The DiCecco Daily Post-Postgame Show: How The Birds Are Reacting To An Ugly, Fourth Straight Loss?

Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome in to another episode of DiCecco Daily. It's Andrew DiCecco, Eagles beat reporter for insidethebirds.com. And man, was that game tough to watch. The Tanner McKee-led Eagles offense did not give the crowd much to cheer about on Sunday afternoon, and the Eagles dropped their 4th straight, following to the Carolina Panthers, 25 to 14. Not a lot of highlights, more lowlights in this game. But let's kind of go through the late game sequence before I get to my takeaways, because a 19-yard touchdown connection between Tanner McKee and wide receiver Devontae Smith briefly revitalized the fans in attendance, and they pulled within 5 points, with 10-42 remaining in the final frame. But the defense forced a 3-and-out, and the Eagles' offensive surge would prove to be short-lived because an issue with the quarterback center exchange, Jake Major snapped low. It led to a loss of 12 yards, digging a hole that the offense just wasn't equipped to climb out of, even with plenty of time remaining. It just never felt like they were going to be able to dig themselves out of that hole. An Eagles defense that had been on the field for what seems like most of the game surrendered a late score via a busted coverage, slamming the door on a potential come-from-behind win, and that was when Bryce Young found tight end Tommy Tremble for his second score of the afternoon. A Tanner McKee heave to Devontae Smith on a fourth and 17 on the Eagles' ensuing possession fell incomplete, and the Panthers took over with 426 remaining and controlled the clock the rest of the way, and you just knew the way the game was going to end. It wasn't pretty by any means. Tanner McKee completed 26 of 45 pass attempts for 215 in a touchdown. Running back Damian Pierce was the team's lone ball carrier Sunday afternoon, and he carried 12 times for 35 yards in a touchdown. Wide receiver Devontae Smith led the way in the receiving game, he caught 7 of 14 targets for 75 yards in a touchdown. The week 6 in actives, wide receiver Hollywood Brown, quarterback Joe Milton, who was the third quarterback. Running back Saquon Barkley, defensive back Michael Carter, the second. Outside linebacker AJ Appanessa, and outside linebacker Jay Lix Hunt. Those who were active but did not play, quarterback Cole Payton, running back Jaden Blue, and center Drew Kendall. Defensively, Arnold Avicade led the unit in tackles with 9, while outside linebacker Nolan Smith picked up his third sack of the season. Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and defensive tackle Jordan Davis split a sack of Panthers quarterback Bryce Young. Now let's get to the observations. If the Eagles didn't dress Drew Kendall, the Eagles would have went into Sunday's game with just seven healthy offensive linemen. That's almost unheard of. But the second-year pro Kendall has been dealing with a knee injury, as I've talked about for the past couple of weeks. And he entered the game as questionable. And he was being watched closely during warmups. And it was determined that Kendall would serve as emergency depth, break glass in case of emergency. Because I'm sure that I'm going to get a lot of questions about that. He wasn't moving around very fluidly during warmups. He certainly had a hitch to his walk. And there's actually a video on my ex account where he's walking and talking with offensive line coach Chris Cooper. And while he was doing that, Jake Majors was snapping the football and working alongside Tyler Steen. So center Jake Majors made his second NFL start with Willie Lampkin reprising his role as left guard for the second consecutive week. And on an offense absent of explosive plays, I was surprised to see Hollywood Brown inactive. Because his 4-3 speed could theoretically stretch a defense or at minimum force coordinators to respect his field stretching ability. Now he's never really been used as a vertical threat. So it's easy to say that when you look at his speed. But having him out there forces teams to potentially play them a little bit differently. And it gives you a potentially different dimension. So without Brown, the Eagles just don't have any semblance of a vertical dimension apart from Devontae Smith. And the same can be said for Jaden Blue, who was active but did not log a snap. Sure, I get that he joined the Eagles practice squad just before the season, but a big part of his appeal is his open field elusiveness and home run hitting ability. There has to be a world in which you can get him three or four touches and mix him in because someone like that can maybe provide a spark of some sort. And with Damian Pierce being more of a downhill runner, mixing in someone with Blue's skill set for a handful of plays even might have helped open things up a little bit more, especially with Sunday's number two running back Carson Steele exiting early with an injury. And we'll talk more about that later. In other depth chart related news, the