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Eagles vs. Vikings Week 15 PFF Grades: Secondary Woes

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Hannah Foslien

Pro Football Focus is a site that grades NFL player performances. Let's take a look at what they had to say about the performances in Philadelphia's 48-30 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

PFF offers explanation on their grading system on their website. Read more about that here.

OFFENSE

Best

Jason Kelce +4.4
DeSean Jackson +4.3
Todd Herremans +2.6
LeSean McCoy +2.2
Evan Mathis +2.1
Brent Celek +1.4
Jason Peters +1.4

Worst

Nick Foles -1.5
Jason Avant -1.5

Analysis:

Let's start with the offensive line: Jason Kelce was the top graded player due to excellent effort in both pass and run blocking. Todd Herremans received a positive pass protection grade, which is rare. He only allowed 1 QB hit and 1 hurry. Evan Mathis was also solid in pass protection. Jason Peters allowed 3 sacks, 2 hits, 1 hurry, but graded positively as a run blocker. Brent Celek's strength was run blocking as well.

As for the offensive weapons, DeSean Jackson had a big day. He caught 10 passes on 15 targets for 195 yards (19.5 avg) for 1 TD. He also had a running TD that was canceled out. 73 of DeSean's yards came after the catch. As for LeSean McCoy, he only had 8 carries, but he still played well. Shady contributed with 5 catches and 68 yards in the passing game.

For the third straight week, Nick Foles finished with a negative grade. A big reason for his grade this week was the peelback block that wiped out a DeSean Jackson running TD. Foles just wasn't at his sharpest against the Vikings. He finished with a very good line (30/48, 428 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT) but he still left a number of (easy) plays on the field.

Jason Avant continues to prove he can be upgraded upon in the future. He's just not much of a threat in the passing game.

DEFENSE

Best

Mychal Kendricks +4.5
Bennie Logan +2.5
Vinny Curry +2.4
Cedric Thornton +1.7
Connor Barwin +1.0

Worst

Bradley Fletcher -4.3
Nate Allen -2.6
Cary Williams -2.4
Colt Anderson -2.0 (4 snaps)
Patrick Chung -1.9

Analysis:

The Eagles defense played pretty poorly against the Vikings' offense, but there were some bright spots. Mychal Kendricks had the best game of his season. Kendricks was solid in run defense and as a pass rusher: 1 sack, 1 hit, 1 hurry, 3 tackles, 2 assisted, 4 stops, and an interception. Bennie Logan also had a strong game. He finished with 2 hurries, 1 batted pass, 2 tackles, and 2 stops. Vinny Curry contributed as a pass rusher with 1 sack and 3 hurries. Cedric Thornton and Connor Barwin were both solid in run defense.

Now, for the worst... the Eagles secondary was flat out atrocious in pass coverage. Bradley Fletcher allowed 8 catches on 10 targets for 134 yards. Nate Allen missed 2 tackles and allowed 2 catches on 3 targets for 66 yards and 1 TD. Cary Williams missed 2 tackles and allowed 5 catches on 9 yatgets for 79 yards and 1 TD. Patrick Chung allowed 3 catches on 4 targets for 28 yards.

Colt Anderson only played 4 snaps but missed 2 tackles. It's probably best Anderson remains only on special teams, but injury issues could force him to see defensive snaps.

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