Eagles vs. Vikings: Jordan Davis Tops Kracz's Takeaways

After watching the tape of the Philadelphia Eagles 34-28 win over the Minnesota Vikings, here are a few takeaways

PHILADELPHIA – My two cents after watching Philadelphia Eagles-Minnesota Vikings replay…

-Jordan Davis somehow played just 17 defensive snaps. The Vikings only had 58 snaps on offense, because with no running game to speak of, they had the ball for just over 20 of the game’s 60 minutes, but 17?

That’s preposterously low for a player of Davis’ impact. He notched and had another hit on quarterback Kirk Cousins. He is tied for the team lead in sacks at 1.5 with Josh Sweat.

-Speaking of sacks, when will Haason Reddick get his first? It’s too soon to worry. He had 16 last year in the regular season but didn’t have one in his first two games, either. So, look out Baker Mayfield.

-Had Kentavius Street not lined up offsides, the Eagles would have had five fumble recoveries rather than four. That would have tied them with the most in NFL history in a single game with the Cleveland Browns (2012 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) and San Francisco 49ers (2009 vs. Arizona Cardinals).

-There was just too much miscommunication in the secondary, which was probably to be expected with Mario Goodrich entering early for the injured Avonte Maddox, Josh Jobe making his first start, and linebacker Nick Morrow wearing the green dot communication device despite not making the team out of training camp and being just elevated from the practice squad during the week.

-Loved seeing Lane Johnson looking at the TV camera and saying, ‘Hi Momma’ after Jalen Hurts’ first of two touchdown plunges.

-Speaking of Hurts, for all the talk that the passing game needs to be better – and it does – he was still able to find DeVonta Smith for gains of 54 yards and a 62-yard touchdown. The quarterback would’ve had a 25-yard score to A.J. Brown that would’ve put the Eagles in front 34-14 negated by a holding penalty against Rashaad Penny.

-More Hurts: You absolutely, positively cannot take back-to-back sacks totaling 12 yards to push your team out of field goal range after the Brown touchdown was nullified.

-Can’t get enough of Hurts: So he threw for 193 yards but completed 78 percent of his throws. Would you rather have that and a win or a quarterback like Cousins who put up 364 yards passing and a receiver in Justin Jefferson who had 11 catches for 159 yards and a loss?

Pretty easy answer to me.

Jordan Davis is tied with Josh Sweat for the team lead in sacks with 1.5 after two games / USA Today

-My take on the Hurts-Brown sideline dust-up? No biggie. the two are best friends. they'll get over it. My concern is that if Brown is jealous of Smith or anyone else on an offense with a lot of mouths to feed, there could be an issue.

-The 61-yard field goal Jake Elliott boomed should not be overlooked. It was pointed out on the telecast that Next Gen Stats calculated he had a 16 percent chance of making it. Elliott may very well be the best kicker in the league not named Justin Tucker. How many teams can say they have had the same kicker for seven straight seasons? Baltimore is one. Who else?

-Can we forget the sideways throws to the receivers - the so-called bubble screens - please? They don’t work. Attack downfield.

-It certainly felt like the Eagles overcorrected to try to get Dallas Goedert involved more. He was targeted a team-high seven times after getting only one for no catches in the opener. 

He wasn’t very effective with those targets because none of them seemed designed to get him in a seam or down the field. Goedert had just 22 yards on six catches for a 3.7 yards-per-catch average. Not good, obviously.

-The Eagles are 2-0 and 2-0 is 2-0. There was a lot of talk about a Super Bowl hangover, and maybe it’s real, but the Eagles are 2-0 and will figure things out on offense.