Game Preview – PHI at WAS

Carson and the Kids will go against Adrian Peterson and the Kids. Not exactly what either team was thinking when the season began.

This game will affect who wins the NFC East, but again, not in a way that either team was thinking when the season began. An Eagles win puts them at 7-7 and keeps them in first place. A Skins win puts Dallas all alone in first place and puts them in control.

Let’s talk about who is in and who is out.

Eagles downgrade WR Nelson Agholor, DE Derek Barnett, and RB Jordan Howard to out for Sunday's game at Washington. Enter with just 3 WRs: JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Greg Ward and Robert Davis.

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) December 14, 2019

Doug Pederson doesn’t look at it that way. He points out RBs Boston Scott and Miles Sanders help in the passing game, as well as Josh Perkins, Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert. Scott and Sanders can line up out wide or in the slot. Ertz plays all over the field. Perkins can play WR, as he did at times last week.

All of that is true, but it isn’t the same as having four or five healthy WRs. There is a big difference.

The good news is that this is a game where the Eagles should focus on the run. Washington has only held three teams all year to less than 115 rushing yards. With a depleted set of receivers, I expect the Eagles to do plenty of running.

Doug Pederson hasn’t run as much this season as some people would like. This is one of those games where I think he’ll see the value in running. The Skins struggle to score points (dead last in the NFL) so you don’t need to score a lot to win. You can play ball control and be methodical and beat this team.

Wentz and Pederson will take some chances in the passing game. Both are aggressive by nature. I do think they’ll make the calculated play and focus on small ball.

It will be interesting to see how Wentz uses his WRs. He doesn’t have much experience with any of them. Rather than trying to force the ball to the guy he trusts, Wentz should get the ball to the open guy. Spread the ball around.

I’m sure Zach Ertz will be targeted a time or two.

Wentz got into a good flow in the fourth quarter last week. If that carries over, it will make a world of difference. When he’s hot, Wentz is one of the best QBs in the league.

Pederson does need to be creative with his playbook. Washington doesn’t have a ton of speed on defense so getting the RBs into space would be an excellent plan of attack. The Skins do have a talented DL so the Eagles must be ready to battle at the LOS. Ryan Kerrigan is out so that will make life easier for Big V in his start at RT.

As for the Eagles defense, they’ll be facing a rookie QB in Dwayne Haskins. He’s only got 3 TD passes this year so he’s not likely to light the Eagles up. I know the Dolphins were cold as well, but they had a veteran QB and that makes a huge difference.

Washington does have Terry McLaurin at WR and he’s having a terrific year (46-703-6). Eagles DBs have to focus on him. Make someone else beat you.

Adrian Peterson is old and has lost a step, but he is still one big, strong runner. He had a 90-yard TD run against the Eagles last year so they know what he can do. Jim Schwartz will focus on stopping him and putting Haskins into known passing situations.

I would be shocked if the Eagles overlooked the Skins, but nothing is impossible with this team. After the struggles last week, there hasn’t been much talk about the looming showdown with the Cowboys. The focus has been on this game.

The Eagles need to play with good energy and emotion. This game means far more to them and that needs to show.

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