Gameday – PHI at WAS

Posted: September 25th, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Gameday – PHI at WAS

The revenge game that really isn’t a revenge game. Carson Wentz faces his former team, but the coach is different, the staff is different and a lot of the players are different. And remember that Wentz asked to be traded, which the Eagles did. If anything, he should thank them. They drafted him #2 overall. He got to be part of a Super Bowl team. He got paid a lot of money. When things went south, they traded him to the coach he most wanted to play for. We should all be lucky to suffer like that.

Wentz won’t see things that way, of course. And this game will mean a lot. I just don’t know if that will be a good or bad thing. When Wentz presses, bad things tend to happen for his team.

This game is more about the Eagles than Wentz. They are 2-0 and playing really well. If they limit mistakes and play up to their talent, this will be a win. You do worry about the game after a Monday Night game, especially when you’re on the road. Luckily the Eagles know Washington well schematically and it is a short trip. That should help them out.

This is the final game where Covey can be elevated. The Eagles either add him to the roster or go find someone else to be the punt returner. Covey has done a good job of catching punts, but hasn’t shown much as a returner. A good return today would help his cause.

No surprises among the inactives. We’ll see the debut of Grant Calcaterra as the #3 TE. He should have a good handle on the offense by now. Can he block effectively? Is he ready to help on STs?

Here are a couple of final thoughts.

TEMPO

Washington has a banged up DL. They are short on depth. It would make a lot of sense for the Eagles to use tempo to try to wear them down.

MAKE WENTZ DO SOME “WENTZING”

While incredibly talented, Wentz is also mistake prone. There will be plays to be made by the Eagles defense. They must make those plays. This is a huge opportunity for the Eagles DL to have a breakthrough gme.

NO SLAY DAY

The C0mmanders will spread the ball around. That means the whole Eagles secondary must be sharp. They played well last week as a group, but Slay was clearly the star. Washington feeds the ball to Curtis Samuel, but he works underneath a lot so Slay isn’t likely to be on him. Slay and James Bradberry need to handle the speed of the outside receivers. Wentz will take his shots downfield.

LESS BLITZING

Since Washington can get the ball deep to multiple guys, expect the Eagles to keep two safeties back on a regular basis. That likely means less blitzing. This really is a day when the DL needs to step up.

SCOREBOARD

The Eagles built big leads in the first two games. Detroit came back to make it a close game. Minnesota couldn’t cut into the lead, but Philly couldn’t expand it. The Eagles need to be better in the second half today. Expect Nick Sirianni and his staff to remain aggressive.

Washington has been down in both games. They won in the opener and lost last week. But they won’t go away quietly. If the Eagles build a lead, Washington will keep grinding. The flip side…if Washington gets out to a lead, they remain vulnerable. They don’t have a good secondary so you can throw on them. They don’t have a good run game so working the clock is tougher. And Wentz has his Wentz moments so that can keep the opponent in the game.

_


Comments are closed.