My thoughts:
D is somewhat overrated, but is missing less pieces than our offense. It seems every time we field a high caliber pass/run defense, the other gets atrocious. This is not a top 5 D, but it could be top 10 by the end of the year and that should be enough. We could have had 2 sacks where Wentz miraculously gets away. 1 or 2 players away to be considered complete and stout imo.
HOWEVER many have hope for our O, and this was probably Aarods best outing this year. But it was against 3rd and 4rd stringers at DB. Jones is good, but is he good enough to be a bellcow and consistently take the pressure off Aaron? I extremely doubt it. Also people calling for MLF's head for not going for it on the 1 yard line - I too would have liked to see them try, but in general Jones got hammered by their front, more often behind the LOS than not. We are 2 offensive skill position starters and a capable backup swing tackle (Light got obliterated all game long in absence of Bulaga and you can bet your house that he will miss time in a season) away to even start considering this side of the roster to be sufficient.
About our coach - really wisely called the timeouts while Philly was inside our 10. Should have gone with at least 1 run from the 1 yard line, and should have gone for it on 4&2 in the first half.
Studs: Aaron, DA, King and minidud for Gmo for the 2 consecutive catches (how did he catch the first!?).
Duds: Run D as a whole, Gute for keeping the cupboard so bare at WR, A. Jones.
I'm also giving a minidud to Aaron's "leadership" and many will disagree. But him showing glimpses of negativity after every single failed play has got to stop. His empty stares, his hands in the air in disbelief, his looks at the ref or his cursing of the playcalling are not going to motivate his team. If there was ever a game where this behaviour was warranted, it was probably now because individually he played really good. But even now he wasn't flawless and he has to be wise enough that this behavior is not going to miraculously make his teammates better, and thus is not helping his team at all.
I know that in the postgame press conferences he says that he is frustrated with himself, and that he would like to be better. Yet during game time it's rarely clear that he is frustrated with himself instead of his teammate, non-calls or the playcalling. The only time where he was visibly frustrated with himself last night was probably the pass to Adams in the endzone in the 4th quarter. But believe me Aaron, as good as you are and as much as I adore you, that was not the only time you made a mistake last night. You are moving the ball good against this D, better than you have been doing all season. Keep the positivity, tell Jimmy "Come on Jimmy, you got to have that. It's fine though, we'll get them next play" instead of looking to Jimmy like wtf are you doing and not say anything at all.
Some will say Aaron is great and that being demanding and a competitor is mutually exclusive with staying positive and with that I disagree wholeheartedly. And no, this habit of Aaron is not the primary reason we lost, not by a mile. But imo it is a bigger factor for our O not rolling than people would like to acknowledge.
All and all, Our D was bound to come down at some point, but I was very much encouraged with the number of points we put up. I wouldn't have believe we would be 3-1 is to start the season, and there are still many games to go. I don't like our chances against Dallas and Kansas City this year, but everyone else is beatable! Cheer up guys, we still could be 13-3 to end the season! Here is to hoping, GPG
