By Tucker Bagley, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Sunday's game against the Redskins didn't exactly go as planned for Doug Pederson and the Eagles. Instead of turning things around on both sides of the ball and coming out with a division win, the Birds struggled to control the line of scrimmage and lost convincingly to the Washington Redskins.
The biggest issue for the Eagles heading into next week's tilt against the Minnesota Vikings will be their protection of Carson Wentz. The Vikings currently rank third in the NFL in passing defense and sacks and have held opposing quarterbacks to a league-best 65.3 passer rating. And although Wentz has continued to put up stellar numbers against the blitz, the Eagles will need to shore up their pass protection if they want a chance to win, because blocking like this will not work against Minnesota:
Now, perhaps the scariest thing about the pair of early sacks Wentz took on Sunday was how it affected his play, and the Eagles offensive game plan, for the rest of the game.
Like on this play in the second quarter, where the Eagles try to get Nelson Agholor open on a shallow crossing route.
Agholor originally lined up behind Jordan Matthews in the slot before motioning to the near side of the field, where the cornerback trailed him, indicating man coverage. The goal of this play is to get Agholor the ball as he runs full speed across the field, and hopefully there are a few blockers there for him once he secures the ball. The only issue is, the ball never made it to him because Wentz missed high on the throw.
Once again, the pocket collapses around Wentz, who was sacked on the previous play. What is worrisome is how Wentz doesn't step up and short-arms the throw, which leaves the throw high for the streaking Agholor.
This was an issue that plagued Wentz in college and during his limited time in the preseason, but with solid pass protection during the regular season, the kinks slowly disappeared. The Vikings' pass rush is much more imposing than the Redskins' so there is good reason to believe Wentz won't have much time in the pocket again.
As the Redskins game wore on, Wentz became more and more skittish, as evident on his throw to Zach Ertz at the goal line in the fourth quarter.
The play is diagrammed to get Ertz or Matthews open at the top of the screen as they stretch the coverage horizontally. On the near side of the field, the Eagles run a high-low concept with Brent Celek running a curl route out of the slot and Dorial Green–Beckham running a post route over top of him.
Defensively, the Redskins blitz seven, leaving man coverage across the board on the Eagles' four receivers. However, having seven blitzers against only six blockers means there was going to be a free rusher in the face of the quarterback. With the majority of the pressure coming from the right side of the field, Went'z clearest throwing lanes would be toward Ertz on the inside slant or Matthews on the out route at the goal line.
Ertz does a good job of getting inside leverage on his man and has an easy path to the end zone, but once again, Wentz delivers an errant throw.
Wentz immediately sensed the pressure and drifted to his left, but he absolutely bails as he delivers the throw. Once again the ball sails on Wentz, but in this case it remains a catchable ball and the quarterback and tight end share the blame for the incompletion. Moving forward, Wentz's footwork remains a huge part of his development and will be instrumental in him becoming more precise with his throws.
Another thing that the Redskins pass rush benefited from, besides the Eagles inferior blocking, was the Birds trying to force the ball down the field instead of the short, quick passes the team utilized through the first four games. Here's a look at Wentz's pass chart from Sunday:
Twelve of Wentz's 22 passes traveled 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, his highest rate of the season. During the first four games of the year, only 35 percent of Wentz's passes traveled that far. As the Eagles prepare for Mike Zimmer's defense, they need to go back to their bread and butter and give Wentz easier throws and quicker progressions in order to keep him upright.
