‘Plays to be Made’

The Philadelphia Eagles played a game of survival in their 25-20 victory over the New England Patriots.

On the latest episode of “Inside The Birds,” Adam Caplan and Geoff Mosher provided injury updates and intel following Week 1’s win and offered score predictions for Thursday night’s matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.

Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts displayed an uneven performance in Week 1’s win over the Patriots

Nakobe Dean

Geoff Mosher: “There is a bright side to this because we were told there was some internal concerns that this have been a lot worse than a foot sprain initially.”

Adam Caplan: “There was a concern that it could have been the dreaded Lisfranc injury, but it’s not. It’s a sprained foot. This is a blow to their defense.”

Mosher: “He is a talented kid. He plays well against the run and wears the green dot that makes him the leader. He will still have plenty of the year left, but it goes back to the risk of going into this game with just three active off-ball linebackers. All three of them had to play and then when Dean left they had to play Terrell Edmunds in a linebacker-like role. There was a risk inherent with it and unfortunately, they had to face the consequences.” 

Jalen Hurts

Mosher: “It was not Hurts’ best game. Obviously, the Patriots did a lot of things up front. They almost played two styles of defense: in the first half, they were more aggressive, did some exotic things. In the second half, they played softer zone and forced Jalen to go underneath. There were times he took it and sometimes where he left the pocket and didn’t see the guys who were open up front.”

Caplan: “This is what you worry about with Hurts, and Carson Wentz had the same issue: they want to make the big play. Everyone saw the one where Dallas Goedert was wide open, but Hurts wanted for the home run ball. There were plays to be made. When you look at Hurts here, the term is uneven. I just don’t think he looked like himself.”

Kenny Gainwell

Caplan: “He is not explosive, we all know this. He is a grinder. You have to have someone to complement. This love that these coaches have had for three years, enough of this already. He is good at grinding, but that is not good enough. The screen game is not there.”

Secondary

Mosher: “On that touchdown to Kendrick Bourne right before the half, Reed Blankenship had pretty good coverage there. I thought Blankenship and Darius Slay were the bright spots in the backend of the coverage. Slay did not only bait Mac Jones throwing the deep ball down the right side, he also blew up a screen, tackled well.”

Week 2 Final Score Predictions

Caplan: “The Vikings don’t have Dalvin Cook, they are not explosive at running back…they are really deep at receiver, have an average offensive line, their d-line should eat in that game. T.J. Hockenson you have to watch. Defensively, they are running Belichick’s scheme, but Brian Flores’ version of it…these matchups really favor the Eagles…I’m going to go 27-23, Eagles.”

Mosher: “I was thinking the exact same score as you, Eagles win.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.