The Eagles had a bit of a reality check after their 32-6 Week 1 win against the Atlanta Falcons. After their Week 2 home opener against the San Francisco 49ers, there are many issues that need to be sorted out moving forward. Let’s take a look and see if Eagles fans should be concerned for the future.
The Eagles defense started well, forcing the 49ers to go three and out on their first three drives. The Eagles offense took a bit of a downturn due to some questionable play calling by head coach Nick Sirianni, notably calling a heavy run game too early on.
This gave San Francisco’s defense time to get familiar with running backs Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell, making it a lot easier to shut them down later in the game. The two players combined for only 69 rushing yards.
Another play calling mistake by Sirianni was overthinking first and goal on the one yard line. He did not need to call a flea flicker. A simple quarterback sneak would have done the job just fine, and would have gotten an easy six points on the board for the Birds.
Jalen Hurts kept under-throwing multiple receivers when going deep downfield with the exception of the 91-yard completion to Quez Watkins. Hurts also struggled to connect downfield with DeVonta Smith on more than one occasion, which is something that just comes with practice.
Legendary defensive tackle Brandon Graham went down just before halftime which was gut wrenching for fans to watch. He managed to hop off the field but then was carted off to the locker room where it was later found out that Graham will be out for the rest of the season with a torn achilles. Ouch.
Graham is a major loss for the defensive line. He is an outstanding player and his energy on and off the field is contagious for everyone. Graham came out with a statement after the game on Sunday saying,“I will just be leading from the sidelines this year working to be great for 2022.”
The loss to the 49ers has put a damper on the high expectations from Eagles fans, but I believe that fans should stay hopeful. They are a young group that has to take some tough losses in order to grow into a winning team.
