In a defensive slugfest of a game, neither of the offenses were able to put together good enough drives to put points on the board. Cleveland scored five points, two on a safety and three that were gifted by a Nick Foles turnover. The Philadelphia Eagles did not manage to score any points. A missed field goal and a red zone interception thrown by Nick Foles kept the Eagles completely off the board.
As always there were some good performances and some bad.
Nick Foles. Photo by NBC Sports.
Foles was off all day, he never looked comfortable in the pocket and did not deal with pressure effectively against the Browns front seven. In addition, his decision-making and accuracy left much to be desired on a day for the Eagles offense to forget.
Luckily, Foles performs much better when it counts and is capable of much stronger performances. Even so, hope Wentz is ready to play in week one.
Matt Jones has looked bad all preseason. Now, he has caused a turnover in two straight games. Last week he deflected a catchable ball into the hands of a defender. This week he fumbled which is a reoccurring problem with Jones, and one that the Eagles’ coaching staff does not have patience for. Matt Jones was also outperformed by the other running backs as Wendell Smallwood and Josh Adams had nice days. Jones will not be on Philadelphia’s final roster.
Sudfeld was highly disappointing against the Browns. After having such a good game against the Patriots last week, he struggled immensely this week. Sudfeld finished 11/21 for 72 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He was a far cry from the Nate “STUDfeld” that showed up last week. Week four will show who the real Nate Sudfeld is.
Sidney Jones. Photo by Yahoo Sports.
Jones had a really good game this week. Jones received all of the first-team nickel reps and performed well in the game. He had a few big plays for the Eagles, especially on the Browns red zone trip. The Browns had the ball on the one and tried to toss a fade route to Landry in the corner of the end zone but Jones had great coverage on the play. It was especially impressive because the Brown’s used a rub route to attempt to get him open but Jones stayed glued to his man.
The next play the Browns tried to beat Jones on a short slant route to the inside but Sidney Jones got leverage on the receiver and broke up the play. Finally, on the third down play, Cleveland went back to the rub concept they had tried before. This time Jones showed that he has great communication by successfully passing off his receiver and picking up Mills’ assignment which seamlessly forced an incomplete pass.
Overall, it was a very good game from Sidney Jones who surely has the nickel corner position locked up now.
Barnett was a force against the Browns. He was constantly in the backfield, disrupting plays and getting pressure on the quarterback. It is obvious from watching Barnett that he has improved tremendously between last season and this one. While he only had one tackle for loss and three tackles total he made a much bigger impact than the stats show. Derek Barnett is in line for a much larger role this season as one of the starting defensive ends. The game against the Browns showed that he is ready to take on that challenge.
Josh Adams. Photo by Chris Szagola / AP FILE PHOTO.
Josh Adams did not come into the game until well into the third quarter. However, once he was in the game he showed some real potential. Adams looked fast and extremely powerful. He fought for and gained extra yards every time he got the ball. At one point it looked like the Eagles were going to get stuffed on a third and 12 play but somehow Adams gained 13 yards and got the first.
On a day when Philadelphia did not have many bright spots on offense Adams shined. His average per rush was 8.3 yards. The small sample size matters, but Josh Adams just looked so much better than the other running backs that played in the game.
Featured image from Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
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