1st Quarter
On the first drive, Jalen Hurts has a 1-yard rushing touchdown on a QB Sneak. On the Chiefs first drive, Patrick Mahomes finds Travis Kelce for an 18-yard touchdown. Harrison Butker misses a 42-yard field goal.
2nd Quarter
On the first play of the 2nd Quarter, Jalen Hurts finds A.J. Brown for a 42-yard touchdown. Jalen Hurts fumbles the ball and Nick Bolton recovers and returns it for a 36-yard touchdown. Jalen Hurts runs in a 4-yard touchdown. Jake Elliott kicks a 35-yard field goal at the end of the half. Eagles lead at halftime 24-14.
3rd Quarter
On the first drive of the 2nd half, Isiah Pacheco runs in a 1-yard touchdown. Jake Elliott kicks a 33-yard field goal.
4th Quarter
Patrick Mahomes finds Kadarius Toney for a 5-yard touchdown to take the lead. Skyy Moore gets a 4-yard receiving touchdown. Jalen Hurts runs in a 1-yard touchdown on a QB sneak and takes a QB draw for the successful 2-point conversion to tie the game. A costly holding call results in a first down and the Chiefs kneel the ball down to kick the game winning 27-yard field goal from Harrison Butker.
Season Recap
Heartbreaking is not necessarily the word I would use. Sour definitely is. Penalties were not a strong factor in the game at all for either team until the Bradberry holding call. I won’t harp on the call anymore in this article.
Jalen Hurts. He is the franchise. His fumble was the only mistake he had in the game and it came on a 3rd down Quarterback draw. Either way the ball was going back to the Chiefs giving them a chance to score. I wanted to see what Hurts could do in the biggest game and he was our brightest star. I’ll give him whatever contract he would want this off-season. 5, 7, or 10 year deal? Done. He made plays through the air and on the ground that not many people in league history can make. Unfortunately the guy on the other side of the field is one of those guys too.
Miles Sanders. Probably the most disappointing Eagle during the second half of the season. I believe the Eagles will not re-sign him and that is the right call. He is not a very good receiving option. Late this season, ball security became an issue. With how deep the market is for Running Backs, I think the Eagles will look elsewhere which pains me because I was very hopeful about Miles coming out of Penn State.
Kenneth Gainwell/Boston Scott. Wow these two exploded in the playoffs. Before the season I thought Gainwell would be used a lot in the pass game but he was not in the regular season. Halfway through the season I was asked why Gainwell is not seeing many touches and I was honest and said that I do not know. What we saw in the playoffs showed he was a secret weapon that I hope we utilize next season. Boston Scott also came to life later in the year. Scott always has his big games against the Giants but he was able to make those same plays throughout the playoffs as well. I hope we are able to re-sign him next season.
A.J. Brown/DeVonta Smith. Swole and Skinny Batman. The best Wide Receiver Duo in Eagles history of my lifetime. I remember the days of Maclin and DJax thinking how great it was but this is on another level. I am so glad to have these two. One is arguably the most physical receiver in the league while the other is one of the best route runners in the league. Both have great hands. Both showed up in the big game. I never want to see these two go as long as Hurts is in at Quarterback.
Quez Watkins. Very Disappointed in the season he had. Costly fumbles/drops in key moments of the season. He was supposed to be the deep threat of the Offense and he just could not gain any momentum. I wish we could utilize him like a return specialist but the coaching staff thinks otherwise.
Dallas Goedert. A great year from Goedert this year. He proved to be Hurts’ security blanket when DeVonta or A.J. was covered. I was concerned after Ertz left but now I no longer am. I expect big things in 2023 for Goedert if he can stay healthy.
Offensive Line. This could be the best Offensive Line in team history. Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce didn’t allow a single sack all year. Landon Dickerson was one of the best guards in the league. Dickerson just needs to cut back on the penalties. Isaac Seumalo had a solid year and I expect him to get paid this off-season wherever he lands. Jordan Mailata may have been the worst lineman on the team but he took a massive leap from where he was in past seasons. I can not wait to see more of him next year. Kelce left to door open to return next season and not retire so I am hopeful he does. Despite his contract being up after this season, Kelce has stated many times he will play in Philly or retire and that there are no other options. If Kelce can comeback next year I am hopeful for the same great play up front. If Kelce does hang it up, Cam Jurgens was drafted to be his replacement and has looked very good so far in the little time he has played. The stat sheet for the Super Bowl will say the Chiefs got 2 sacks on Hurts but both plays were Hurts rolling out of the pocket towards the sideline and went out of bounds a yard or two behind the line of scrimmage.
Josh Sweat/Brandon Graham. Wow. A breakout year from Sweat and Graham which was needed after Derek Barnett’s injury prior to the start of the season. Hats off to you both. Graham was a Comeback player of the year nominee after tearing his achilles last season at the age of 33. A career year at 34 years old by eclipsing +10 sacks for the first time. I am hoping Graham will comeback on a small deal. If not then I am fine with Sweat and possibly Derek Barnett coming off the edges next season.
