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Philadelphia Eagles vs. Green Bay Packers: Full Report Card Grades for Eagles

Tyler AstonNov 28, 2016

The Philadelphia Eagles simply were not good enough to beat the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football, 27-13. Aaron Rodgers put on a passing clinic. The Eagles offense's multitude of injuries have sapped any threat the unit poses. After a tight first half, the Packers were simply able to slowly pull away from the Eagles.

Carson Wentz performed admirably. He finished with 254 passing yards, a rushing touchdown and an interception. The Eagles offensive line is a walking MASH unit. Wentz played the second half with only three receivers.

The Eagles defense wasn't terrible. It just wasn't able to make positive plays or get off the field on third down. The defensive line was anonymous, and Aaron Rodgers was able to scythe through the Eagles' pass coverage.

The Eagles have now dropped six of their last eight games.

Quarterback

1 of 10

Carson Wentz had the best performance of any Eagles offensive player. Wentz completed 24 of 36 passes for 254 yards and one interception. He added another 33 yards and a touchdown on four carries. Despite playing behind a mangled offensive line and with limited receiving options, Wentz did his best to carry the offense to the little success they did muster.

Grade: B

Running Back

2 of 10

The Eagles were never able to establish a consistent rushing attack against the Packers. Wendell Smallwood got the bulk of the carries, and by bulk I mean nine. He finished with 37 yards. Smallwood seems to always be one broken tackle away from a big run at least twice a week. The Eagles running backs average a measly 3.4 yards per carry.

Darren Sproles contributed more as a receiving option than rusher with the Eagles wide receivers limited. Barner and Smallwood each had a 10-yard catch as well.

Grade: C

Wide Receiver and Tight End

3 of 10

Nelson Agholor got the night off as the coaching staff decided he needed a break.

The first half was promising for the Eagles receivers. Jordan Matthews and Dorial Green-Beckham got off to good starts, and it looked like the Eagles were going to be alright despite their lack of numbers. Then Matthews hurt his ankle on a beautiful 20-yard back-shoulder fade. That's the point the Eagles offense ground to a halt.

Green-Beckham finished with 82 yards receiving on six catches and was the Eagles leading receiver. The problem is it was all isolated bursts. Excluding the game's first and last drives, Green-Beckham had one catch for four yards, in a game where he was the team's top wide receiver for most of the evening. Green-Beckham shows flashes of talent, but is infuriatingly inconsistent. He also nullified a long Darren Sproles screen pass with a pass-interference penalty.

Zach Ertz and Trey Burton helped to shoulder some of the load but lack enough dynamic ability to change a game.

The Eagles were forced to give a lot of snaps to Paul Turner and Bryce Treggs, who entered the evening with a combined three games of NFL experience and 69 yards receiving.

Grade: D+

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Offensive Line

4 of 10

The Eagles offensive line was dealt a blow when starting guard Brandon Brooks was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness earlier in the day, according to Philly.com's Zach Berman. That meant rookie Isaac Seumalo would be making his first NFL start. Jason Peters and Jason Kelce were the only Eagles offensive linemen who started the day in their natural position.

The offensive line wasn't great. It gave up four sacks, weren't able to generate enough push in the run game and had some costly errors.

The volume of reshuffling means the unit gets to be graded on a slight curve, though. It wasn't good, but it was solid enough given the circumstances.

Grade: C+

Defensive Line

5 of 10

The Eagles are spending just shy of $30 million on their defensive line in 2016. General manager Howie Roseman should think about asking for a refund.

Another week of the defensive line being unable to generate consistent pressure against a patchwork offensive line will have Jim Schwartz annoyed.

The Packers set out to minimize the effectiveness of the Eagles' defensive line by utilizing a quick passing attack, the pass-rushers still have to find a way to impact the game.

Grade: F

Linebacker

6 of 10

Mychal Kendricks flew into the Packers backfield for a tackle for loss on the game's opening. He wasn't seen much after that point as the Packers opted for more of a spread-based attack.

Jordan Hicks continues to be a playmaker. He was all over the field for the Eagles and led the team in tackles. His pursuit and near-sack of Aaron Rodgers was one of the Eagles' few defensive highlights.

Nigel Bradham was quiet—a few small mistakes in coverage and some run-of-the-mill tackles for minimal gain.

Grade: B-

Secondary

7 of 10

Davante Adams made the Eagles corners look foolish. When they had good coverage, he made tough contested catches. When they were playing looser, he turned them inside out and made them look silly.

On the day, the Eagles corners continued to be who we thought they were. They'll compete and make some plays, but aren't talented enough to consistently stop quality receiving corps.

Malcolm Jenkins was one of the few Eagles players to have a good game. He was the team's second-leading tackler. It was another solid performance from the veteran.

Rodney McLeod went whizzing past a bubble screen in the first quarter. He may have just kept running as he was quiet for the second consecutive week.

Grade: C

Special Teams

8 of 10

Caleb Sturgis connected on two long field-goal attempts. The 48- and 50-yard field goals were both excellent kicks with plenty of room to spare.

The Eagles' return game had an off night. Kenjon Barner and Wendell Smallwood seemed to be pressing and attempted to return kicks they shouldn't have.

Donnie Jones was once again far too busy.

Grade: B-

Coaching

9 of 10

Head coach Doug Pederson had a solid overall game plan. It's hard to fault the offensive play-calling when the Eagles have very few healthy starters, no dynamic playmakers and a rookie quarterback. The Eagles offense has such a small margin for error that it will likely continue to be an uphill battle to score points the rest of the season.

Pederson the game manager was bad. The Eagles had time-management issues. They challenged two strange plays. They won the second challenge, but it only saved them two yards.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has to be frustrated. His scheme is built around getting after the quarterback with just the defensive line. With the defensive line playing poorly of late, Schwartz has had to call more blitzes than he would prefer, taking away his ability to help the Eagles' weaker players in coverage. Schwartz simply had no answers against Aaron Rodgers.

Grade:C-

Final Grades

10 of 10
PositionGrade
QBB
RBC
WR an TED+
OLC+
DLF
LBB-
SecondaryC
STB-
CoachingC-

Cumulative Grade: D+

The Eagles just got outplayed. Their playoff hopes are now on life support. If the Eagles can't bounce back against the Cincinnati Bengals next week, the season will be effectively over. At that point it will become about keeping Carson Wentz healthy and getting young players maximum reps. The Eagles were unlikely to be a playoff team in 2016, but watching them lose six of their last eight after their excellent start to the season has been difficult.

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