What we learned from Eagles-Lions: Too early to overreact; Jordan Davis needs to play more; pass rush lacks teeth

DETROIT — The Eagles started slow, turned it around, and led by as many as 17 points on two separate occasions in the second half. But they couldn’t put the determined Lions away until the final minute and escaped Ford Field with a 38-35 victory in the opener Sunday. Win, lose, or draw, here’s what we learned:

Sound the alarms, the Eagles didn’t win convincingly. Maybe it was mounting expectations, or underestimating the typically tepid Lions, but there seemed to be some outside disappointment with how the Eagles went 1-0. Certainly, there will be plenty for coach Nick Sirianni and Co. to clean up, but the Lions were only four-point underdogs for a reason. They were a formidable opponent, and Ford Field was about as loud as I’ve ever heard it.

The Eagles didn’t claim any style points, particularly on the defensive side. But if they had rallied to win by three, rather than allow the Lions to score 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, my guess is that radio airwaves, comment sections, and social media posts wouldn’t be as full of angst as they likely are this “Overreaction Monday.”

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It’s going to take a while before we really know the identity of this squad. To no surprise, the Eagles were sloppy. They committed 10 penalties, four of which were of the pre-snap variety, had numerous missed tackles — 15, according to Pro Football Focus — and looked disjointed at various points in all phases. Some may point to a relatively light training camp, or resting starters for most of the preseason, but the Lions didn’t exactly look sharp, and they took a more traditional approach in the buildup to the season. If you took around the rest of the NFL, there were myriad teams just as error prone, teams losing Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks, teams with star players sidelined by injury, and teams seemingly with better postseason hopes than the Eagles that are now 0-1.

There’s nothing wrong with being critical about the Eagles’ performance. Much of the rest of this space will be devoted to analyzing what might have gone wrong and what may need to change. But there were a number of positives — A.J. Brown’s receiving, Jalen Hurts’ poise, Miles Sanders’ running, James Bradberry’s pick-six, and a game-clinching four-minute drive — to take from just 1/17th of the regular season.

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The Eagles’ top draft pick didn’t get on the field until a goal-line situation late into the Lions’ opening drive. He didn’t open a drive at nose tackle until the third series. And all told, Davis played just 22 of 69 snaps (32%) in his NFL debut. I didn’t expect him to play a significant amount or more snaps than veterans Fletcher Cox (39 snaps) and Javon Hargrave (38 snaps) in the interior. But I was surprised that defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon didn’t employ more five-lineman looks with Davis in the middle, especially after it was apparent that the Lions weren’t as successful versus that front as they were vs. four linemen.

It was clear on the second play from scrimmage, when Lions running back D’Andre Swift went off left tackle for 50 yards, that the Eagles’ run fits weren’t sound. A closer look at the film will likely reveal why the Lions were able to gash the defense on the ground for 181 yards, but it looked more like a schematic issue than one based on personnel. By going with more four-man fronts than five, Gannon opted to keep an additional defender in the back seven. But I’m not sure if that was necessary with Jared Goff at quarterback. With the Lions’ early-down rushing success, they were able to get into more manageable third downs, and that made the Eagles’ pass rush less effective.

Credit should be given to the Lions, Swift and probably Duce Staley, who may have found the opportune way to attack the Eagles’ four-man front. Davis may have also been limited for conditioning reasons. The team is excited about his potential, but he’s still not in optimal playing shape, a team source told me last week. He sure didn’t look gassed clogging up the middle and making a couple of tackles against the run. But if I was told before the game that second-year defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu (29 snaps) — as good as he looked — would play more than the first-rounder the Eagles traded up for, I would have been shocked.

If it weren’t for a low snap, the Eagles would have likely been held without a sack on 40 Goff drop-backs. They hit him only six times. That’s just not enough, and when the Eagles’ low sack numbers from last season are factored into the equation, it’s a concern. General manager Howie Roseman made improving the pass rush one of his chief objectives in the offseason, and the very early returns weren’t encouraging. The Lions have a solid O-line. It may be their greatest strength. But Goff had too much time and the Lions too much success on third downs (9 of 14) for the Eagles to be satisfied.

There could be any number of reasons for the failure to generate much pressure. As mentioned above, the Eagles’ struggles with slowing the run gave the Lions more manageable third downs. Was Goff getting the ball out quickly because he had receivers open against the secondary? Were the rushers just not winning enough one-on-one matchups? Tuipulotu was able to force Goff into a throw that linebacker Kyzir White tipped into the hands of Bradberry for an interception. I vaguely recall defensive end Josh Sweat getting close to the quarterback a couple of times. But there weren’t many individual rushes that stood out.

