What we learned from Eagles-Colts: Jonathan Gannon doesn’t get enough credit

INDIANAPOLIS — The Eagles overcame offensive sloppiness, questionable play-calling and game management, and rallied from a 10-point deficit to defeat the Colts, 17-16, and move to 9-1 on the season, at Lucas Oil Stadium. Win, lose, or draw, here’s what we learned:

Just a week ago, Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh were sitting on their couches, watching the NFL. On Wednesday, the Eagles signed Joseph, and on Thursday, they added Suh. It seemed improbable that both over-30, 300-plus-pound defensive tackles would be ready to play on Sunday, or at the least a significant number of snaps. But they played a fair amount in their debuts and played well, especially Joseph. He was on the field for 26 of 65 snaps (40%) — all at nose tackle in the Eagles’ five-man fronts — and he was an immediate upgrade over the two youngsters who were Jordan Davis’ initial replacements.

This isn’t Joseph’s first rodeo. He knows Jonathan Gannon’s scheme, having played in a similar defense with the Chargers, and he knows how to play the necessary technique at the nose. It was an inspired acquisition by GM Howie Roseman. It didn’t look that way initially. Jonathan Taylor ran six times for 48 yards and a touchdown on the Colts’ opening drive. But 37 of those yards came on two rushes vs. the Eagles’ four-man front. Gannon tried to go with light boxes on first down and he paid the price. So the defensive coordinator deserves some blame for those calls.

But Gannon adjusted and leaned on his five-man fronts and the Colts struggled to get much going on the ground the rest of the way. Their running backs gained just 50 yards on 19 carries (2.6 average) in their final 10 possessions. Joseph clogged the middle for others to make stops, but he also finished with four tackles. Oh, and he even split a sack with Suh when the Colts tried to pass out of a run look.

Suh didn’t play as much — only 17 snaps — but he contributed as well with three tackles, a quarterback hit, and the half sack. The signing of defensive end Robert Quinn before the trade deadline hasn’t yet paid dividends — he played 10 snaps of no consequence vs. the Colts — but the 34-year-old Joseph and 35-year-old Suh were just the remedy the doctor ordered. Let’s see if the veterans can maintain their level of play over the long haul.

» READ MORE: Linval Joseph’s and Ndamukong Suh’s fine play let Howie Roseman bask in the Eagles’ big win over the Colts

The Eagles received an early assist from the Colts, who inexplicably threw three passes on the ensuing drive following their touchdown. And Matt Ryan’s inability to do much of anything once his protection broke down benefited the pass rush. But Gannon’s defense, in essence, won the game. It didn’t allow a drive over 42 yards after the opening possession and kept forcing the Colts to take field goals, the most pivotal coming early in the third quarter after Jalen Hurts was strip-sacked at the Eagles’ 22-yard line. Haason Reddick and Brandon Graham came up with huge sacks on the Colts’ final two drives — both without the assistance of blitzes.

Gannon has become a punching bag for some fans and media types. His scheme apparently isn’t aesthetically pleasing enough for Philadelphians fostered on the aggressive defenses of Buddy Ryan and Jim Johnson. They also seem to need someone to blame when things aren’t going well. But here’s the thing: the season has gone well, and Gannon’s unit has played a huge part in that. I could list a litany of statistics in which his defense ranks near the top of the NFL. But points allowed is the ultimate measure and the Eagles, at 18.3, are seventh in the league. Has Gannon been perfect? Far from it. I’ve questioned some of his calls, especially vs. the run early in games. But aside from the opener vs. the Lions, he has made the necessary adjustments. The NFL is a passing league and the Eagles rank first in yards per attempt (5.07). In most towns, they would throw a parade for the coordinator who had that much success.

It’s time that Gannon received his accolades.

The 2017 Eagles needed a 61-yard field goal to squeak by the three-win New York Giants. The 2004 Eagles needed a 50-yard overtime field goal to survive the four-win Browns. Good teams aren’t always going to look good on a weekly basis. I’m not yet comparing this team to those Super Bowl-caliber squads. But the Eagles aren’t 9-1 by chance. They don’t hold a one-game lead for the NFC’s No. 1 seed and a two-game cushion in the East because the rest of the conference stinks. The Eagles mostly cruised through their first seven games, but they’ve hit a rough patch the last three weeks. It happens. They’re not infallible, and they have a few weaknesses that were exposed partly because of injury.

But the best teams are able to ride the ebbs and flows of the season and the Eagles, despite numerous mistakes on offense and Nick Sirianni’s dubious decision-making, somehow found a way to escape Indy with a win. There was a little karma involved as Quez Watkins and Graham made game-changing plays a week after their errors hurt the Eagles. The former caught a 22-yard touchdown pass to help offset his fourth-quarter fumble vs. Washington. And the latter notched the aforementioned game-sealing sack when last Monday night his late-hit personal foul effectively handed the Commanders the victory.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Nick Sirianni wins one for Frank Reich, in spite of his decision-making

There was also a little payback when officials missed Reddick grabbing Ryan’s face mask on his sack. It was nowhere as egregious as the Dallas Goedert face mask that the refs didn’t see in the Commanders game, nor as costly. But it was further proof that over the course of a long season, bad officiating tends to even out. And that goes for most teams’ prospects. Were the Eagles capable of going undefeated after an 8-0 start? No. It was an unrealistic expectation. Are they imposters after their substandard performance last two weeks? Hardly. But despite giving the Colts multiple chances to put them away, the Eagles snatched victory from the jaws of a defeat-worthy effort. And that’s noteworthy.

