Domo's Eagles-Panthers Day-After Dissection
Surveying the wreckage of yet another Eagles loss while wondering whether Rich Kotite is going to send a box of cigars to the newest member of the Seven Straight Losses Club:
Domo's Eagles-Panthers Day-After Dissection
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
Surveying the wreckage of yet another Eagles loss while wondering whether Rich Kotite is going to send a box of cigars to the newest member of the Seven Straight Losses Club:
TODD V. JUAN
The before-and-after numbers get more gruesome every week. In the five games since Andy Reid saw fit to relieve defensive coordinator Juan Castillo of his command and replace him with Todd Bowles, the Eagles’ pass defense has gone to hell in a very big way.
The Panthers’ Cam Newton became the latest quarterback to put up a 120-plus passer rating against Bowles’ discombobulated defense, completing 18 of 28 passes for 306 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
This is the same Cam Newton who had thrown for 300-plus yards just twice in the Panthers’ first 10 games. The same Cam Newton who came into Monday night’s game ranked 26th in the league in passing. The same Cam Newton who had thrown more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (9).
In the five games since Bowles took charge of the defense, opposing quarterbacks have a combined 139.9 passer rating. They’ve completed 75.2 percent of their passes. They’ve averaged 9.7 yards per attempt.
And they’ve thrown 13 touchdown passes and no interceptions.
In the six games with Castillo running the defense, opposing QBs had a 69.4 passer rating. They completed just 52.6 percent of their passes and averaged only 6.2 yards per attempt.
And they threw just seven TD passes and seven interceptions.
In those first six games, the miscommunications and mental screwups by the secondary were minimal. They seemed to get most of them out of the way last year. But since Bowles took over, these guys have looked like the freaking Keystone Kops.
The Eagles’ pass defense on third down under Bowles has been worse than on first and second down. In the last five games, opposing quarterbacks have a 146.8 third-down passer rating. They’ve completed 73 percent of their passes and have averaged 10.6 yards per attempt on third down. They’ve thrown five touchdown passes and no interceptions.
In the first six games under Castillo, opposing QBs had a 69.3 third-down passer rating, a 47.7 completion percentage and averaged only 4.8 yards per attempt. They had four touchdown passes and two interceptions on third down.
Monday night, Newton completed just 4 of 8 third-down passes for 48 yards. But one of those completions went for a touchdown. He also ran for two first downs on third-and-7 and third-and-12.
In front of a national television audience on Monday night, Bowles’ secondary embarrassed itself on Newton’s two first-quarter touchdown passes to tight end Gary Barnidge and wide receiver Brandon LaFell. In both instances, they basically left receivers uncovered. Let’s quickly review both plays.
The 24-yard scoring pass to Barnidge: The Panthers lined up in a two-tight end set with both Barnidge and Greg Olsen on the left side and LaFell split to the right. LaFell, who was covered by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, faked an in route and went up the field. Newton looked toward LaFell, which was enough to get gullible deep safety Kurt Coleman to slide toward LaFell’s side of the field.
On the other side, Olsen ran toward the sideline, taking the Eagles’ other corner, Nnamdi Asomugha, with him. Barnidge, who ran a seam route straight up the field, should’ve been Coleman’s responsibility. But because he had been fooled by Newton, he couldn’t get back over to cover Barnidge, who scored easily.
The 43-yard scoring pass to LaFell: This one was even uglier. LaFell lined up in the left slot in a three-wide receiver set. Brandon Boykin, the Eagles’ rookie nickel corner, was lined up on him. But when the ball was snapped, he left LaFell and came on a blitz. On the other side, Coleman also came on a blitz. Andy Reid admitted Monday that only one of them was supposed to blitz and the other was supposed to stay in coverage. When Coleman blitzed, the other safety, Nate Allen, slid over to that side of the field, even though he should have been able to see that, with Boykin also going after Newton, there was no one left to pick up LaFell. Newton had an easy throw to a wide-open LaFell, particularly since neither Boykin nor Coleman got to him.
There was yet another miscommunication on the final play of the third quarter, a 19-yard completion to LaFell. LaFell lined up wide left with Steve Smith in the slot. Rodgers-Cromartie initially lined up on LaFell and Nnamdi Asomugha was on Smith. Smith ran a corner route, while LaFell stayed at the line of scrimmage. Asomugha let Smith go, but turned inside rather than toward LaFell. Rodgers-Cromartie, meanwhile, left LaFell and followed Smith, who also drew coverage from Coleman. That left no one on LaFell. Newton dumped the ball off to him and he ran for a big gain that set up the Graham Gano field goal that put Carolina up for good.
THE ROOKIE QUARTERBACK
Nick Foles’ 76.1 completion percentage (16-for-21) was more impressive than his actual performance. He made some nice throws – a 19-yard square-in to Jeremy Maclin and a 15-yard seam pass to Brent Celek on the Eagles’ first possession, as well as a nice 12-yarder to Maclin on an out route in the third quarter on an Eagles’ scoring drive. He also made a nice audible call in the fourth quarter, reading a safety blitz off the strong side and switching to a weakside run. Bryce Brown gained 24 yards on the play. But Foles’ had no fewer than three passes that should have been interceptions were it not for the cement hands of Panthers safety Sherrod Martin and cornerback Josh Norman. And he needs a lot of work with his footwork and mechanics.
