The Eagles defeated the Washington Redskins, 30-17, yesterday behind a powerful performance from their defense. But on the offensive side of the ball, one player seemed to finally embrace his quiet stardom.
Going Deep
The Eagles made a lot of changes to their offense in the offseason. Gone are Dorial Green-Beckham and Jordan Matthews, replaced by the duo of Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. Ryan Mathews was handed his walking papers in favor of LeGarrette Blount.
Those moves generated a lot of excitement, but the guy who shouldered the load for the Birds on Sunday was the guy who is in fifth season of donning the midnight green, Zach Ertz.
It's no secret the Eagles offense struggled for long stretches during yesterday's win. The running game sputtered, protection schemes broke down and Carson Wentz had his share of misfires. But Ertz was perfect, catching all eight of his targets, racking 93 yards in the process and converting six of those grabs into first downs.
With Wentz's favorite target from last season, Matthews, playing in Buffalo, Ertz seemed poise to take over as Wentz's safety valve.
Ertz has become notorious in his short career as a slow starter, often taking a few months to build a proper rapport with his quarterbacks, but having Wentz throwing him the ball for the second straight season seems to have solved that issue.
Just like the Phillies falling into the bottom of the standings and going to the Jersey Shore, claiming Ertz is prepared for a breakout season has an annual Summer tradition. Since his second year in the league, analysts have salivated over Ertz's natural ability and proclaimed that he was destined for stardom in 2014. Or headed to the Pro Bowl in 2015. Or primed to be an elite tight end in 2016.
Ertz's talent has never been the issue, but now as he finds himself surrounded by receivers who can stretch all parts of the defense, it seems like the middle just opened up for him on Sunday. Plus, it helped they were playing the Washington Redskins, who Ertz has torched in his NFL career.
For his career, Ertz has averaged 6 catches for 59 yards in nine games against Washington, those stats only topped by the insane numbers he's put up against Arizona in his career. Yesterday's game showed what an asset he can be to a young quarterback like Wentz, who is still trying to find his footing and timing with all his new weapons.
"Believe me, I want to lead NFL tight ends in catches, yards and touchdowns every year," Ertz told the Inquirer earlier in the week. "That’s my goal."
Well, after one Sunday in the books, Ertz does lead tight ends in catches and first downs, but is second behind rookie Austin Hooper in yards. As Meat Loaf once sang, "Two out of three ain't bad."
Injury Report
Ronald Darby: The Eagles top corner went down with a gruesome ankle injury early in the second quarter and had to be carted off. Following the game, it was reported Darby suffered a dislocated ankle, but he could be back later in the year, provided he doesn’t need surgery.
Jason Peters: Peters suffered a groin injury in the second quarter and returned for one play early in the second half before being replaced by Halapoulivaati Vaitai for the remainder of the game. Peters said after the game he will be ready for next week’s contest in Kansas City, but it’s worth waiting for this week’s first injury report before penciling him in as the starting left tackle.
Destiny Vaeao: The second-year defensive tackle hurt his wrist in the third quarter and never returned. The injury didn’t look all that serious and he should be healthy by next week. If not, Elijah Qualls could take Vaeao’s spot on the active roster.
Caleb Sturgis: The kicker’s injury wasn’t announced until after the game, but he apparently hurt himself on the final kick off of the game. The Eagles were forced to go for two after their final touchdown due to Sturgis’s condition which was later reported as a hip flexor strain. He should be getting an MRI on it tomorrow.
Numbers Game
7: The Eagles’ longest run of yesterday’s game went for a measly seven yards. Coming into this year, it was expected for the Eagles run game to be a weakness of the team, but to average just 2.4 yards per carry against a Washington team that allowed 4.5 yards per carry last season is simply terrible.
The interior offensive linemen didn’t get much of a push all game long and things don’t get any easier as the Birds have to go up against the Chiefs strong front seven next week. Maybe Pederson can get creative in his usage of Darren Sproles and Wendell Smallwood in order to open up running lanes for LeGarrette Blount up the middle.
5: Since entering the league, Jordan Hicks has five fumble recoveries, good for second in the league. In addition, Hicks has amassed 12 takeaways through his first 25 games in the NFL. That is just absurd. I know his health will remain a cloud over him until he can remain healthy for multiple seasons, but Hicks has such a nose for the ball and a knack for always being in the right place at the right time.
