What Went Right

Sunday’s loss to Washington was torturous, frustrating and a royal pain in the butt. We waited months and months to watch that? Ugh. But I don’t believe in gloom and doom. Even in a bad game like that, there are positives. Let’s talk about them.

I have not re-watched the game. I have not studied all-22 tape. I’m going off what I saw when I watched the game live.

Jalen Reagor – The Eagles first round pick only caught one pass, but it went for 55 yards. That would have been the Eagles longest pass play in 2019. Reagor was picked to give the team an explosive playmaker and he showed that ability. Reagor got open deep a few times. On the catch, he showed the ability to track the ball and make a tough downfield grab on the move. Next up is to get him more touches. Reagor did muff a punt early on, but bounced back from that.

https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1305196998598045699

Darius Slay – Washington receiver Terry McLaurin went 5-61. Last year in two games he was 10-255-2 against the Eagles. Slay gave up some catches, but kept him under control and out of the end zone. That’s a huge difference. Slay is off to a good start.

Young LBs – Nate Gerry, Duke Riley and TJ Edwards combined for 9 solo tackles, 2 TFLs and 0.5 sacks. They helped keep the WAS running game under control. It looked like they were solid in coverage. I didn’t see any missed tackles, but I’ll need to check the tape on that. Gerry in particular played well. Encouraging start for the young guys.

Dallas Goedert – DG went 8-101-1 on Sunday. He made an impressive adjustment on the ball on his TD catch. He added RAC yards on multiple catches. He might not be the Eagles primary TE, but he is one of the best TEs in the league.

https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1305205837607120899

The STers – Some might have questioned why the Eagles kept Rudy Ford, Marcus Epps and Craig James. You saw their STs value on Sunday. Ford had 3 tackles in punt coverage. James recovered the muffed punt. Epps had an impressive tackle in coverage. STs matter more than most people realize. The Eagles built their roster accordingly and it worked in the opener.

DL – It is hard to say a lot about the Eagles DL without studying the tape, but they looked good to the naked eye. Malik Jackson got a big hit on Haskins on the initial third down. Jackson then stuffed a run play. Brandon Graham had a TFL on a run away from him. Fletcher Cox didn’t make any big plays, but he clogged the middle. WAS averaged 2.2 yards per carry. There wasn’t any room to run. Josh Sweat flew off the edge for a strip sack. The ball was there for the taking, but WAS got to it first. That would have given the Eagles the ball around the 10-yard line and almost certainly guaranteed points. Not getting the fumble proved to be huge.

Graham left the game with a possible concussion. There was a report that his tests came back negative. We’ll have to wait for confirmation. Vinny Curry’s hamstring injury looked more serious. He could miss some time.

Backups T.Y. McGill and Genard Avery had good moments. McGill was quick off the ball and disruptive. He had half a sack. Avery also had half a sack. He didn’t stand out as much.

Jack Driscoll – For a rookie making his debut, Driscoll did some good things. He held his own early on. I’ll need to really study the tape, but there were some encouraging signs. If you think back to 2016 when Big V took over at RT, his first game was against WAS. Big V got benched because he couldn’t get the job done. The offense looked good with Driscoll out there for most of the first half. The Eagles might have found a quality backup at RT. He’s another guy that we’ll have to wait for an injury report on. Hopefully it is minor.

*****

Dallas lost to the Rams on Sunday night. That made the Eagles loss a bit easier to take. WAS sits alone atop the division at 1-0. Dallas lost a couple of players to season-ending injuries. I’m not saying that with any sense of satisfaction. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Just pointing out the fact that the Cowboys and Eagles both had rough days on the scoreboard and otherwise.

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