By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Eagles, led by quarterback Carson Wentz and head coach Doug Pederson, traveled to FedEx Field to take on the division rival Washington Redskins in their 2017 season-opener. The Eagles were able to pull out a 30-17 win, in what was an ugly game.
Here are my in-game notes on Wentz's performance against the Redskins…
First Quarter
Drive One
- Wentz and the Eagles opened their first drive of the season in good field position, on their own 44.
- The Eagles didn't waste much time taking a chance, as Wentz took a shot to the newly acquired Torrey Smith. Wentz underthrew the ball, or it may have been a touchdown. Josh Norman probably should have picked it.
- After taking a sack on the next play, Wentz nearly took a sack on consecutive plays. Instead, he escaped the pocket, rolled left and bought enough time for Nelson Agholor to break free and make his first catch of the 2017 season – a 58-yard touchdown.
Wentz magic, followed by air yards. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/Dp30iMeAaF
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 10, 2017
- This play felt a little like that time Donovan McNabb bought over 10 seconds of time against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football. I get the sense this play will be replayed for some time to come.
Drive Two
- It took the Eagles five plays to run the ball for the first time, which isn't something that can become a trend.
- Wentz hit Agholor for a first down, which completed the Eagles turning a first-and-19 into a first down.
- The drive ended on a fumble when Wentz attempted to throw the ball to an in-motion Agholor in the backfield. He threw the ball too high and a bit behind him, and even though Agholor got his hands on the ball, he wasn't able to catch it. Since the ball was behind him, it was a live ball, that the Redskins recovered. Not a good look for Wentz on that play. Perhaps even a worse look for Pederson calling the play in the first place.
Juuuuust out of reach. #HTTR #PHIvsWAS pic.twitter.com/Q9bHsDvha6
— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) September 10, 2017
Drive Three
- On drive three, the Eagles went three-and-out. Wentz didn't attempt a pass on this drive. LaGarrette Blount had two hard runs to open the drive, but he ran for a two-yard loss on third-and-short. Luckily, the Eagles quickly regained possession when Jamison Crowder dropped the punt.
Drive Four
- To open the drive, Wentz slipped out of another sack, rolled out and found Zach Ertz on the sideline, after Ertz made a nice route adjustment. Though it's not ideal to have this happen frequently, Wentz, much like Michael Vick, seems to thrive on plays breaking down.
Second Quarter
Drive Four (Continued)
- To open the second quarter, Wentz hit Agholor, who started the play in the backfield for five yards. It, again, wasn't a great throw from Wentz on hitting Agholor coming out of the backfield. That's certainly something he needs to work on. Agholor, like he did in his initial preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts, made the catch anyway. Had he been hit in stride, he would have had his second touchdown of the game.
- On second-and-goal, Wentz made the wise choice to throw it out of the back end of the endzone. Ertz was well covered on the left side of the endzone.
- On third-and-goal, Wentz hit Blount underneath, who let a defender carry his momentum past him and then walked into the endzone. This was a pretty nice drive.
Blount Touchdown!!! #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/XAewZFd80p
— Gayle Saunders (@EagleSessions) September 10, 2017
Drive Five
- Alshon Jeffery made a 14-yard catch to open the fifth drive – it was his first target of the game.
- On an attempted pass to Darren Sproles, the ball was tipped at the line on a throw that probably shouldn't have even been thrown. Ryan Kerrigan, perhaps the biggest Eagles killer currently in the NFC East, picked it and returned it for a touchdown.
.@RyanKerrigan91 drops into coverage.
Gets the PICK.
And goes the DISTANCE! #PHIvsWAS #HTTR pic.twitter.com/Z7hr2HpiJn
— NFL (@NFL) September 10, 2017
Drive Six
- It's great that Wentz can often escape pressure and give a play new life, but he also needs to know when to say when sometimes. He can't take a sack on a play that he had an extended chance to throw the ball away on.
- On a second-and-long, Wentz hit Darren Sproles quickly, allowing him to gain 15 yards. Nice play.
- This drive ended on a punt.
Drive Seven
- Wentz underthrew Agholor on the first play of the drive, he should have led him more. The ball was nearly picked off.
- On a third-and-10, Wentz hit Ertz, who was effective today, for a 12-yard gain.
- Had Agholor open, instead tried to push the ball to Jeffery, leading to a tip (which created a chance for the Redskins to pick it off) by Josh Norman.