The other issue could have been scheme, or more precisely Gannon’s calls. He dialed up a third-down zero blitz on the second possession that got the Eagles off the field. But I’m not sure if Haason Reddick — the crown jewel of Roseman’s pass-rush upgrade — was used effectively. He lined up all over, and rushed/blitzed from various locations, but is sending him from the inside linebacker spot an effective way of utilizing his skills, especially if Gannon can’t marry his rushes with his coverage? Reddick expressed regret with his performance afterward and didn’t question his usage.

Gannon will likely be under fire after his unit surrendered 35 points to an offense not exactly teeming with stars. The Lions had at least three dropped passes and Goff also missed a couple of open receivers. It could have been worse. There was bound to be some early turbulence with five new starters on defense. New safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson had to learn a new defense in less than two weeks and move to a position he hadn’t really played since college. He looked understandably lost at times. But it was some of the returning faces who failed to live up to their billing. Safety Marcus Epps had as many negative plays as positive. Slot corner Avonte Maddox missed three open-field tackles.

And Cox looked very much like the descending player he had been last season. Gannon deserves his share of blame, but Roseman decided to bring Cox back at $14 million. The 31-year-old is not only underperforming, but also he’s blocking Davis, Tuipulotu, and Milton Williams.

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Hurts played well. If it weren’t for his scrambling ability, it’s fair to wonder if the Eagles would have left the Motor City with a W. The Lions blitzed the heck out of Hurts — on half of his drops, according to PFF — and the Eagles’ protection failed to pick up a number of them. So Hurts took matters into his own legs. Should he have left the pocket or run forward on every pressure? No. There should be answers vs. most blitzes. He also scrambled five times when there wasn’t a blitz and three times when the pocket was clean. It’s possible no one was open and he had no choice. But he appeared to have happy feet on a few plays.

Hurts still struggles to see the field. He’s not yet a polished thrower. But the expectations for a 24-year-old quarterback in just his second full season as the starter have gotten out of whack. Does he look like a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback? Heck, no. But how many do, especially at this stage of their careers? It’s fair to project Hurts as nothing more than what he is now — a mid-tier NFL starter — which makes him one of about 20 in the world.

But I saw progress in terms of Hurts’ decision making when it came to protecting the ball. He has never really been careless. He had only 11 regular-season turnovers a year ago. But there were times in his first two seasons when he would be sloppy and hold the ball with one hand as he left the pocket and got stripped. Or he would be forced to his left and throw across his body into traffic. He did neither on Sunday. Most impressive, in that regard, was how he was able to chuck the ball away rather than force something or take a loss. That’s winning football.

Could he navigate the pocket better, whether that’s climbing or shifting his body subtly while keeping his eyes downfield? Absolutely. Will he need to convert more easy throws and fire into tighter windows? You bet. Do you want opposing defenses to have 17 opportunities to hit him in the open field on a weekly basis, no matter how adept he is at avoiding contact? No. But if he can keep his carries in the 5-10 range, with most coming on designed runs, it should be enough to force defenses to account for him in the ground game, and limit his exposure to unnecessary hits.

Brown had a career day in his first Eagles game — 10 catches for 155 yards — and yet, some felt the need to compare his workload to DeVonta Smith’s light one. The second-year receiver didn’t have a catch and was targeted only four times. He dropped one early pass, but he also drew a pass-interference penalty that was negated by an Eagles penalty. Will the Eagles want to spread the ball around more next time out? Sure. It’s likely that Brown will draw more attention, which should result in more Smith attempts. The same could be said for tight end Dallas Goedert, who caught three of four targeted passes for 60 yards, and slot receiver Quez Watkins, who wasn’t targeted once. But on a day in which the Eagles offense scored 31 points and gained 455 total yards, harping on Smith’s lack of production is nitpicking. … Zech McPhearson deserved a special-teams game ball for his alert fielding on a surprise onside kick in the third quarter. Lions special-teams coordinator Dave Fipp must have seen something on film that made him think kicking it that way would result in a turnover. But it smelled of desperation and the Eagles wound up scoring a touchdown on the short field. … As much as the Eagles tried to hide who would return, Watkins and Britain Covey, to no surprise, handled kicks and punts, respectively. Watkins’ three returns averaged only 12.7 yards, although one came on a pooch kick. I’m not sure why he took a knee there, and his other returns were less than inspiring. Covey had one solid return for 11 yard, but gained only 2 yards on his other attempt. He fair-caught two other punts, and otherwise looked sure-handed.