Grayson’s Grades: Eagles vs. Falcons

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Eagles appeared to be well on their way to 2-0. Instead, they suffered a stunning loss. The inability to run out the clock and prevent the Falcons from going 70 yards in just over a minute turned what looked like a win into a loss.

There is plenty of blame to go around. The Falcons had no timeouts remaining and the Eagles chose to throw it on third down. Saquan Barkley dropped it and that left the Falcons more than 90 seconds to go down the field and score the game-winning touchdown.

The Eagles fall to 1-1 and now have a short week to prepare for the 2-0 high-powered New Orleans Saints next week.

Blowing a late lead will certainly bring with it some bad marks. Here is the latest edition of Grayson’s Grades:

A

DeVonta Smith – Smith had to step up in the absence of A.J. Brown and made some good catches including a nice touchdown reception in the back of the endzone. He also made a big grab for a first down reading Hurts escaping some pressure, improvised to find an open spot on the field and brought it in to move the chains. Smith caught seven passes for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Britain Covey – Covey got an increased amount of snaps due to the absence of A.J. Brown and took advantage of them. He made some tough catches in tight spaces. Covey did not rack up the volume of yardage but several of his grabs played a big role in helping to move the chains. Covey caught six passes for 23 yards.

B

Jalen Hurts – Hurts had a chance to lead the Eagles to a last-second victory. He got his team to within 15-20 yards of giving Jake Elliott a chance to win it. Instead, Hurts felt pressure and tried to force it way downfield and it was picked off. Hurts did do a great job earlier in the game of feeling pressure and then using his legs to not only get some positive yards but also move the chains several times. It was the burst with his legs that we had not really seen since the 2022 season. Hurts also did a good job using his arm. He completed some nice passes including one to DeVonta Smith in the back of the endzone in a tight window for a touchdown. Hurts completed 23 of 30 passes for 183 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also ran it 13 times for 85 yards and a touchdown.

Saquan Barkley – I enjoy watching Barkley play. But I had to drop him a letter grade after failing to catch that pass that would have likely ended the game. I am of the belief that they should have just handed it off to him so at least another 40 seconds would have come off the clock. That being said, the pass was there, hit him in the hands and he dropped it. Outside of that, Barkley had a nice game in his home debut for the Eagles. He started it rattling off rushes at a clip of nine yards per carry. The Falcons started devoting more attention to slowing that down which brought his average down. Barkley picked it back up in the second half. He nearly scored but was ruled down half of a yard short of the goal line. Barkley did score the two-point conversion after Hurts got the touchdown. It put the Eagles up three with less than seven minutes to go. That also capped off a drive that covered 70 yards in 17 plays and took more than nine minutes off the clock.

Offensive Line – The offensive line blocked very well. They opened some nice holes for Saquan Barkley. The only real knock on this group is the amount of penalties that they were called for. Three times they were called for an ineligible player downfield. They were also flagged for some holding penalties. Those mistakes need to be cleaned up. Despite those penalties, the offense was still able to move the ball down the field and put points on the board. The real point of pride for this group is in the rushing yardage. The Eagles rushed for nearly 200 yards.

Thomas Booker IV – Booker was flying all over the field. He made some nice tackles and helped to hold the Falcons to field goals instead of touchdowns when they got inside the red zone. Booker had three tackles with two of them tackles for a loss.

C

Linebackers – The linebackers struggled to fill the right holes and slow down the Falcons rushing attack. Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean were unable to meet Bijon Robinson at the line of scrimmage. His speed combined with the blocking by the Falcons offensive line kept them from dropping him for a loss very often. Baun finished second on the team with nine tackles. Dean was third on the team with seven tackles.

D

Kellen Moore – First, the bad and this was a bad loss in part due to a bad call by Moore. He took a risk on their final offensive play. The Falcons had no timeouts remaining and the Eagles chose to throw the ball. It fell incomplete, stopped the clock and preserved more than 90 seconds for the Falcons to go down the field and ultimately win the game. That overshadows a lot of good things this offense did. Moore’s offense struggled in two of its first three possessions and then enjoyed long drives almost the rest of the way. The Eagles had four drives go at least ten plays and take at least five minutes off the clock each time. Those long possessions go a long way towards wearing down a defense. Moore called a nice game mixing in his receivers while still making sure Barkley got his carries and even showcased Jalen Hurts’ legs a bit. Moore’s offense racked up 365 total yards on 68 plays. They also dominated the time of possession 35:39 to 24:05.

F

Nick Sirianni – Sirianni is the CEO of this team on the sideline and had to oversee that loss. Both of his coordinators made mistakes late in this game and he had to at least be a part of the conversations that led to putting the ball in the air on that key third down. He also had to be around the conversations that led to playing so soft on the game-winning drive by the Falcons. Furthermore, Sirianni passed on a field goal inside the 10 yard line early in the game and the Eagles failed to convert on fourth and four. The Eagles had this game won, and now have to rebound from a stunning loss.

Vic Fangio – Fangio’s defense just needed to keep the Falcons out of the endzone after starting on their own 30 with no timeouts. The Falcons went 58 yards in three plays and were on the Eagles 12 yard line with 48 seconds left. Three plays later the Falcons scored the game-winning touchdown.

Defensive Line – The Eagles defensive line struggled to win their battles and allow the linebackers to come up and help stop the run. They also failed to generate a pass rush for the second game in a row. The Eagles recorded just one sack. The Falcons seemed to be able to move the ball rather easily at times due to the lack of a pass rush. Atlanta racked up 152 yards on the ground. They finished with 385 total yards.