- Wentz, with the help of Ertz and Sproles, did a good job of leading the Eagles into field-goal range, which eventually ended with Caleb Sturgis drilling a 50-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 16-14 lead at halftime.
- Just prior to the field-goal, Wentz took a shot to Jeffery in the endzone, one that probably would have been picked if Alshon didn't break it up. When you have such a physically dominant receiver as Alshon, there's a time and place to take shots like that, even if it does end in a pick. Right before halftime, when you are down, isn't the time to take that chance.
Third Quarter
Drive Eight
- Wentz opened the second half by hitting the ageless Brent Celek, who then ran for a first down.
- On a third-and-10, Wentz hit Torrey Smith, who then ran after the catch for what amounted to a 30-yard catch.
- The drive ended up being a nine-play, 51-yard drive that ended in a 42-yard field-goal from Sturgis.
- Though the third-and-12 call from Doug Pederson – which felt straight out of Chip Kelly's playbook – was an annoying call, it was a little exciting to see both Smith and Jeffrey targeted on this drive.
Drive Nine
- After opening the drive by completing a pass to Ertz, Wentz made a nice pass into a small window to hit an in-stride Sproles.
- Wentz ended the drive by rolling out on a third-and-21 and throwing the ball up for Jeffery, who nearly pulled it down. Even though this is a ball that could have potentially ended in an interception, Wentz gave a physically dominant Jeffery a chance to come down with the ball on what would have been a fairly inconsequential pick.
Fourth Quarter
Drive 10
- After a Jalen Mills pick, the Eagles opened their first drive of the fourth quarter on their own 15.
- After getting a first down, Wentz missed Smith on a deep ball that probably would have been a touchdown if he hit him in stride. Despite the fact that he missed this throw, he missed deep, which is better than missing short, and Smith burned one of the league's better corners in Josh Norman. If these two get chemistry, good things will happen.
- After missing on the Smith throw, the Redskins brought pressure on third-and-long. Wentz rolled out to the left, and hit Ertz for a first down. It was similar to the play that led to a touchdown in the team's Week 3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers a year ago, when Wentz hit Sproles rolling out to the right.
- The drive ended on a forced pass to Agholor in the backfield, which went for a loss. This play, dating back to the Chip Kelly era, never seems to work.
Drive 11
- After a perfect punt from Donnie Jones led to the Redskins going three-and-out inside their own five-yard line, Wentz and the Eagles got to start their 11th drive of the game on their own 47. Can't ask for much better field position when attempting to put the game away than that.
- The drive started with another forced pass to the backfield, this time to Jeffery of all people. Though that went for a negative gain, Wentz hit Jeffery on the next play for a 24-yard gain.
- This drive, after Wentz couldn't get the Redskins to jump offsides on fourth down, ended in another Sturgis field goal.
Week 1 Takeaways
- Wentz ended the first half 15/22 with 180 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. That stat line is probably better than he played. Despite some impressive plays, he had one pick and two or three more that probably could have been picked. He also seemed to miss some easy short-yardage passes that he should have connected on.
- There's some quarterbacks who just don't have the arm strength to consistently throw the ball deep. Wentz doesn't fall into that category, as he has the arm strength to hit deep passes. His problem is that his mechanics are inconsistent and he hasn't figured out how to consistently put the right touch on a deep ball. He also tends to miss short, rather than long, which is a big problem.
- Front-runner may not be the correct way to analyze Wentz's game, but he's very momentum-based. That's bad in the sense that from quarter-to-quarter he hasn't been able to establish consistent play. But that goes both ways, if he has a bad quarter, you know a good one might be right around the corner.
- I think Jeffery is is the perfect type of receiver for Wentz, who has some gunslinger in him. From a more traditional sense, he's someone that will give the Eagles a better red-zone threat than they've had in years. But on plays where Wentz roles out of pressure, Jeffery is the type of receiver you can throw to at times in double-coverage, and still see him come down with it.
- Doug Pederson's playcalling was especially inspiring today, which certainly doesn't help Wentz. There has to be more of an effort to get the running-game going.
- What was the most encouraging part about the offense today was Agholor, who had six catches for 86 yards and could have easily had over 100 yards if Wentz hit him more when he was open. He did this while Smith flashed his speed and Jeffery didn't seem to be a huge part of the gameplan. Those three, along with Wentz, give the Eagles a significantly better receiving corps than a year ago.
