Eagles-Commanders: Opposing offenses will run on Jonathan Gannon’s defense until it proves it can stop it

The Eagles are no longer undefeated after a sloppy effort in all phases resulted in a 32-21 loss to the Commanders on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field. It’s no time to panic. The 8-1 Eagles remain atop the NFC. But areas of concern were exposed some, and are worth delving into more. Win, lose, or draw, here’s what we learned:

It didn’t take a genius to predict that Washington would try to establish the run after the Texans gashed the Eagles on the ground on Nov. 3.

“We saw it on film against the Texans that they were getting after them a little bit,” Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke said. “We felt like we had a good offensive line and running backs to do the same thing.”

While the second part of Heinicke’s statement is debatable, certainly compared to Houston and some of the Eagles’ upcoming opponents, one way for lesser teams to offset quarterback Jalen Hurts and an explosive offense is to sit on the ball and hope Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen don’t counter with ball-control play-calling. It’s a blueprint for underdogs as old as the Air Coryell pass offense and the Eagles fell into the trap.

“We understand that will be the narrative of how to beat us,” Sirianni said. “We have to own that and fix it, and we will.”

The run defense wasn’t egregiously bad. Washington gained just 3.1 yards per rush. But offensive coordinator Scott Turner — son of Norv, Don Coryell disciple — hardly ever swayed from the Commanders’ game plan and ran the ball on 48 of 82 plays. He threw a fair amount on first down, but even if a pass went incomplete, he often stayed on the ground on second down. Running backs Brian Robinson (26 carries for 86 yards) and Antonio Gibson (14 carries for 44 yards) didn’t have a run longer than 11 yards, but they ran hard and pecked away at the Eagles’ Jordan Davis-less front.

» READ MORE: Eagles film: With better run offenses coming, how can the defense weather the loss of Jordan Davis?

In Houston, coordinator Jonathan Gannon initially went with a two-man nose tackle rotation of practice squad call-up Marvin Wilson and backup Marlon Tuipulotu. But when Javon Hargrave was moved over center late in that game, the Texans had trouble running up the middle. Wilson wasn’t promoted on Monday night. With cornerbacks Avonte Maddox and Josh Jobe out, the Eagles promoted cornerback Mario Goodrich instead. He never played. Still, it was hard to make a case that Wilson deserved another shot. Gannon went mostly with Tuipulotu in his five-man fronts. Without yet looking at the film, he appeared to struggle. More Hargrave would have made sense. Stopping the run isn’t solely on the nose tackle position, though, and the 4i-technique defensive tackles, most prominently Fletcher Cox, seemed to get pushed around more than the Eagles likely wanted.

Cox might have been gassed. The 31-year-old played 70 of 83 snaps (84%). That’s too many. The rest of the defensive tackle rotation went: Hargrave (66 snaps), Milton Williams (38), and Tuipulotu (37). Davis is out for at least two more games. With running back Jonathan Taylor back and coming off a 147-yard rushing performance, you can bet the 4-5-1 Colts will be determined to run the ball on Sunday against the Eagles. The same could be said of the following week’s opponent, the Packers, who have had to rely more on running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon with quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ and the passing game’s struggles. The Titans’ Derrick Henry would be next. And then the New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley. And so on.

“I am only worried about Jonathan Taylor at this point,” Sirianni said.

Sirianni and Gannon have no excuses for not being prepared for Indianapolis’ running attack. There should have been more done early on to account for Washington pounding the football. Gannon employed more five-man fronts, but he was mostly matching personnel. Next week, he needs to do a better job of setting the discourse from the jump.

The Commanders were allowed too many third-and-shorts. It’s hard to blitz — pass or run — when only a few yards are needed. But adjustments needed to be made earlier. Gannon should have mixed up his calls more. His passivity became too predictable, and Washington was patient with four drives of 12 plays or more.

He blitzed on only six of Heinicke’s 33 drops (18.2%), according to Pro Football Focus, which was below his average (25.6%) in the first eight games. An argument could be made that he needed to pressure a quarterback with suspect arm strength more. Heinicke was solid. He made a number of accurate throws. But he threw from a clean pocket on 26 of 33 drops. He got the ball out quick for the most part, partly because of down and distance, but also because receiver Terry McLaurin kept getting open.

Cornerback Darius Slay was tasked with following McLaurin when he lined up outside. McLaurin caught four of six targets for 85 yards when matched up against Slay. The Pro Bowl corner shouldered the blame for a perfectly tossed 41-yard catch in the third quarter. He didn’t seem as concerned by the other receptions, including a 26-yard zone beater in the first quarter, which suggests to me that the calls were also an issue. There is no perfect scheme. Each defense has its stresses. There are about a dozen coordinators in the NFL that run a version of Vic Fangio’s defense, to varying degrees of success. Gannon’s defense has been, at least statistically, one of the better units in the league this season. But its success is predicated more on the effectiveness of Sirianni’s offense. That’s also modern-day pro football.

