Eagles Pound Wentz, Washington

The Eagles and Commanders had two of the most productive offenses in the league so most people expected a shootout. Didn’t happen. The Eagles flirted with a shutout, holding Washington off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter. The Eagles defense sacked Carson Wentz nine times and made life miserable for him in his first game against his former team.

Fun day.

Wentz dropped back to pass 55 times. The NFL gamebook credits the Eagles with 17 QB hits. To put that in perspective, the Eagles only had 13 QB hits in the first two games combined. The Eagles needed their DL to come up big in this game and that’s exactly what happened.

Brandon Graham 2.5 sacks
Haason Reddick 1.5 sacks
Fletcher Cox 1.5 sacks
Josh Sweat 1.5 sacks
TJ Edwards 1 sack
Javon Hargrave 1 sack

Graham and Reddick both forced fumbles with their sacks. All those sacks and hits took their toll on Wentz and the Washington offense.

Brandon Graham hit on Wentz. pic.twitter.com/6RYZQUQHTs

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) September 25, 2022

Washington finished the game with 240 yards and 8 points. That makes back-to-back games where Jonathan Gannon’s defense looked great. They had one takeaway, a couple of third down PBUs and two fourth down stops. Washington was only 6 of 17 on third downs. They were 1 for 3 in the red zone.

This is a game Wentz will want to forget.

Ron Rivera on Carson Wentz: "He could have played better."

— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) September 25, 2022

DeVonta Smith, on the other hand, had a game to remember. He was 8-169-1 and made a couple of really impressive catches. Guys his size aren’t supposed to be able to go up and get the ball the way he does. That’s what makes Smith special.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1574105499439611904

Jalen Hurts got off to a slow start, but then came alive and shredded Washington. He finished 22-35-340 with 3 TDs. Smith was the star receiver, but AJ Brown and Dallas Goedert also contributed in a big way. Hurts has great weapons and he’s doing a terrific job of taking advantage of them.

It’s a good thing the passing game worked so well because the Commanders defense shut down the Eagles rushing attack. The team finished with 30 carries for 72 yards. That’s surprising since Washington had struggled vs the run in the first two weeks.

There is plenty to be happy about when your defense is dominant and your QB puts up big numbers in a 24-8 win, but there are some issues to address as well. For the second straight week, the Eagles didn’t score after halftime. Nick Sirianni stayed aggressive, but the offense got sloppy and couldn’t score. Hurts threw deep a couple of times and was off-target. That’s something he needs to keep working on. There were open receivers, Hurts just didn’t hit them.

The Eagles only went 2 for 4 in the red zone. And one of those conversions was lucky. The Eagles really struggled in the red zone. They didn’t look close on a lot of those plays. Give credit to Washington for battling and making some plays.

There are some injury situations to watch. Darius Slay left the game for a while. He had a minor injury on Monday as well so hopefully a normal week will give him the rest he needs. Goedert had a shin injury and missed part of the game. Landon Dickerson left the game and was replaced by Sua Opeta, who struggled. Nothing appeared to be major so hopefully everything will be okay.

Sirianni and Shane Steichen have done a masterful job with the offense this year, but there were a couple of questionable calls today. The Eagles handed the ball to Zach Pascal on a jet sweep on 4th/1. He got stuffed for no gain. Love Pascal, but he’s not the guy I’m handing the ball to on 4th down. Felt like they outsmarted themselves there.

With the ball at their own 1, the Eagles tried a run up the middle. They were hoping just to get a yard or two. That’s standard football. But Washington had a 5-man DL and a loaded box. They stuffed Boston Scott for a safety. Don’t blame this on Scott. No RB was getting out of that. With all those bodies on the line, the Eagles needed to try something else. Worst of all, those were Washington’s first points. They ended the shutout, cutting the lead to 24-2. Ugh.

The Eagles are now 3-0 and arguably the best team in the NFC. After Buffalo’s loss, some might call the Eagles the best team in the NFL. That’s fun for fans to argue about, but overall meaningless.

I’m encouraged because the Eagles are 3-0 and have shown dominant flashes, but still have plenty of room to get better. They haven’t come close to peaking.

Last year’s 2-5 start feels a million miles away.

This is a good team. A very good team.

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