Fletcher Cox. The man himself. I really hope he comes back to Philly. Because the entire line rotates so much his numbers are not what they were years ago but his presence is still felt all over. I do not know if he will comeback or not. I love Fletch. He says it how it is and the fans love him for that.
Javon Hargrave. Baller. I think he is going to go sign somewhere else this off-season and he deserves it. Underrated and statistically one of the best Defensive Lineman of the last 2 years. Go get that payday wherever it may be and thank you for your help these past few years lining up next to Fletch.
Jordan Davis. Huge potential. When he was hurt the Interior Defensive Line was at its worst. He is a bully in the game and I hope he can be here for a long time.
Linval Joseph/Ndamukong Suh/Robert Quinn. Quinn did not do much and while I was fine with the trade then, I’m still fine despite him not doing anything. Suh and Joseph were massive additions to the Defensive Line. When Jordan Davis got hurt adding one of these guys would have been great but both of them did exactly what they needed to do and killed it.
Haason Reddick. One of the best performances from an Eagles defensive player I have witnessed this season. He was everywhere on the field and some people argued he should have been the Defensive Player of the Year. I can not wait to see more of him in 2023.
T.J. Edwards/Kyzir White. Both these guys had breakout years in their career and played better than I would have thought. Kyzir was awesome in coverage and T.J. played very well against the run. I hope we can bring back one of them next season and get Nakobe Dean some action for 2023.
James Bradberry/Darius Slay. The best Cornerback duo in the league. Hopefully that can stay that way next season. Statistically you could argue this was one of the greatest Cornerback duo seasons of All-Time. Bradberry is someone that I have no idea if he stays or goes somewhere else. If he leaves I expect that 10th pick in the draft to be a Cornerback. Big Play Slay. I have no idea how he continues to improve as much as he does but clearly he’s in that top tier of Corners.
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. The most important free agent on this team for the long term future. Chauncey has to stay. Pay him whatever he wants. Led the league in interceptions despite missing 5 games. He finally got to play as a pure safety and proved his worth. The coaches and players love him. The fans love him. He is a character and a player that would be hard to replace.
Marcus Epps/Avonte Maddox. Both did a lot better than I expected. Maddox as the slot cornerback is more important to the defense than I think anyone thought when he was out for a lot of the season. Epps had a decent year but I think with all the talent at every other position he was forced to be better than he had ever been. I expect Epps to be gone in free agency and possibly K’Von Wallace or someone new to take over for his spot.
Special Teams. Jake Elliott was as great as ever. Zech McPhearson was a standout on special teams and an underrated member of this team. We need a new punter and return specialist. Covey struggles to gain any yards aside from 1 semi-big return in the Super Bowl. Between Siposs and Kern, both struggled and looked like they were trying to figure out who was worse. Kern was supremely disappointing and I expect more of the former All-Pro punter.
Coaching. Nick Sirianni was exactly who he should always have been, a motivator and not a schemer. Sirianni is great at coordinating the team but do not ever call plays. The only issues I have with Sirianni is his time management and too many gutsy play calls which was somewhat of an issue in the Super Bowl. Steichen might be a huge loss. I do not know as of now who the Offensive Coordinator is going to be or could possibly be. Steichen’s play calling gets stale when the Offense is in a shootout so look for that next season. Jonathan Gannon is not a good coach. He plays a soft defense that can easily get picked apart. He has not played a man coverage or blitzed nearly the entire year and the one game he switches to that game plan…..THE SUPER BOWL?!?!? This was the single worst thing he could have ever done. Especially against the Chiefs. All year long when we ran 4-man fronts, Offensives would run all over us and the 2 games we decided to run the most 4-man fronts were the Commanders loss and…the Super Bowl. When we would run 5-man fronts our defense was playing to their peak potential. I was hoping the Cardinals ended up hiring him because nobody wanted him back. At no point since he became the Defensive Coordinator have I liked him. Give me Jim Schwartz one hundred times over him.
Howie Roseman. The entire city of Philly could kiss you for the moves you made this past year. I know a lot of people gave him harsh words when he took the back seat to Chip Kelly and also after the 2020 season but at no point did I think he was an issue. I knew Howie could pull off deals like these and he was one person I wanted to stay after 2020 and I am glad he is on our side.
What needs to change. Jonathan Gannon needed to go. He was holding back the defense with awful play calling and it is what ended up being the downfall in our losses. The Offense was almost as perfect as you could get it. Miles Sanders and Quez Watkins were the only guys who had issues with ball security. Special Teams needs a renovation outside of McPhearson and Elliott. New Punter and new Return Specialists. Hopefully we can get everyone back for next year but I doubt it with some of these guys seeking to be some of the highest paid at their position. I hope this team does have more in them for another run and hopefully everyone can stay as healthy as they were this year. Even though players got hurt for multiple games, everyone was available for the big ones.
Jordan Burden