Eagles opened in base defense to start with Cooper DeGene aligning at safety opposite Drew Micuba. But when shifting to its nickel personnel, Kenny Moore, not Marcus Epps paired with Micuba. Last week, defensive coordinator praised the play of Moore who was pressed into service in London. Remember once Michael Carter left the game with the abdomen injury, and Vic said, I think when you consider the lack of background, both he's never played safety in his career, gets here after training camp, limited reps with our defense, he's getting some in scout team. I thought he did a pretty damn good job considering the circumstances. I talked to Kenny Moore after the game about his chemistry with Drew Micuba, and he said, in meetings, I sit right by Drew and Cooper DeGene, and it's a lot of tailored communication. Coach Joe Casper does a lot of great making sure that everybody's on the same page, and it's a piece at the end of the day. So we spent a lot of time together throughout the week, whether it's me and Drew, the safeties in general, collectively all together with Coach Casper, and he does a great job at making sure that we understand what the expectation is. It was interesting, or I was interested, to see how offensive coordinator Sean Manning would approach the offense with Tanner McKee at the controls. While the offensive line is mostly comprised of reserves, and running room has been difficult to come by, I was still expecting more of a concerted effort to establish the run early. And I know what you're thinking, why would it work now if it hasn't worked all season? But you gotta try. You gotta try to create something a little bit different. Mix things up, go more inside zone power, stretch plays, whatever you gotta do just to mix it up and try to jumpstart this thing. And given the inexperience at quarterback, that just made all the sense in the world. But there was also no quick game. Undercenter was lacking, expected hallmarks of Manion's scheme. And instead, the passes to the flat seemingly replaced a largely ineffective running game. But it still isn't clear what exactly the Eagles are looking to accomplish offensively. We still don't know what their identity is, and it seems like it's a lot of things kind of mashed together, and they're still trying to find themselves. And we're going into week seven, so that's certainly not what the Eagles envisioned when they rolled this out. Clearly, they're depleted right now, but still, you would like to see some things that they can hang their hats on when things are a little bit dire or challenging, and we just haven't seen that. Tanner McKee finished the first half completing 13 to 23 pass attempts for 94 yards. There were some drops, an early one from McKay Lemon and one later in the half from Dallas Goddard. There were also some miscommunication. I can think of one early. I think it was on the left sideline to Elijah Moore. There was another one later to Dontavian Wicks. But they also had a couple of penalties that stifled momentum. And still, as the game progressed, it appeared as though McKay settled in. But that late first half surge did not carry over as the Eagles struggled to protect against the Panthers blitzes. McKay was under siege and in a constant time crunch, but the lapses in protection, let's not forget, or the inability to implement an in-game solution. That's not exclusive to this week. That's been a prevailing theme. The Eagles also entered Sunday shorthanded at the Edgerusher position, with J Wicks Hunt and AJ. Appanessa sidelined, and headliner Jonathan Grenard returning from an ankle injury and seemingly on a pitch count. They needed to lean on Smith to shoulder a higher volume of snaps, but Nolan Smith, unfortunately, who collected a first half sack, by the way, he exited with a concussion, and that left only Jonathan Grenard, Arnold Abikade and rookie Keyshawn James Newby to absorb the remaining snaps. And James Newby, by the way, was elevated from the practice squad and appearing in his first NFL game. Upon first watch, I actually thought James Newby performed fairly well, apart from a neutral zone infraction called against him, and the running into the kicker penalty in which it looked like he was going to sort of storm through there for a block or get a piece of it at least. But for a rookie playing his first NFL snaps, he played fast and confidently, I thought, and his 4-5 speed was apparent on a handful of rushes, and one in particular that definitely impacted Bryce Young and maybe forced his hand into an intentional grounding. So depending on the health issues of Hunt, Eponessa and Smith this week, James Newby may have to play quite a bit on Monday night. We're still obviously very early in the process, but it's something to keep in the back of your mind. And when the Snapshare comes out Monday morning, I'm really curious to see how many Grenard played, and I'm also curious to learn more from Fangio whether an uptick in Snaps can be expected or if the Eagles continue to take a more cautious approach so to ensure that they don't run the risk of re-injuring it or aggravating it further or if he just needs to simply get ramped up. He hasn't played a lot of football this year. 