Philadelphia Eagles Week 17 studs and duds following heart-stopping rally

Philadelphia Eagles Week 17 duds

The Eagles first-half defense and defense (duds)

After being treated like a junior varsity team by the Dallas Cowboys on primetime television in Week 16, the Philadelphia Eagles defense made Washington look like a team tuning up for a postseason run.

Hey, nothing makes for a bounceback game like playing Philly’s D, right? Unfortunately, in the first half, the offense wasn’t much better.

Philly turned this one around in the second half, but when is it going to sink in? This team can’t play like that versus good teams. Had they played one today, this may have been a loss.

Jonthan Gannon, defensive coordinator (dud)

Jonathan Gannon almost escaped the duds list, but that last Washington possession of the first half sealed his fate. A drive that started at their own six-yard line, one in which the home team wasn’t even trying to score, led to points.

The worst part about the whole ordeal was this. With Washington in field-goal range with less than 15 seconds to go in the first half (and with no timeouts), rather than send pressure to try and force a sack that would have knocked Washington out of field goal range, Gannon employed a one-man rush with Fletcher Cox and dropped 11 men into coverage.

Somewhere Buddy Ryan and Jim Johnson are both turning in their graves.

Jordan Howard, running back (Half-and-Half)

Okay, here’s where we are. Jordan Howard has won our respect, but with his running style, he’s never going to get through a season fully healthy again.

Maybe he’s still dealing with the effects of the stinger. Maybe all of the hits have taken a toll. Maybe the line could have helped him more. Regardless of what happened, here are the facts. Jordan Howard just wasn’t himself today.

Thankfully, he was able to turn it on at the end when the team needed him most, so while he isn’t quite in the ‘studs’ category, you can’t really call him a ‘dud’ either.