The game was lost on 1 key play
By Jeremy T. Ballreich
On September 11th, 2022 the Philadelphia Eagles came to Detroit to look like the paper champions they were crowned.
They deferred receiving the ball until the second half. So here comes the Detroit Football Lions. 2nd play of the game D’Andre Swift bursts free for a 50 yard run to get them rolling. Then capped off with a 2 yard run by Jamal Williams for the TD.
They were looking great to start.
The defense takes the field, was pressuring Hurts out of the pocket. 15 pressures and 1 sack on the game. But never left anyone to spy the 2nd best dual threat QB in the game (Big mistake IMO). Which allowed Hurts to take the game over. They knotted up the score on the first drive.
The thing that boggled my mind was the next 3 drives by Detroit went away from the run. Which made no sense to me whatsoever. The only sack the vaunted Philly Dline achieved was on a bad snap by Ragnow.
The biggest mistake which snowballed into a plethora of questionable decisions. Was when TE TJ Hockenson ran a post pattern instead if the Curl/Stick route while Goff was under pressure in the pocket. That TE route was rhe safety valve on the play. He no look passed to where he should have been. Thus leading to the first pick 6 of James Bardberry’s career.
If Hock would have ran the right route. Even if the pick happened. He could have been in the position to stop Bradberry. IMO that 1 mental faux pas cost the game.
Hockenson overall was liability when run blocking and mostly ineffective
Final score
Philly 38
Lions 35
The pick 6 was the dagger IMO
Thanks for Reading!