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I'm interested in hearing Fangio's impressions regarding the rotations and the factors that determined it on Sunday. The sense I get is that because it was always the plan, he rode the hot hand for continuity purposes, but we'll find out more. I think it's Wednesday when they speak this week because the Eagles play Monday night. Some numbers to consider. There were 24 penalties for 233 yards in this game. The Panthers accounted for 13 and still managed to win by 9 points. The Eagles were 6 of 15 on third downs, so that's still a problem and they're constantly finding themselves behind the sticks. They haven't gotten that rectified yet. The Panthers at 34-48 won the time of possession battle over the Eagles who had 25-12. The Eagles rolled up 17 first downs to the Panthers 24, running 61 plays to the Panthers 74. To expand on the latter, the defensive snap share is excessive. For perspective, against the commanders in week one, the Eagles defense racked up 70 snaps. And in games against Chicago, where they had 72 snaps, Los Angeles, 84, and Jacksonville, 72, they all exceeded the 70 snap threshold. Sunday afternoon was no exception, with the snaps also hiking over 70. The defense typically gets out to a fast start early and can get off the field, but there's a common thread late in games where they become more susceptible. And perhaps that can be traced back to fatigue as the offense continues to pile up these three and outs at an alarming rate. But the defense keeps the Eagles in games to be clear, and the offense has not been able to sustain drives. I think the defense performed well in this game. I'm just going to say that right now. And how often or how much is it, how realistic is it to continue to put them in really difficult spots? They're always on the field. They were on the field for most of the second half. Eventually, that dam is going to break. They're human beings, and I thought they performed really well. They were really stout early in that game. They held that 3-0 lead or 3-0. They were down 3-0 nothing, and they held that for a while. Scoring 14 points in the NFL is not going to win you very many games. You have to be able to contribute as an offense and make it a more balanced approach, because how much longer can you expect this defense to continuously be out there, getting their stops, getting off the field, only to have to go back out there? I mean, that is something that's been on my radar for quite a while now, and I think last season you saw a little bit of that. But this year, my radar is up, and I'm paying pretty close attention to that. I think they've been playing pretty good football early in games, and there's no coincidence that later in games you start to see a little bit more vulnerability there. The running back room continues to be ravaged by injuries. I've never seen anything like this. It's hard to believe. Following a four yard reception in the first quarter, Carson Steele came up grabbing his arm and took a trip to the medical tent. He then exited the field through the visitors' tunnel, presumably for an x-ray, and he was listed as questionable with a shoulder injury. Now, Carson Steele did return shortly thereafter, but would again hurt that same shoulder on a kickoff, and he walked gingerly off the field, and was declared out for the afternoon. That left only Damian Pearce and Jaden Blue to shoulder the carries. And Jaden Blue, as I mentioned, didn't have any carries. And if Saquon Barkley doesn't return for the team's Monday night matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles may have to sign another running back to keep the total at three. So, let's talk about some of the injuries today, because Jaden Davis, later in that game, he was down for a while. He was walking very gingerly off the field. He needed some assistance. He went into the medical tent and then he headed indoors. He needed help walking off. And I saw him with a lot of ice wrapped around his right ankle, I believe it was. And that's certainly troubling. He did speak after the game, but you're talking about injuries now to Jordan Davis, and we'll have to wait and see what that means. Nolan Smith sustained the concussion. J-Wex hunts out. And we'll see what the timeline is there. AJ FNS is out. So, all of a sudden, Michael Carter II is out. And all of a sudden, the Eagles are now down some key players on the defensive side. And this week will certainly determine the length of those injuries. You know, you're hoping for the human element of this thing, that they're back out there and all is well. But man, are these things starting to really pile up. And it was really just the offense that was sustaining these blows, and it was blow after blow. But now you're seeing it trickle over to the defensive side. And how much can you withstand as a football team? And I will say this, at the end of the game