» READ MORE: Inside Jonathan Gannon’s Vic Fangio-influenced defensive turnaround with the Eagles

The issue with Gannon, at times, can be his calls. He governs with caution. That can often work when you have double-digit leads, but when you’re getting kicked in the teeth early, and you trail throughout, it can be difficult to reverse course. The absence of Maddox in the slot hurt, not because replacement Josiah Scott was exploited, but because Turner was able to get McLaurin lined up opposite safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson inside on a couple of key third downs. Gardner-Johnson played in the slot for three seasons with the Saints, but he hasn’t done much of it in Philly, and McLaurin (overall, eight catches for 128 yards) is a tough cover.

“I probably need to learn more of the nickel position,” Slay said, “so I can move around.”

Maddox is out for at least three more games.

Midway through the third quarter, the Commanders held an eye-opening 32-minute, 12-second to 7:35 advantage in time of possession. Eagles running backs had only three carries up until that point, but it’s hard to establish the run when you’ve called only 22 plays. The run-the-ball-more crowd doesn’t really have much of a case. The Eagles scored on their first two drives. On their third possession, they had a first down near midfield when Hurts threw downfield to A.J. Brown. The ball was well-placed, but it went through the receiver’s hands and safety Darrick Forrest stole it. Hurts threw into double coverage, but it wasn’t an unpardonable decision or throw. And on the Eagles’ final drive of the first half, they got the ball with 1:39 to go and only one timeout, so it was understandable that Hurts dropped back on all three plays before the Eagles were forced to punt.

The Eagles switched into ground-and-pound mode in the third quarter and scored a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to narrow Washington’s margin, 23-21. They had neutralized the Commanders’ ball-control offense, and the defense responded when Gardner-Johnson intercepted Heinicke. But Hurts and the offense failed to execute down the stretch. The missed face mask on Dallas Goedert was costly. A penalty there would have negated the tight end’s fumble. Goedert also injured his shoulder on the play and is now out for an extended period. But he still lost the ball. A series later, after another Joey Slye 50-plus-yard field goal, Quez Watkins’ careless ball security led to another fumble. And yet, despite both turnovers, the Eagles had the ball with 3:26 to go and all of their timeouts. They couldn’t muster a first down.

» READ MORE: Quez Watkins’ fumble costs the Eagles in a loss to the Commanders

Brown caught only one of four targets for 7 yards. He said he tweaked his ankle on the first-down reception. He didn’t factor much into the offense the rest of the way. DeVonta Smith led the Eagles with six catches for 39 yards and a score, but he’s now averaging just over 10 yards a catch on the season. There has to be a concerted effort to get him going down the field. Watkins had his best production of the season — four catches for 80 yards. The fumble was costly, but with Goedert out and Brown and Smith (hand) a little banged up, he has an opportunity to fill the void.

Each week, it seems, the special teams units have more negative plays than positive ones. A recap from Monday night: Reed Blankenship was penalized for roughing the punter. Britain Covey, along with his blocking, failed to net a return longer than his well-below-league averages on kicks (20.6 yards) and punts (6.5 yards). And Arryn Siposs made a remarkable heads-up Australian rules-like punt after the Eagles missed a blocking assignment in the fourth quarter. But the delay in his boot resulted in an illegal man downfield penalty and, after a redo, the Eagles had lost a net 13 yards. Siposs’ punting, overall, was fine. His net punting average of 41.8 yards for the season is in the middle of the pack in the NFL. But he hasn’t been consistent. The Eagles’ cover units, led by Zech McPhearson, have been decent, but the units overall are lacking. They rank second-to-last in the league, according to PFF.

» READ MORE: The unsung hero of the Eagles’ season is a guy on their shakiest unit

Coordinator Michael Clay, each week, has to explain for the inordinate — a blocked kick, a fake punt, an untimely penalty. The return game is limp. The NFL has taken much of the bite out of the discipline with its revised blocking rules. But Covey has yet to break off one return. Asked about not upgrading at the position at the trade deadline, general manager Howie Roseman focused on the undrafted rookie’s ball security. He has had a couple of muffs, but he has mostly been reliable in that regard. He has struggled more so to make would-be tacklers miss. He’s quick, but not explosive. At least that’s been the case thus far.

Hargrave was again arguably the Eagles’ best defensive player. He recorded a team-high 13 tackles and notched his sixth sack in the last three games. … Three games down, and the newly acquired Robert Quinn has yet to register. The defensive end played 22 snaps and made two tackles, but he has notched just one quarterback pressure for the Eagles since the trade. … Kenneth Gainwell had a drop, and a play later, bobbled yet another pass before securing the Hurts dump-off. The running back has three drops on 12 targets this season.