It’s hard to win in the NFL and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni stood strong to that sentiment after Philadelphia escaped São Paulo, Brazil with a 34-29 season-opening win over the Green Bay Packers.
“It's not easy to win football games in the NFL, especially when you travel ten hours,” Sirianni said. “I know the Packers traveled ten hours, too. It was a good, good win against a good, good opponent.
“Man, do I have so much respect for Coach [Matt] LaFleur. He is a freaking really good coach, and that quarterback is a really good player. Jordan Love is a really, really good player. And that defense, they're tough. Got good players at every level.”
However, it was fair to call it a sloppy performance by both sides. It was even uncharacteristic from the standpoint of Jalen Hurts’ four turnover-worthy throws and Love’s accuracy issues before the scary MCL injury that ended his night one play short of trying to replicate Aaron Rodgers another way with a desperation Hail Mary heave to try to steal it.
Contributing to that was a slippery field with too many players on skates too often.
“What I'm really proud about is it was sloppy, it was definitely sloppy,” Sirianni acknowledged, “and both sides, there were things on both sides that looked sloppy.
“But we were able as a football team to persevere through some dark moments, right? There was going to be some good stuff that happened in that game, some bad stuff that happened in that game, and our guys just kept coming back.”
Hurts was a prime example of that, making plays down the stretch with his relentless approach to the game despite a poor overall performance with a Pro Football Focus grade that could scare a young child.
Another issue worth watching was the pass rush. Other than Zack Baun’s elite footwear decision-making, the Eagles’ pass rush was virtually non-existent.
Many noticed that Brandon Graham and Nolan Smith got more defensive reps in the game than $51 million free-agent acquisition Bryce Huff.
Overall, Philadelphia was credited with 17 pressures by PFF, many of those manufactured by defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s feel for the moment.
Baun had the only two sacks, with Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat both teaming up for two pressures apiece, including the one that knocked Love from the game and forced Malik Willis to eat the football on the Hail Mary attempt. The other hit was credited to second-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo.
The PFF grades were not kind to the Eagles’ front with only the ageless Graham performing well. From there DT Milton Williams was the only other front player sneaking above a 60.0. Carter’s grades were among the worst of his career while Huff was on the wrong side of 50.0 and Smith just cleared that low bar.
Huff has the added pressure of being labeled as “the placement” for productive edge rusher Haason Reddick and finished with a clean sheet, the opposite of what Corinthians goalkeeper Hugo Souza usually strives for on that pitch. Huff’s line was empty when it came to sacks, QB hits, and hurries.
For now, it’s fair to give the group a mulligan and point to the field conditions while keeping a close eye on the issue when Atlanta arrives at Lincoln Financial Field on Sept. 16
