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Photo Credits: Alex Brandon - Associated Press
The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Commanders by a score of 24 to 8 this afternoon. Philly absolutely demolished any chance of this game turning into a “revenge” game for former Eagles QB Carson Wentz by wrecking him all game long. The Eagles looked damn good this entire game and I’m starting to feel, dare I say, hopeful for this team’s chances to make a deep playoff run. Below are three of my thoughts and observations from today’s game.
The Eagles Have Good Receivers And Will Have Them For A While:
In week 1 of the season, A.J. Brown dominated the Lions with 10 receptions for 155 yards. A lot of criticism was thrown towards Jalen Hurts and the coaching staff for not spreading the ball around more, specifically to the Eagles' 2021 first-round pick, DeVonta Smith. Today, Smith, better known as the slim reaper, got his. Watch this insane catch he made.
Smith was electric today and finished the game with 8 receptions for 169 yards and a touchdown(!). DeVonta was so good that at one point in the second quarter, he had more yards than the entire Commanders team. And, in case you were wondering, A.J. Brown wasn’t completely out of the mix like DeVonta was in the first game. Brown finished the game with 5 receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown. The Eagle's top two receivers are legit this season, but Eagles fans shouldn’t be optimistic about just this season.
A lot of times, teams will have a good receiving duo for a year or two, but due to free-agency or expiring rookie contracts, the team's receiving squad gets split up. That won’t be the case for the Eagles. When the Eagles traded for A.J. Brown, they signed him to a new four-year contract. This contract will keep Brown in Philly until 2026. Having been a first-round pick last year, DeVonta is on a rookie five-year contract that, at the very least, will keep him with the team until 2025. All of this is to say that the Eagles will have a very good receiving core for years to come, which is something this team hasn’t had in a LONG time.
Domination By The Defensive Line:
The Eagles D-Line sacked Carson Wentz a whopping nine(!) times and had one forced fumble. This type of performance is a once and every few seasons occurrence. The last time the Eagles had more than nine sacks in a game was in 2019 against the Jets. Basically, the Eagle's D-Line was terrorizing Carson Wentz the entire day.
The Washington offensive front was banged up today, so that certainly didn’t help Wentz but you can’t put all of the blame on them. Wentz, even during his time in Philly, was a notoriously bad pocket manager and had below-average pocket awareness. Go and look at any Carson Wentz film from the past three seasons and you’ll know what I mean. Whenever he gets sacked in the pocket, it’s almost as if once the opposing team's edge rushers get around the edge and therefore out of his vision, he just pretends they’re no longer there. He will either not step up in the pocket or move to a side where an edge defender has already swept by the blocking tackle. This has always resulted in Wentz taking an abnormal amount of sacks, and this bad habit of his had a big day in a bad way.
For as much as these sacks are on the Washingtons offensive line and Wentz, let’s give some credit to the actual Eagles players themselves. Older team veterans like Brandon Graham (who you saw above) and Fletcher Cox have been playing well lately. In addition, 2018 fourth-round pick Josh Sweat and recent free agent addition, Haason Reddick were tearing it up too. This Eagles' defensive line needed to be good this year if the team wanted to have success, and so far they’re showing their talent.
Kudos to the rest of the defense as well, which up until the fourth quarter, had shut out Washington despite the Commanders getting to within the Eagles five yard line multiple times. I thought they played with intensity and determination, which are values that defensive coordinator, Jonathon Gannon, has been preaching ever since he took over the job last year.
My Only Concern About This Team…..
Ok maybe it's not my only concern with the Eagles, but it's my biggest one after week three. For the second straight week, Philly didn't score any points in the second half of the game. Last week against the Vikings, the Eagles were up 24 to 7 at half-time and this week they were up 24 to 0 going into the half. While some have made the case that the Eagles probably just wanted to slow down both games in the second half to limit their opponent's offensive drives, I still think you'd want to score on your more plodding and bogged-down drives. Don't get me wrong, I understand the strategy. Slow down the offense while you're winning by a lot to lower the chances of your opponent making a comeback. But the thing that concerns me is Philly's inability to score on these drives. And it's not for lack of effort, obviously, just for the second straight week, the offense hasn't been able to score in the second half.
This is almost like deja-vu for me and probably many other Eagles fans. When Doug Pederson was still the head coach in 2019 and 2020, Philly had a tendency to start slow and finish hot. You almost went into every game knowing the team would score, at max, three points, before the half and then get into gear in the second half. What if it's the same with this team under Nick Sirianni, only the opposite? If that's the case, Philly could be in trouble once they start playing better teams that can make good halftime adjustments to make a comeback. Only time will tell if this problem persists in the Eagle's offense.
Looking Ahead:
The Philadelphia Eagles are now 3-0! Next week, they face off against the Jaguars and their old head coach, Doug Pederson, at home. I'm excited to see Dougie P's homecoming to Philly. Despite him being fired and having a pretty bad last season, Eagles fans still love the guy because he got us our first Superbowl. Hell, they still have the statue of him and Nick Foles outside of their stadium. This contest has the makings for an overtly emotional game, and I'm all here for it. I'm gonna say the Eagles win next week by a score of 27 to 10.
Go Birds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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