264: The Eagles held the Redskins to just 264 total yards yesterday, Washington’s lowest total since Week 11 of the 2015 season when they managed just 186 yards against the eventual NFC Champion Carolina Panthers.
Despite things getting a bit hairy during the middle of the game, Jim Schwartz’s crew was able to put the clamps on Kirk Cousins and the rest of Washington’s offense during the second half, allowing just three points and 127 yards in the second half. That is a dominant performance.
Play of the Week
Wentz may have some issues with accuracy and consistency, but when he makes plays like this, it’s easy to see why he’s destined for stardom:
Wentz is able to wiggle out of, not one, not two, but three potential sacks. Then, he's able to keep his eyes downfield, throw a 40-yard strike to Nelson Agholor who walks into the end zone.
“I don’t know how the guy does it,” Peters told The Athletic. “He just got a knack for feeling pressure coming and he rolls out of it and he gets out of it to make a play down the field.”
“It’s incredible,” Jason Kelce added. “There was a couple plays today where it’s like, ‘You’re blocking, you’re blocking, you’re blocking, and then it’s like you look back there and he’s making guys miss and stuff. You’re trying to find somebody to hit just to keep the play going.”
There's only a couple quarterbacks in the NFL who can do something like that, and they're all destined for Canton. Tremendous stuff from the young quarterback.
Weekly Awards
Offensive Player of the Game: Carson Wentz
With an uninspired offensive gameplan and no running game to speak of, Wentz’s ability to create something out of nothing carried the Eagles offense for the majority of yesterday’s game. The second-year QB looks so much more comfortable on the field than he did a year ago. Wentz finished the day with two touchdowns, 307 yards and a QB rating of 96.8, the highest mark he’s achieved since Week 4 of last season.
Offensive Breakout Player: Nelson Agholor
All offseason long, Agholor was tabbed as the guy who was finally ready to put his drops and struggles behind him, but skeptics were waiting for him to prove himself in an actual game instead of on the practice. Agholor responded by hauling in a 58-yard touchdown grab, breaking his career high in receiving yards in the first quarter and finished the day with six catches for 86 yards.
Granted, there were some questionable play calls, especially those screen passes, but this was a career day for the former first-round pick. Hopefully he continues to build off this momentum.
Defensive Players of the Game: Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox
These guys made life miserable for Cousins all day long. Cox finished with a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery and touchdown. Graham tallied two sacks, a forced fumble and two tackles for loss. The Eagles defensive front looked the part of an elite unit and Cox and Graham were the guys who led the way. Impressive stuff from the pair of Pro Bowlers.
Defensive Breakout Player: Jalen Mills
When Darby went out of the game in the first half, it seemed like the Eagles secondary was destined to fall apart. But Mills stepped up and delivered his best performance of his career. In addition to nabbing his first career interception, Mills had two pass deflections and was the Eagles’ leading tackler with nine total tackles.
Three-Step Drop
1. We may be witnessing a changing of the guard at linebacker. Nigel Bradham, who played very well all of last season really struggled in coverage for much of yesterday’s game, while Mychal Kendricks played more snaps than any game since Schwartz took over and built on his sensational preseason with another strong performance.
Maybe it is a bit premature to pronounce this after just one game, but Kendricks looked deserving of more playing time yesterday, and with Bradham’s struggles, he should get it.
2. One thing that was a bit disappointing was how poorly the new weapons performed yesterday. Jeffery had just two catches, Blount averaged 3.3 yards per carry and Wentz was unable to hit Smith on a couple of deep passes.
Maybe the young QB and the veteran receivers need some more time to get on the same page, but at the very least, we saw what having Smith and Jeffery did for the rest of the Eagles offense, opening windows for Agholor and Ertz to have big days. Moving forward, teams will have to make sure they don’t cheat on their coverage.
3. Much has been made about this potential coaching feud between Schwartz and Doug Pederson, and while I think it has been blown out of proportion a bit, it was obvious whose unit was better yesterday. If the defense continues to carry the team through the season, I wouldn’t be surprised if Schwartz decides to schedule a meeting with the Eagles front office in the offseason.
Who’s Next
The Eagles will travel to Kansas City next week to face Andy Reid and the Chiefs. The Chiefs made a lot of noise on Thursday night, knocking off the New England Patriots on the road. It will be interesting to see how Pederson devises his game plan against his former mentor.
The Chiefs have a strong defense and Reid showed some new looks in his team's win last week. The Birds will certainly have their hands full as they try to improve to 2-0 for the second straight season.
