and then 8 yards on the ground and all of a sudden found itself with a third-and-3 at the Eagles’ 25. But Murray went at Gardner-Johnson, who was matched up against speedy receiver Marquise Brown, and he lost him and then couldn’t tackle him when he cut, and the receiver scored a 25-yard touchdown.

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Suddenly, the Cardinals had life. They pulled off a fake punt on their next series and Murray kept completing short throws in front of cornerback Darius Slay, who didn’t look himself coming off last week’s forearm injury. Gannon looked too fearful of giving up the big play, and his defenders were struggling to tackle in space. He dialed up an ill-timed three-man rush with a deep zone early in the fourth that had three defensive backs nearly 30-plus yards off the ball before Murray went to running back Eno Benjamin on a short route he would take 28 yards. And when Gannon finally blitzed off the right edge near the goal line, the Cardinals had a perfectly executed rush to the left that resulted in a Benjamin 11-yard touchdown that evened the score at 17.

Who knows what would have happened had Murray and coach Kliff Kingsbury not screwed up the Cardinals’ final drive? They may have been done in by the scoreboard operator, who gave the quarterback a first down after he slid just short of the marker on second down. Murray spiked the ball on third down with 22 seconds left and the Cardinals were forced to try a 43-yard field goal. He had at least one or two more throws in the bank. But Matt Ammendola was wide right on his kick and the Eagles escaped.

You obviously don’t want to lose any week, but it doesn’t sting as much when your opponent is top-tier or your performance is credible. News flash: The Eagles aren’t going to win all 17 games. But the Cardinals were a weaker foe and there were mismatches for Sirianni and his coaches to exploit all over the field. I didn’t count many players who performed below their norm, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Eagles’ defense had more under-performers. Linebacker T.J. Edwards played as well as any defender in the first four weeks, but he struggled on Sunday. I counted four missed tackles.

But a loss there would have been on the coaches. Every good team has weeks when it doesn’t play up to par or when the odds are stacked against it. The Eagles were without a few injured starters and had to rely on a kicker signed just last week to get them over the hump. The Eagles needed a 61-yard, last-second boot by Jake Elliott, another emergency kicker like Cameron Dicker, to win their second game in 2017, otherwise they would have started that Super Bowl-winning season 1-2. That was obviously a great team, and a loss there might have been just a blip. But it could have also spurred a spiral.

The 2022 Eagles are 5-0 and still the only undefeated team in the NFL, and that alone is an accomplishment no matter how much the fifth win may have damaged the eyes. But they’re only a game up in the NFC East on the 4-1 Giants and Cowboys, whom they host on Sunday night, and the road to the playoffs and more will have plenty more obstacles, self-created or not.

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Rookie nose tackle Jordan Davis played his highest number of snaps (29 of 69) and highest percentage of plays (42%) this season. That meant less of inside linebacker Kyzir White (39 snaps) as the Eagles went with more of their five-man front. … Sirianni went with a fair amount of three- and two-tight end personnel to get Goedert matched up against Cardinals linebacker Isaiah Simmons. They also had a few shot plays designed out of those looks, but Arizona was ready for them. The heavy tight end sets were another reason why Brown wasn’t on the field as much. Do the Eagles think he isn’t one of their better blocking receivers? I’d suggest he’s as good as any of them. … Slot cornerback Josiah Scott recorded two tackles for losses on screens. He had a better outing last week in place of the injured Avonte Maddox. … Haason Reddick notched the Eagles’ only sack to increase his team lead to 4 ½ sacks for the season. The pass rush didn’t get home enough and hit Murray only two times. … With outside linebacker Patrick Johnson out with a concussion, Reddick played all of the strong-side snaps. Defensive end Tarron Jackson got his most snaps (12) of the season.