in the locker room, Jordan Milata, almost upon us walking in, said, I'm ready to talk. And he brought all the reporters to the center of the locker room and really held court there for 30 minutes answering questions. And I said this before, but I want to reemphasize this. I have the utmost respect for everyone, but especially right now, Jordan Milata, because he's going, you can see he's going through it. He is one of the few remaining elder statesmen there. He is trying his best to keep everything together. There's a lot of newness around him. He was playing alongside Willie Lampkin. There's Jake Majors is out there. Markel Bell is out there. There's no Jalen Hurts, who was placed on injury reserve on Saturday afternoon. So Jordan Milata and no Lane Johnson, no Cam Juergens. So Jordan Milata is answering for most of this. And he takes a lot of pride in his leadership and controlling his emotions and leading the direction of this team. And he stood there for close to half an hour, if I had to say, answering all these questions and just being very candid. And he talked a lot about want to and a ton of things. But Tanner McKee in this game, I mean, he looked scattershot. He the ball, he was hanging on to it a little bit longer, looked indecisive. It was sort of a carryover from the Tanner McKee that we saw in training camp. And again, I have to go back and rewatch the game to get a very clear depiction of where he was going wrong. But it didn't look like he had, I mean, he wasn't having his strongest game either. Okay, you know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing on repeat. There's the sweater that goes with everything, or you get the perfect pair of jeans, that t-shirt that you just always reach for first. All right, those are the pieces that make getting dressed easy. And that's actually what Quince does best. Quince focuses on high quality wardrobe staples made with premium materials. 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But I think sometimes when you're watching it in real time, it may look like there are certain culprits that are continuously getting beat or having some lapses. But it's never as good as you think and it's never as bad as you think. And Nick Sirianni will tell you this, it's a shared blame. No one played well on that side of the ball. Devontae Smith might be the exception. I think Dontavian Wicks late in the game had a nice reception, made some yards after the catch. You could see he was desperately trying to create a spark there late in the game. And then he came up injured. He was in the tent, came out with the helmet. And that's something I'll also be keeping an eye on. But yeah, I mean, there's no way, there's no real positives to take away from the offense right now. And that game had 24 penalties. I've never seen anything like it. So really from pillar to post, I thought that the Eagles just got, they just got outclassed by the Carolina Panthers. And I want to reemphasize this while we're talking about it. I thought the defense played well. They performed as well as you could hope. But as I outlined earlier in this podcast, the snap shares are continuously racking up. And we're only entering week seven, but they've been out on the field for an extensive amount of time. And I don't know that it's fair or realistic to expect them to be able to continue to get these three and outs, three and outs, and then only to have to go back out there after their own offense gets a three and out. And eventually, as I like to say, that dam will break. So, perspective is really important here. You never want to see these late collapses in games or even leakiness. And I think the defense has been susceptible late in these games. But there's always context, right? There's always context behind it. And I don't think that there's any coincidence that you're seeing it happen, not in the early stages of games, except for Chicago. You're seeing it more often in the third and fourth quarter. And that's where the snaps are starting to accrue. And that's a problem, especially when it doesn't seem like the offense is taking steps in the right direction. So that's kind of where things stand. Oh, and I'm sure I'll get questions about Zach Ertz. He's out of elevations and he's still on the practice squad. The Eagles did not sign him to the 53-man roster. And we'll see where they decide to go. They also have a couple other players who are still on injured reserve, who had their practice window open at that position in Grand Calcutera. And Eli Stowers. So we'll get a little bit more clarity on that this week, and see if they're out there and being able to get the practice into maybe a full capacity. So the Eagles have some interesting decisions, as they seemingly have had every week with regard to the roster. And we'll find out where they go from here. And the next time you see them will be Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field against the Dallas Cowboys. That's gonna do it for this episode of the DiCecco Daily. I'm Andrew DiCecco, I'll catch you all on the next one.