The Eagles finally banished their first-quarter demons on offense, but turnovers from their skill position players ultimately have them trailing the Detroit Lions 20-10 at halftime. Here’s what I saw in the first half, which featured good play from Carson Wentz with few positives elsewhere. The Good • The Eagles have not been able to get the run game going much this season, and play design seems like it has been a huge factor. A lot of the team’s designed runs have been sideways, slow-developing plays that necessitate perfect execution to open up a hole for the runner. Miles Sanders and Darren Sproles are both shifty, but they’re having to dig out of holes on almost every handoff. But the Eagles finally did what a lot of fans have been asking for all season — they gave Jordan Howard the ball and let him go to work. Relegated to bench duty for much of the first three games, Howard made an immediate impact as soon as he got a shot against Detroit, and he even gave a lift to the crowd by absolutely truck sticking a Lions defender on his first carry. And instead of getting cute around the goal line later on the same drive, Pederson put the ball back in Howard’s hands so that he could waltz in for a one-yard touchdown. When Howard has gotten touches, good things have generally happened for the Eagles. Sometimes it’s that simple. • The use of tempo early in the game… [Read full story]
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