3 Eagles on Thin Ice After Nearly Blowing Win Over Patriots
“A win’s a win” might be an okay attitude for a team that needs every W they can get to make the playoffs, but it’s absolutely not the case when you’re a Super Bowl contender. All wins are not created equal, and while you’d of course always prefer to win a game, winning ugly is not good.
After getting out to a phenomenal 16-0 first quarter on Sunday, the Eagles had three really sketchy quarters, allowing the New England Patriots to outscore them 20-9 through the remainder of the game and nearly come back to win.
The Eagles coaching staff is absolutely not going to be complacent after a showing like that, especially against a team that doesn’t even project to make the playoffs, and some players will be getting an earful for their roles in the game.
These three Eagles will find themselves on mighty thin ice in Week 2 after contributing to Sunday’s collapse.
Three Eagles to Blame for Sunday’s Collapse
1. James Bradberry
Obviously first and foremost we hope James Bradberry is okay after that collision with Josh Jobe. There’s no word on whether he’s in the concussion protocol, but a short week is going to complicate things a bit.
But considering how he played when he was on the field, this was a rough showing.
Mac Jones just had one of his best games ever against us. This was the only time he’s ever thrown for both 300-plus yards and 3-plus touchdowns in the same game. Sure, this offense has some better pieces and a better offensive coordinator than it did last year, but there’s no excuse for getting shredded like that by Jones.
You can’t put all the blame for a poor day defending the pass on one guy, of course, but Bradberry looked mighty shaky out there.
He had a nice pass breakup, but there were a couple plays where he just looked outmatched. He got absolutely cooked on the touchdown he allowed to Kendrick Bourne, too.
This Patriots receiving corps is not talented enough that it should be making you look silly like that. It would be one thing if some good playcalling and gameplanning were creating holes in the secondary, but giving up looks like that one-on-one is tough.