Eagles All-22 Film Review: Observations from the win over the Broncos

What a win! This was the best game I have broken down all season. It was a proper team win and there was some good things to look at on both sides of the ball. Let’s just get to it.

The usual disclaimer - I will be breaking down film on my Twitter account and then uploading the tweets with some more analysis in this piece. I obviously cannot post everything so I will focus on certain things each week that stand out to me. I might see something a few times on film but only upload one example as you don’t need to see everything, so you will have to take my word if I say that I have seen something multiple times.

OFFENSE

I’ve spoken in recent weeks about the Eagles offense starting to have some staple concepts that they are running consistently. Flood/Sail/3 level stretch (whatever you want to call it) has become a staple and Jalen Hurts has been really good at the intermediate throw. This is why I really like this play - it is the same concept but thrown on the move to keep the defense guessing.

This may only seem like a checkdown but I think it highlights that Hurts is starting to eliminate what isn’t there quicker and is comfortable sitting in the pocket rather than running around when something is not there. In my eyes, I see this play as progress.

This is lovely offensive design and just a great all around play. Dallas Goedert’s route is brilliant. Hurts’ pocket movement and accuracy is as good as I’ve ever seen from him. It seems very clear that Hurts is accurate when he is comfortable with what he is being asked to do. Anything outside his comfort zone (or when he gets confused) seems to badly impact his accuracy.

This was not the same Eagles offense as the past few weeks just because there was a heavy emphasis on the run. This was much more of a shotgun game than under center like the past few weeks. There was a lot more creativity in the run game too than previous weeks. We saw a lot of inside zone and split zone as usual, but combined with some tackle-over, some QB counter with pulling guards across the formation. It was fun! Jordan Howard continues to look really good too. Both him and Boston Scott played well.

I am loving this 4 strong or 4 man flood being called once again. It puts so much stress on a defense but this time they just couldn’t connect due to pressure. I would have loved this play to have come off though and I am glad to see Nick Sirianni continuing to expand the playbook.

Let’s look at this once and never again... if we had lost this game this play would have been going viral.

The Broncos’ gameplan to blitz a lot seemed quite strange to me but Sirianni and Hurts had the answers to the test this week. There was some great man beaters called and Hurts seemed to always know exactly where to go with the football. He never seemed panicked or rushed and trusted everyone around them to do their job. It was a really professional display on offense. The Eagles coaching staff deserve huge credit for getting the Eagles this prepared for this game. Everyone looked really good in the first half and that is a really promising sign.

Again, Hurts knows exactly where to go. What I love about this play too is how Hurts just shows no care at all for the pressure right in his face. He stays calm, does not panic and releases an absolute strike. This is the type of play I was not sure he had in him to be honest. A good sign.

Now for the slight negative on Hurts... I think the Broncos confused him twice in the second half when they played more zone and use some post-snap safety movement. This throw might actually be open but if will require a heck of a throw and you have to eliminate one side of the field far quicker. Hurts pauses for just a second before throwing but it is enough time for this to nearly get picked. The positives from me is that Hurts is even attempting to throw a backside corner route. I don’t think he even gets this far in the progressions a few weeks ago.

Shoutout Jack Stoll!! He is playing really well as a run blocking tight end.

An example of Hurts getting confused by post-snap safety movement and forcing a ball under pressure. I’m not sure about the design of this play either, seems quite a predetermined throw and not sure it was needed in this particular game and situation. At least Sirianni was aggressive at least.

One final shoutout to Jordan Howard, this offensive line and Jack Stoll because... why not?

DEFENSE

This was such a fun game to break down from a defensive standpoint. The Eagles have transformed from a passive, boring defensive to a really creative defense right now. Jonathan Gannon obviously needed a few weeks before he started throwing out some new wrinkles but it was fun to watch. The first drive set the tone, the Eagles played press man and were disguising their coverages all game with late safety movement.

This is just awesome defense by everyone. The Eagles used a combination of man/zone frequently throughout the game and Teddy really was confused. I won’t get into huge detail about the benefit of combination coverages (I will write in the offseason if you would like) but if run correctly it can really confuse a quarterback and help against man-beating formations (such as stacks, bunches).

I know some people will say this stuff doesn’t matter but I will gladly disagree. I love this stuff.

Feel like I need to give Fletcher Cox a shoutout every so often because he’s still a pretty good defender who some fans have forgotten about because he is not as dominant as he once was.

Again, just great team defense. Mixing up coverages and the defensive line wins again. Barnett had the best game I’ve seen in a while. It was weird seeing the Eagles confuse an opposing quarterback with some different coverages, it has been a long time since I can say that about an Eagles team. I mean, a LONG time!

I really do think these two cornerbacks have been superb this year. Darius Slay has certainly had a bounce back year and aonte Maddox is proving he is a very good slot cornerback. He is aggressive, good in coverage and can play the run well too. I really hope the Eagles bring him back quickly or a team is going to give him a good contract in free agency this offseason.

This is also an exciting sign! Milton Williams is showing up every week at the moment with a splash play here or there. This is a really encouraging play as the knock on him pre draft was his size and whether he can handle playing inside. Well, here he is taking on two defenders and taking down the running back. I am excited to watch his tape in more depth in the offseason because I think he is getting better and better each week.

Again, another different call by the Eagles that I really like. Being aggressive on this on 3rd down against a quarterback who can’t create almost guarantees that he will check it down. If you can rally to the ball quickly and make the tackle like Edwards/Maddox do here, you can hopefully make the tackle before the first down. I also just like throwing different looks at quarterbacks to make them think. It is hard to measure the impact that switching up coverages can have but I think it is important.

Teddy looks like he has no idea what he is seeing here and he is a pretty smart quarterback both pre and post snap. This wasn’t a one read and run young quarterback the Eagles were confusing. Teddy is a veteran now and the Eagles defense really did confuse him which is a positive sign moving forward.

What a fun game to break down! As always, any questions or comments you have just leave below. Cheers guys and lets hope for another win!