Grayson’s Grades: Eagles at Saints

The Philadelphia Eagles lost the turnover battle for the third week in a row, but still found a way to escape New Orleans with a 15-12 victory. There were still plenty of mistakes and questionable decisions that nearly cost the Eagles.

The defense played great while the offense moved the ball but also left points on the board due to turnovers and poor in-game decisions.

The Eagles improved to 2-1 and will prepare to hit the road again next week when they visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This is another mixed report card. Here is the latest edition of Grayson's Grades:

A

Jalen Carter – Carter played a great game. He once again looked like the dominant force in the middle of the defensive line that he was in the first half of last year. His play trickled down and allowed others on the line to make plays as well. He was winning his battles, pushing his opposing lineman into the pocket and disrupting plays while also helping to stop the run. Carter recorded four tackles, two of them for a loss, three quarterback pressures, two hurries, one quarterback hit and two passes batted down.

Dallas Goedert – Goedert had arguably one of the biggest plays in the game and turned in his best performance as a pro. With the Eagles trailing by 5 and less than two minutes to go in the game, he caught a pass on a crossing route that caused three defenders to run into each other. It sprang him free and he went 61 yards down to the Saints four yard line. Saquan Barkley scored the winning touchdown on the very next play. Goedert stepped up and saw a lot more targets due to the absence of AJ Brown. He caught ten passes for a career-high 170 yards.

DeVonta Smith – Smith was having a great game when he suffered a cheap shot in the second half. He was driven backwards with forward progress stopped and a defender charging full speed the other way hit him high and Smith dropped to the ground. He suffered a concussion and did not return. Smith was doing a great job running solid routes and catching everything thrown his way. He caught seven passes for 79 yards before suffering that concussion.

Saquan Barkley – Barkley bounced back from dropping that pass late in last week's loss to the Falcons with another solid game. He was a beast running the ball. One play after DeVonta Smith was knocked out of the game, he took the ball and went 65 yards for a touchdown. Barkley later scored the winning touchdown and tacked on the two-point conversion to help secure the win. He carried the ball 17 times for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Barkley also caught four passes for nine yards.

Reed Blankenship - Blankenship made the play that allowed the entire city of Philadelphia to exhale. He dove and picked off Derek Carr in the final minute to secure the victory. Blankenship seems to do a great job in those kind of situations where he watches the quarterback, anticipates the throw and jumps the route. Blankenship finished with two tackles, one pass successfully defended and one incredibly huge interception.

Vic Fangio - Fangio's defense faced a team averaging 45 points per game coming into this one and held them to just 12 points. It was an impressive performance. It started by slowing down the explosive Alvin Kamara, and also coming up with a big fourth down stop after the Saints blocked a punt and got great field position deep in Eagles' territory. Fangio's defense was also getting pressure on the quarterback which it has failed to do in the previous two weeks. That pressure led to a big interception that sealed the victory late in the game.

B

Jalen Hurts – I wanted to give Hurts a ‘C’, but settled on a ‘B’ because he overall played pretty well considering he was without his top two receivers for part of it. That being said, my patience is starting to grow thin with some of his poor decisions. He has not learned that a drive ending in a field goal is not a bad thing. Yes, everyone wants touchdowns, but forcing a pass into the endzone on third down is not a good idea. He had it picked off in a 3-0 game failing to at least allow his team the opportunity to tie it there and build off of that. Hurts also has to protect the ball better overall. He was stripped trying to avoid the pass rush leading to another turnover. The Eagles lost the turnover battle for the third week in a row. Hurts has got to protect it better. He completed 29 of 38 passes for 311 yards and had one interception. He also carried it eight times for 25 yards and fumbled it once.

Jordan Davis - Davis has heard a lot of criticism about his play throughout last season and into this one. He played one of his best games helping to collapse the pocket and getting in Derek Carr's face while also helping to stop the run. Davis burst through the line and recorded the only sack of the game for the Eagles. He benefitted from the chaos created by Jalen Carter. Davis had four tackles including one for a loss, one sack and one quarterback hit.

Offensive Line - The offensive line had to adapt throughout the game. Two starters, Lane Johnson and Mekhi Becton both left the game due to injuries forcing Fred Johnson and Tyler Steen into the action. They both held up pretty well and did what they needed to help the team get the win. The line paved the way for 460 yards of total offense including 172 of them on the ground.

C

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D
Nick Sirianni – I thought Nick Sirianni made some questionable game managing decisions in this game after some questionable ones last week. The first was with just a matter of seconds remaining in the first half and the Eagles down 3-0. He went for it on fourth down and failed. The Eagles knew they were going to get the ball to start the second half, so you absolutely have to kick the field goal there to tie it up. He followed that up on the opening possession of the second half by deciding to go for it again on fourth down passing up a 50 yard field goal and Jalen Hurts got sacked. Then with the Eagles leading by one and less than seven minutes left in the game he tried a 60 yard attempt that Jake Elliott missed giving the Saints the ball at the 50. They scored on the ensuing possession to take a 12-7 lead. This game had a clear feel sometime in the second quarter that points were going to be hard to come by. He failed to have a feel for the game and manage it accordingly.

F

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