Eagles-Browns Week 11 report card: Good, bad and ugly in loss to Browns

The Eagles fell to 3-6-1 with their 22-17 loss to the Browns on Sunday in Cleveland.

It wasn’t really that close.

So as we do every week, let’s break out the red pen and get to grading.

Quarterback

Carson Wentz: 21/35, 235 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 75.3 rating

The numbers actually look much better than Wentz was on Sunday. Doug Pederson was asked questions about benching Wentz and it was warranted after another miserable performance. The interceptions weren’t all on him, but he still deserves plenty of fault. One of his touchdowns came after the defense gave the Eagles’ offense the ball on the 19-yard line and the other came with 30 seconds left. Without that last touchdown, Wentz was heading for a passer rating under 60. His play was a problem on Sunday.

Grade: F

Running backs

Miles Sanders: 16 carries, 66 yards

In the first half, Sanders had 11 carries for 63 yards and had 5 carries for 3 yards in the second half. On top of that, he also fumbled a ball from the Cleveland 5-yard line to ruin a drive. Boston Scott had a decent day with five carries for 24 yards.

Grade: C+

Wide Receivers

Jalen Reagor: 4 catches on 5 targets, 52 yards

Reagor had an OK day but that’s pretty much all the production the Eagles had from their receivers. Greg Ward had just 9 yards on 3 catches and Travis Fulgham had 8 yards on 1 catch. Fulgham has really come back to Earth in the last two games. Alshon Jeffery was targeted twice on Sunday; he dropped one and mistimed a jump on another that resulted in an interception.

Grade: D

Tight ends

Dallas Goedert: 5 catches on 6 targets, 77 yards, 1 TD

The bright spot in this game was the play of both tight ends. Goedert had his big game and Richard Rodgers continues to play well as a receiver (his blocking is still not very good). Rodgers had two catches for 48 yards and a touchdown. Overall, a very good performance from those two and Zach Ertz should be back next week.

Grade: A

Offensive line

The Eagles got Isaac Seumalo back on Sunday and he played well but the rest of the line was kind of a mess and suffered a few more injuries. The biggest problem was Jason Peters, who looks cooked. Oliver Vernon had a monster game against Peters and even got pressure against Lane Johnson. Last week, the Eagles’ OL gave up all its pressure inside and this week the tackles were a problem.

Grade: F

Defensive line

Josh Sweat: 6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 2 TFLs

The Eagles’ defensive line played fairly well against the Browns. Sweat had his sack as well as some constant pressure and Fletcher Cox made a huge play with the strip-sack on Baker Mayfield. Cox powered through the best guard in the NFL to set up the Eagles’ first touchdown of the day. And even with that 54-yard run from Nick Chubb, the Browns averaged just 3.4 yards per attempt on the ground.

Grade: B+

Linebackers

Alex Singleton: 11 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 FR

The Eagles’ linebackers gave up a few plays on Sunday and, let’s be honest, it’s not the most talented group. But Singleton looks like a legit NFL player and that’s been one positive here in 2020 ever since Nate Gerry has been out.

Grade: B-

Secondary

Jalen Mills: 5 tackles

Mayfield finished with just 204 yards passing but the Eagles’ pass defense wasn’t good enough in this game. Mills was playing as a boundary corner and got beat badly down the sideline on a double move. Even Rodney McLeod took a terrible angle to that 54-yard run from Chubb. And Avonte Maddox is struggling as an outside corner this season. Darius Slay played fine but dropped an interception.

Grade: C

Special teams

Jake Elliott: 1/1 on FGs, made a 43-yarder

Elliott made his only FG and Derek Barnett sliced through the line on a field goal to block a Cody Parkey try. But the Eagles still aren’t getting much out of their return game. Cam Johnston averaged 41.5 yards per punt with a long of 52. He pinned one inside the 20 but on another Michael Jacquet failed to down it and it went into the end zone.

Grade: B

Coaching

Eagles record: 3-6-1

Last week, I thought the main reason the Eagles lost was because of coaching. I don’t think that was the case against the Browns. But that also doesn’t mean the coaches were good enough. Jim Schwartz had a pretty good game plan but on offense, Pederson really struggled to get the offense going after the first drive. The Browns did a good job of adjusting to the Eagles run game and instead of adjusting to the adjustments, simply bailed on the running game again. The Eagles had 19 rushing attempts in the first half and six in the second half.

Grade: C-

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