Eagles will try to avoid blinking against Tagovailoa and Dolphins

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles won’t face a team with more speed and explosiveness than the Miami Dolphins, who drop in Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field (8:20, NBC10 TV, WIP 94.1-FM).

To make it an evening to remember, the Eagles, clad in their throwback Kelly Green uniforms and helmets, need to shift gears in their ball control offense with Jalen Hurts, limit the possessions of the Dolphins, reduce the big plays Dolphins receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle produce and hurry left-handed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who has one of the quickest releases in the league.

Expansive as the list is, the Eagles have more than enough components to get it done in this national showdown of 5-1 teams, providing they play clean and such key starters as offensive tackle Lane Johnson and defensive tackle Jalen Carter are able to turn in a full day’s work. That wasn’t the case in their injury plagued 20-14 loss last week to the Jets, which featured four turnovers, including three Hurts interceptions.

The way Haason Reddick sees it, blink when you’re playing the Dolphins, who average a league-leading 37.1 points, and you’ll be looking at the scoreboard.

“They’re just so fast, fast as hell,” said Reddick, tied for seventh in the NFL with 5.5 sacks. “The challenge isn’t necessarily Tua himself, it’s the weapons that he has around him and their speed. He’s hitting them on some deeper routes but they’re running underneath, and the ball is getting out fast from Tua. They’re screaming underneath, they get it to them and they’re flying for explosive yardage at the end of the day. People are saying (Tagovailoa) is having an MVP type year and I understand that. I respect that. But when you look at the skill corps that he has around him, there’s not even a question that they’re the fastest in the league.

“I think that’s a big thing that people don’t really take into account, is how fast the guys are around him that he’s throwing the ball to. Even to his running backs. Some of those guys are 4.2, 4.3 (40-yard dash) guys.”

The running back list includes Raheem Mostert, a cut of the Eagles during the Chip Kelly era who blossomed in San Francisco and now leads the league with 11 touchdowns. Tagovailoa has thrown for a league-best 1,486 yards, 14 TDs and 114.1 passer rating. He also has five interceptions and six fumbles.

Hill leads the league with 814 receiving yards (19.3 ypr.) and six TD catches. He has 15 receptions for 229 yards (15.2 ypr.) and three TDs in two victories against the Eagles.

Waddle has 24 catches for 296 yards and two scores. Mostert is averaging 8.1 yards on 18 receptions and with 429 yards rushing (5.7 average), and is right behind D’Andre Swift of the Eagles, who has run for 452 yards (5.3 ypc.).

The Eagles counter with A.J. Brown, second in the NFL with 672 receiving yards (16.0 ypr.), DeVonta Smith, coming off his worst game with the Eagles and Dallas Goedert. All of those weapons have two TD grabs.

Hurts has completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,542 yards and seven TDs with seven interceptions. His passer rating is 84.7. Hurts threw just six picks all of last season. Though the Dolphins don’t play defense like the Jets, Hurts privately was apologetic in the postgame last week.

“They’re a really good football team,” Hurts said of the Dolphins. “Obviously, they’ve been able to do some really good things in all three phases of their team. And so, it’s a great challenge for us going into this game and I think the thing for us is going out there and executing and playing good, clean football, and doing our jobs.”

The Eagles are among four teams ranked in the top 10 in both offense and defense. They allow just 20.7 points per game compared to the Fish, who give up 26.0 points, the most by any team with a winning record.

The week after the Dolphins crushed the Denver Broncos, 70-20, they were crushed, 48-20 at Buffalo.

“The Broncos aren’t us,” Eagles veteran defensive end Brandon Graham said. “They had some personal stuff going on there, too, to score 70 points in an NFL game. Especially with some of the coaches that had just left there. They were ramped up for that one. But they’ll be ramped up for us, too. We’ve got to make sure we go out there and do our job and execute and do the little things, especially after last week. It really showed you how those little things can hurt you. Let’s just go carry out the game plan and be us, and not be scared of who they’ve got, because we’ve all got players, too. It’s about who executes the best and the longest.”

It’s an interesting showdown of coaches, the ultra-successful Nick Sirianni of the Eagles and offensive guru Mike McDaniel of the Dolphins. Sirianni’s Brotherly Shove short yardage play is the envy of many in the NFL. To free the playmakers, McDaniel runs more motion and shifts than any team in the NFL.

Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, you may recall, was a consultant for the Eagles leading up to Super Bowl LVII. He knows that version of them inside out. Ultimately, the plan Eagles rookie coordinator Sean Desai will be defined by is his plan to defend Tagovailoa.

“He’s actually spitting the ball out fast like in 1.7, 1.8 seconds,” Reddick said of Tagovailoa. “We’ve played a lot of fast guys but maybe the fastest throw I’ve seen this season is him and it’s like 1.5 seconds. That’s literally pitch and catch. There’s some things we can do but we’re hunters. We’ve got to just keep hunting him at the end of the day.”

The drama surrounding Hurts, who Alabama benched in favor of Tagovailoa at halftime of the 2018 national championship game also is there. Tagovailoa rallied ‘Bama from a 13-point deficit to win the title. He threw the winning TD in that game to the Eagles’ Smith.

“A lot of people make narratives and stuff like that we’ll just leave that to you guys,” Reddick said. “We’re in the pros. Hopefully that’s not on anybody’s mind. Damn sure it ain’t on mine. I’m just worried about going out there, contributing and trying to get this win.”