Eagles-Falcons takeaways: What to make of Atlanta’s game-winning drive, lack of production from Philly Dawgs

Late-game miscues from the Eagles offense, defense, and coaching staff alike contributed to a stunning collapse against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

Here’s what we learned about the Eagles in the aftermath of the 22-21 home loss:

Well after some Eagles players had dressed and gone home following the game, Quinyon Mitchell sat in his locker stall in full uniform playing the Falcons’ game-winning drive back in his head.

“I’ll just put it on my back,” the rookie cornerback said. “In those situations, I just have to be better. Just having situational awareness.”

» READ MORE: Late-game decision making in the Eagles’ loss to the Falcons turned up the heat on Nick Sirianni

Most metrics would suggest that the Eagles defense has been one of the league’s worst units, but the group has been able to make timely stops in the red zone to keep the team in games. The Eagles defense is allowing 6.9 yards per play, which is tied with the Los Angeles Rams for worst in the NFL, and has given up the most rushing yards over expected, according to player-tracking data from Next Gen Stats.

On the Falcons’ final drive, the red-zone stops that were keeping the defense afloat finally dried up. Mitchell and veteran cornerback Darius Slay said the six-play, 70-yard scoring drive that gave Atlanta a decisive one-point lead in the final minute came down to their individual lapses in coverage, and understandably so. The Falcons went after Mitchell’s side for chunk gains early in the drive before catching Slay with his eyes in the backfield and well out of position for Drake London’s 7-yard touchdown catch.

Mitchell had been a bright spot on the Eagles defense to that point, but the rookie mostly was to blame for back-to-back explosive plays at the worst possible time. The first came with the Eagles in Cover 2; Mitchell bit on an underneath route, leaving too much space for Darnell Mooney to work upfield between him and deep safety Reed Blankenship for a 21-yard completion. On the next play, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio changed up the coverage, with one deep safety and Mitchell and Slay in off coverage on the outside, but Mitchell got beaten on a deep out route from Mooney that ate up another 26 yards.

“I put him in a tough spot to begin with,” Mitchell said of Slay. “I gave up the deep ball, and then I gave up the out cut. So I just put it on myself — I put him in a tough position.”

Still, Mitchell’s struggles on the drive may have been a moot point if not for Slay getting beaten to the outside by London with the Falcons facing third-and-5 from the Eagles’ 7-yard line.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley defends third-down call and takes the blame for Eagles loss

“That was for sure my fault,” Slay said. “My eyes were in the backfield, just trying to do more than I should have been doing.”

While much of the Eagles offense has changed under Kellen Moore and mostly for the better, Monday night showcased some of the challenges the group has faced in years past that are not so easily overcome.

Jalen Hurts’ expected completion percentage, a metric tracked by NFL Next Gen Stats that measures the probability of a completion with player-tracking data, has remained among the lowest in the league for the second season in a row through two games. Hurts’ 60.7% expected completion percentage ranks 30th in the NFL among qualifying quarterbacks. Last year, only Justin Fields finished the season with a lower percentage than Hurts’ 61.3%.

Part of this can be explained by Hurts’ understandable tendency to target A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith even on low-percentage throws. With Brown sidelined by a hamstring injury, the number of high-percentage looks in the game’s pivotal moments were few and far between, though. The Eagles made five trips to the red zone Monday but scored touchdowns on just two of them largely because of well-defended route combinations on key downs.

Brown’s absence was felt throughout the game, but the lack of production inside the 20 was glaring without the star receiver.

When assessing the Eagles’ defensive struggles throughout their front seven, it’s hard to overlook the group of premium draft picks that failed to make an impact.

Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, and Nolan Smith combined for just four total tackles, five pressures, and zero sacks against the Falcons. Carter drew a tough matchup against Falcons Pro Bowl guard Chris Lindstrom and managed three pressures, but he has yet to consistently affect the quarterback this season.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni needs Eagles defense to bail him out. Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat, Jordan Davis, and Jalen Carter can’t do it.

After struggling against Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt in Week 1, the Falcons utilized chip blocks to slow down the Eagles’ edge rushers at times. Doing so puts the onus on the interior linemen to win one-on-one matchups to break down the pocket, something that seldom happened.

With the vast majority of the Eagles’ offensive starters on expensive long-term contracts, the team’s balance defensively needs to come from young players making an impact on rookie contracts. It starts with the trio of first-round picks from Georgia, who were not productive enough against the Falcons.

Thomas Booker, up: Booker played just nine snaps but managed two tackles for loss in that time, which is two more than the aforementioned group of Georgia defensive linemen. The former Stanford standout, who signed with the Eagles last offseason, was a long shot to make the 53-man roster but has flashed enough in the last few months to suggest he could be a quality rotational piece on the interior defensive line.

Nick Sirianni, down: As The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane wrote, the Eagles’ penultimate offensive drive falls squarely on Sirianni’s decision-making. The third-down pass to Saquon Barkley has been criticized for being overly aggressive, but the process that led to the pass in fact was conservative.

Had Sirianni and Moore treated the third-and-3 call as one of two chances to get the game-sealing first down instead of prioritizing draining the clock and settling for the field goal, the Eagles’ likelihood of ending the game would have been considerably higher with two rushing attempts 3 yards away from the sticks. For those who thought bleeding more of the clock before the field goal was the difference in the game, it’s worth remembering that the Falcons scored with 34 seconds remaining.

» READ MORE: A tale of two Jalen Hurts and defensive doubts in our Eagles Week 2 stock watch

Mekhi Becton, neutral: I had Becton as a stock-down player in my postgame analysis but have softened on that stance after watching the tape. The guard did struggle passing off twist stunts with Lane Johnson a few times, but he also had dominant reps in the run game clearing space for Barkley to rush for 95 yards on 22 attempts. Along with the rest of the Eagles offensive line, Becton had a characteristically solid game.

Eagles linebackers, down: After an encouraging Eagles debut, Zack Baun had an up-and-down performance against the Falcons. According to Pro Football Focus, Baun had two missed tackles and was caught out of position on a few of Bijan Robinson’s chunk gains as well. Nakobe Dean also had his share of over-run stretch plays, and the duo gave up a combined eight catches for 63 yards on 10 targets, according to PFF.