HOW SWEEP IT IS! For the first time since 2013, the Eagles have swept the Washington Redskins. We now find ourselves alone atop the entire NFL, at 6-1. As far as the NFC East is concerned, we have a 3 game lead over both the Redskins and the Cowboys. We’ve been in or won every game we’ve played so far, regardless of our opponent. Even if they happen to be wearing stripes and baseball caps.
EAGLES 34 – Redskins 24
QB Carson Wentz (17/25 – 68.0% – 268 – 4 – 1) was the story of this game. Not only did he have a stellar game passing, but he led the team in rushing (8 – 63 – 7.8 – 0 – 0). This included a near sack, that had him emerge from the middle of a clusterfuck, only to run for a 21 yard game. While it wasn’t Steve Young’s 49 yard touchdown run vs the Vikings, that highlight will follow Wentz for as long as there is an NFL. By the end of that game I almost expected Wentz to spike the football and ascend into Heaven. Defensively, rookie DE Derek Barnett (3 – 2 – 0 – 0) broke his sack cherry and recorded two whole sacks, to add to the half-sack he earned last week. We also managed to hold the Redskins RB’s to 54 yards rushing on 14 carries.
I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. We introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.
So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?
1) Ertz so good: Once again it was the TE Zach Ertz Show (5 – 89 – 17.8 – 1) as he led the team in catches and receiving yards. Washington simply has no answer for Ertz. This was demonstrated when ‘skins ILB Mason Foster (4 – 0.5 – 0 – 0), was torched for a 46 yard catch. It was further demonstrated when Ertz caught short pass from Wentz, juked a ‘skins Safety clean out of his jockstrap, and then calmly strolled into the end zone. (DONE)
2) Cover 2 Robber: MLB Jordan Hicks (no stats) left the game early, and OLB Mychal Kendricks was already out with an injury. So there was no reasonable way to expect 2nd string MLB Joe Walker (no stats), to be able to direct a mixed bag of other substitute players, in any coverage that wasn’t basic in nature. It allowed for some easy completions over the middle, but really it was the best we could muster under the circumstances. (NOT DONE)
3) Tick-tock, Tick-tock: We didn’t run many overload blitzes on the right side of the Defense, but we did have a rookie DE beat ‘skins LT Trent Williams for two sacks. While we did establish Williams as a liability, the idea was to get the ‘skins QB to rush his passes. Instead he completed 30 out of 40 (75%). (NOT DONE)
4) Run the rock: Aside from Wentz’s 8 runs, the Eagles run to pass ratio was 25 : 25. Dead-even in play selection. You cannot ask for better. (DONE)
This week’s Four Things score is 2 out of 4, which is exactly what we did in Week One. That brings our season total to 23 of 28, or 82%. next week’”contest” against the 49ers should be cake.
On The Whole:
We took care of business. We beat a team that we should be able to beat. We got to see our young QB add more stories to his local legend. Our coaching staff stayed with the run all game long, despite only garnering 2.5 yards per run (minus Wentz’s numbers). So there were a bunch of positives in this game
On the other hand, losing LT Jason Peters to a leg injury during the game, was blow.
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