The Greg Ward Game

Cardiac Carson did it again. The Eagles trailed in the fourth quarter and Carson Wentz led the Eagles down the field for the winning score. So much for the notion that he’s not a clutch QB.

You can point out that the reason Wentz had to lead the comeback is partially due to his fumble that set up a Skins FG that gave them the lead late in the game. That is true and ball security has been a real issue for Wentz this year (and his whole career really).

But it was great to see Wentz bounce back from that and make the plays necessary for his team to win.

Greg Ward had the best game of his young career, going 7-61-1. He caught the winning TD, a tough grab in the corner of the end zone. Ward made multiple big catches on the winning drive. The Eagles have found something in Ward. He can get open and most importantly, he catches the ball.

Let’s save the discussions on why it took the Eagles so long to use him for another day. Enjoy the win for now.

Ward wasn’t the only young guy to step up. Miles Sanders and Boston Scott were terrific on Sunday. My goal was for the coaches to get them 30 combined touches. Doug Pederson and his staff got them 38 touches. That led to 237 total yards and a pair of TDs (both by Sanders). When you have a depleted WR corps, you must feed the RBs.

Sanders and Scott ran hard. They brought speed to the offense. Sanders made a great TD catch when Wentz rolled to his right and fired a laser to the back of the end zone.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1206305966381133824

Wow, just wow.

An offense that was missing the top three WRs, the starting RB and the starting RT put up 415 yards and 31 points. That is a great job by the coaches and players. And give the OL credit as well. None of this happens if they don’t block well.

Now for the bad news.

The Eagles defense was playing a rookie QB, three rookie WRs, an ancient RB and the worst offense in the league. The Eagles gave up 362 yards and 27 points.

Ugh.

The DL didn’t get enough pressure. The defense didn’t tackle well. Coverage by the DBs was inconsistent. You do have to give some credit to the Skins. They had a good gameplan and used some option plays that totally caught the Eagles by surprise.

The defense must play better from here on out for this team to get to the postseason and then win in January. Sunday’s performance was good enough to beat a bad team, but that’s not what Jim Schwartz or Pederson is looking for.

The Eagles are now 7-7. Dallas is whipping the Rams so the teams will likely be tied for first place, setting up next week’s NFC East Championship Game.

That would be a good time for the Eagles to play a complete game and have both the offense and defense show up at the same time.

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