Eagles show some flaws, but record remains perfect

By Ralph Vacchiano
FOX Sports NFC East Writer

There have been times this season when the Philadelphia Eagles looked unbeatable, when it has been hard to find any flaws. There have been games when it seemed like they had every conceivable part of their game working right.

This was not one of those games.

Not at all.

“(Former Villanova basketball coach Jay) Wright always texts me before a road game saying ‘You’ve got to claw, scratch, whatever you have to do to take it.

“It means a lot more when you win like that,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.

That’s certainly a good way to look at the Eagles’ 20-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz. on Sunday — a game they didn’t win as much they survived. 

It was ugly, and it came down to missed 43-yard field goal from the Cards’ substitute kicker. Even quarterback Jalen Hurts admitted he had “mixed emotions” about a performance that exposed a lot of the flaws simmering under the Eagles’ 5-0 start.

The win, of course, is the most important thing — especially in an NFC East that suddenly and surprisingly looks like the best division in the NFL. Not every game is going to be perfect or pretty. Sometimes teams — especially good teams with big dreams — just have to find a way.

“We feel like we could’ve played better,” Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert said. “But, shoot, winning in the NFL is tough, and we got it done.”

Yes, they did, but that doesn’t mean their issues will go away. The Eagles made surprising mistakes, had odd holes in their game plan, and will head home with a couple of important injuries. 

They might still be the last undefeated team standing, but they look more vulnerable than they’ve looked all year.

That was especially true on defense, where all their missed tackles were a reminder of how bad they looked on their opening day win in Detroit when they were shredded for 35 points and 386 yards in a tight victory. 

The whiffs Sunday hurt them early, like when cornerbacks C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Darius Slay and linebacker T.J. Edwards all fanned on Cards receiver Marquise Brown on his 25-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.

If the Cardinals were any good at all on offense right now, all those misses would’ve hurt a lot more.

Of course, the Eagles survived all those missed tackles in their opener because their offense was a juggernaut. That wasn’t the case in this game. They had 14 points and 159 yards three drives into the game. But they only had 198 yards and two field goals the rest of the way.

Why?

For one thing, their vaunted running game struggled, with only 83 yards through the first 3½ quarters of the game. That didn’t change until they finally found their mojo on their eight-minute, 70-yard, game-winning field goal drive when they ran 13 times for 56 yards.

“We didn’t play near to our standard”

Jalen Hurts spoke with Jennifer Hale after the Eagles’ close win at Arizona in Week 5.

“Our job as coaches is to lean on our best players,” Sirianni said. “We jumped on our offensive line’s back and rode them down the field.”

Of course, he really didn’t lean on his best players for much of the game — which is another mystifying problem. After all, where was receiver A.J. Brown? Hurts threw to him four times on the opening drive, but only three times the rest of the game, once in the second half, and not once in the fourth quarter. 

Brown, the star acquired in a big draft-day trade and promptly given a $100 million contract, was an afterthought, with just three catches for 37 yards.

Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen had a similar omission from his plans with Goedert, who had five passes thrown his way in the first quarter — which made sense, since the Cardinals have been one of the worst defenses against tight ends. But he disappeared after that until the third quarter. And while he finished with a respectable eight catches for 95 yards, he had only three passes thrown his direction in the final three quarters of the game.

That was … weird, to say the least — especially in a game where the Eagles could’ve used a big play or two, especially from the passing game. Instead, they seemed determined to just grind this one out.

And that wasn’t easy, considering how banged up their offensive line was. They were already without left tackle Jordan Mailata. Then they lost center Jason Kelce (ankle) and left guard Landon Dickerson (leg) in the first half, too. Both came back and somehow managed to power that game-winning field goal drive. But they were clearly hurting – “They’re warriors,” Sirianni said — which is probably why the offense was hurting too.

Philly does enough to improve to 5-0

Robert Smith and Chris Myers break down the Eagles’ win at Arizona.

Is any of that alarming? Not with a team that’s 5-0 and still more talented than most of the teams in the NFC. But considering they have their sights set on the Super Bowl, it all should at least give Sirianni plenty to worry about and to try to correct before their showdown with the 4-1 Dallas Cowboys next Sunday night.

At least they can do it knowing they’re still undefeated. At least they can do that coming off a win.

“That was gritty,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “We had to fight for everything today.”

“We found a way,” Hurts said. “We talk about playing together. We talk about having each other’s backs. That’s what we had today.”

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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