Maybe it was having to scheme without Goedert that had the offense off-kilter. The tight end has been an integral part of the Eagles’ game plans on a week-to-week basis, but they still had plenty of weapons to get the job done. Sirianni has leaned on 12 and 13 personnel — two- and three-tight end sets — more than most offenses, so maybe he didn’t want to make a drastic reduction. But with Goedert out, it made little sense to rely on the tight ends as much as the Eagles did, especially with Tyree Jackson playing in his first game since last season. Jack Stoll led the way, playing 55 of 68 snaps (81%), followed by rookie Grant Calcaterra (19 snaps) and Jackson (9). Each was flagged for a penalty, with Stoll’s coming on special teams. Jackson was flagged for pass interference when he ran into a defender, but it seemed more accidental than anything. Nevertheless, tight ends were targeted just once in the passing game, with Stoll having one catch for 7 yards.

» READ MORE: Inside the locker room: Eagles’ Tyree Jackson hoping to be part of the solution at tight end

The running backs, though, were unable to compensate for Goedert’s absence in the passing game. They caught a combined three passes for 5 yards. Receivers DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown won on routes they specialize in — the former on comebacks and the latter on slants — and caught a combined 11 of 16 targets for 138 yards. But the Colts’ man coverage was complemented by a pass rush that forced Hurts to scramble more than he has in weeks. Watkins and Zach Pascal may need to be involved more until Goedert returns. They caught all three of their targets for 40 yards. Watkins has six catches for 102 yards and a score the last two weeks, which nearly matches his totals through the first eight games (eight catches for 122 yards and a touchdown).

I addressed Sirianni’s dubious decision-making in my column off the game. It’s difficult to say whether returning to face his former team amid the controversy over the firing of his mentor Frank Reich had anything to do with his uneven day. But my sense is that it did. Sirianni is a passionate guy. He has a thing about loyalty. And he can get fiery, probably more than you’d like to see a head coach act. He looked, quite frankly, a little unhinged when he jumped up on the bench and celebrated with traveling Eagles fans when the game’s outcome was no longer in doubt. I admire him for being honest about his emotions after the game. But I’m not sure if he should be riding the emotional roller coaster as much as he does. He has talked before about how, as a leader, he needs to project a more calm demeanor for his players and assistants.

Sirianni’s emotion can certainly galvanize a team. But he can’t allow his personal feelings to affect his coaching, at least on a regular basis.

Hurts had some uncharacteristic moments in the first three quarters. He took a sack that pushed the Eagles out of field-goal range. He ran out of bounds for another sack on fourth down. And he made a few questionable reads on handoffs when he likely should have kept the ball with unblocked edge defenders crashing. But Hurts never seemed to lose his poise. And when the game was on the line, he shouldered the load and rallied the Eagles.

Credit goes to Sirianni and play caller Shane Steichen for simplifying the offense in the second half. They got too cute in the first against a Gus Bradley defense that was sound and prepared. But after a head-scratching first call of the third quarter — a shot play that resulted in the Hurts strip-sack — and a series that involved three straight handoffs to running back Miles Sanders, the balanced offense got into a rhythm.

Mostly, though, it was Hurts taking matters into his own hands. There was a 23-yard scramble that included a spin move. There was the touchdown strike to Watkins. And there was the 11-play, 75-yard game-winning drive that Hurts finished off with a 7-yard draw for a touchdown. There seemed to be a narrative floating in the Twittersphere about Eagles coaches not trusting Hurts’ arm in crunch time. But he dropped back to throw on the first three plays of the drive — the last drawing a pass interference penalty when Sanders wisely came back for the ball and linebacker Zaire Franklin unwisely tackled him. The ground game also got going and the Eagles were able to burn some clock and Colts timeouts.

Sirianni had previously relied on his rushing attack — and more specifically, his offensive line — in late situations. They essentially put the Cardinals and Cowboys away with ball-control drives. But the Eagles ultimately needed Hurts to put them over the top. He converted fourth-and-2 with a shoulder-lowering tote and walked into the end zone untouched when a draw with a wrinkle — a running back was in the backfield — caught the Colts off guard.

Hurts, like the Eagles, wasn’t at his best. But he was at his best when it mattered the most.

» READ MORE: Eagles draw on their QB; Jalen Hurts stars in the final moments of a come-from-behind win over the Colts

Slot cornerback Josiah Scott had another rough outing in place of the injured Avonte Maddox. He allowed 4 of 6 passes for 82 yards when targeted, including a 31-yard completion late in the fourth quarter. Maddox is out with a hamstring injury for at least two more games. … Rookie safety Reed Blankenship supplanted K’Von Wallace as the sixth defensive back in the Eagles’ big dime package. He played two snaps. Will Gannon ever find a small package for rookie linebacker Nakobe Dean to get him some playing time? … The Eagles’ special teams had a decent day, but the punt coverage unit allowed a 17-yard return that helped set up a Colts field goal before the half. On the positive side, Britain Covey had a 13-yard punt return — his best in some time.