THIS AND THAT
- The Eagles wasted an opportunity at the end of the first half. They got the ball back on their own 42 with 1:22 left and had a chance to at least drive down and give Alex Henery a shot at a field goal. But right tackle Dennis Kelly didn’t hold his block long enough on Charles Johnson on a draw play. Johnson tackled Brown for a four-yard loss. A swing pass to Brown gained just three yards. On third-and-11, Foles got pretty good protection, but his footwork was bad again. He threw behind Riley Cooper, who was open on a crossing route. If Foles had been able to get the ball to Cooper, Jeremy Maclin was in position to give him blocking help and get the first down.
- On the Panthers’ opening drive of the second half, the defense twice allowed Cam Newton to break containment. He ran for 14 yards on a third-and-12 play, then later gained nine yards to give the Panthers a first-and-goal at the five. Safety Kurt Coleman had a missed tackle on the second run.
- Barnidge was the third opposing tight end in the last four games to catch a touchdown pass against the Eagles. Through 11 games, opposing tight ends have 53 receptions for 544 yards and 4 touchdowns. Opposing running backs have 49 receptions for 361 yards and 1 TD.
- In watching the replay of the game, I noticed ESPN made the unpardonable TV sin of missing the first play of the Eagles’ second possession of the game. Went to a commercial break and didn’t show Bryce Brown’s three-yard run on first down. No big deal, but it’s not supposed to happen.
- I’ve mentioned several times in the past that Riley Cooper is the Eagles’ best blocking wide receiver. He showed why again on a 10-yard run by Brown late in the first quarter, effectively taking out safety Charles Godfrey. Speaking of good blocks by wide receivers, rookie Damaris Johnson had a nice block on cornerback Josh Thomas on Brown’s 65-yard touchdown run. Johnson’s block allowed Brown to cut inside and get upfield. Brown also got excellent edge blocks from right guard Jake Scott and right tackle Dennis Kelly on the play
- Colt Anderson made a pair of nice tackles on the Eagles’ much-maligned kickoff coverage unit. He tackled returner Armanti Edwards at the 14-yard line after Alex Henery’s second field goal. On the second-half kickoff, he stopped Edwards at the eight.
- Has anybody else noticed Foles’ weird throwing motion on shovel passes? He pushes the ball rather than throws it.
Juan was scapegoated. Marty should have been fired. His offense is stale, predictable, and useless.— palmyra21- this article annoys me as every single "observation" is virtually word for word what Gruden pointed out during the TV coverage. It makes me think the writer didn't analyze the game himself as much as he simply took notes from the broadcast "teacher".
At any rate, just for the sake of sanity, let's dig out the few positives from the trash heap.
One obvious is Bryce Brown. He needs to learn to protect the ball but that is the most correctable aspect of a RB's game. Other than that he was amazing. Clearly the eagles backfield is set for the future. Vince Curry showed promise. Damaris Johnson looked better than he has all season. Henery is 19 for 19 on fg's (how far have we fallen that one of our best players is our kicker). With a team that has so many holes it was at least nice to see last night a few positions that may not need to be addressed next season. And the biggest positive of all----no more Babin!!— murdock101 - When you scapecoat your own choice, you're asking for a debacle. I've been a Reid defender -- still think he'll make someone a good coach -- but his treatment of Juan was the act of a timid and desperate man. Reid gave up his dignity.— 2smart4philly
- "I had a scapecoat once, but the po-po still caught me" Mike Vick — your_mom_says_hi!
- Maybe just maybe firing Juan was not on Andy. Maybe he took the bullet for someone else. It just doesn't seem like something Andy would do. He is loyal to his players. He's loyal to his coaches. I just think Juan was fired by someone higher up than Andy and Andy is taking the heat because that's the way Andy is. He's "just not wired like that."— AndyEagle
- They should have released Kurt Coleman as well, so he could run for the bus to go home at top speed and then either go flying past it missing it completely, or stumble and fall underneath it while attempting to jump on!— banned
- ROFLAO — your_mom_says_hi!
- Common denominator in all of this malaise...Curt Coleman. And the reason he plays..and plays at a very low level? Don't tell me...we don't have anyone to put in...or something like that. Babin out...priorities screwed up...Coleman is the WORST...he should have been first to go. The decisions on this team are hard to understand.— 5thstrretpast
- RELEASE KURT WOMAN PLEASE!!— passi0natephillyfan
- I am surprised Marty still has a job in the NFL. There are more qualified coaches in High School. He is a complete moron.— Pete60
- Thanks for the comparison of the defenses with Costillo and Bowles. The next question is why the communication is so much worse now than under Costillo? And how does this decline reflect on Bowles and his future here or elsewhere. He has the same players and came in when they were playing decent overall (they did give up leads at the end of games but were not helped out at all by the offense). Still a mystery to me why the huge drop-off.— chucksf
- To your last bullet point, Foles also has a weird position for receiving shotgun snaps. Is that b/c of his height? He seems to telegraph the draw handoff and his body isn't parallel to the center but rather facing the left side of his line.— CFPhilsPhan
- anyone notice how Howie Roseman was smiling and yukking it up in Luries owner box during another losing game? what's up with that! I did think it was kind of humorous how he was laughing while Lurie was behind him and stewing hard— rossta
