Ready for Redskins?

Last week was a surprising loss to the Detroit Lions, however the Eagles are looking to bounce back and secure a win in their own division on Sunday. The Washington Redskins have been on a hot streak recently winning 3 straight, while the Eagles were stunned against Stafford and co. derailing their undefeated season. As it turns out the bye week did burn the Eagles and it took two quarters in the beginning of the game to get back on track.

The fact that the football world turned their back on Carson Wentz after throwing ONE interception in 135 attempts is astounding. He is still a talented quarterback that runs that offense better than anyone we’ve had. He still boasts a passer rating of 103.5 meaning he isn’t just a joke or one hit wonder. He has 1007 yards, 7 touchdowns, and a completion rating of 67.4% only a quarter of the way through the season. He is on track to toss over 4000 yards and over 25 touchdowns by the end of the season. Our running game has surprisingly become an unforeseen issue. 33 year old, 5’6”, Darren Sproles is our leading rusher compared to our true starter Ryan Mathews who is 4 years younger and half a foot taller. Darren has totaled 279 total yards on 4 YPC (Yards Per Carry) which is surprisingly efficient for the vet. Meanwhile Ryan has ran 144 yards on 3.3 YPC. Not to be forgotten Kenjon Barner outshines them both with a YPC rating of 6.1. The Redskins d-line has always been strong and slow, so don’t be surprised to see Barner or Sproles running the sweep. Screens have been our best friends so far, and it does help having blockers out front and leaving the opponents tackles in your dust. The receiving end of the offense is just as bad as last year with way too many drops. Even our #1 Jordan Matthews has blown touchdowns with easy catches he botched. Nelson Agholor has had costly drops and it seems Philadelphia is begging Coach Pederson to put the ball in Dorial Green-Beckham’s hands. Then again we can complain, the guy makes plays happen with his huge frame and he spends way too much time riding left bench. The Eagles will have to make an adjustment with the receiving core in order to beat pro-bowler Josh Norman on the outside. However, Green-Beckham should be the one to challenge him, not Matthews. It’s about time Wentz took a shot deep to the big man, and against Norman? It would solidify Green-Beckham as possibly the best hands we’ve got after Randle was released.

On the other side of the football our defense has been outstanding under Shwartz. IN 4 weeks we have only given up 266.8 yards per game and sit in second place for yards given up on defense (Behind Seattle with 264 yards per game). Our most impressive stat is our points against. Giving up 51 points a quarter of the way through the season is something Philly hasn’t seen in while. The team has also racked up 14 sacks in those few games, led by Pro-Bowler Fletcher Cox with 4 closely trailed by Brandon Graham with 3. The Redskins will have their hands full with the run stopping defensive line that is 3rd place for rushing yards against them.  As the past few years have shown our secondary has become the biggest hole along with our inability to force turnovers. Our secondary should not be our leading tacklers, that's the linebackers job. Looking at Rams pick-up Rodney McLeod and Rookie Jalen Mills with 42 tackles between them, it is easy to say they have been busy. Problem being we have no ball hawks. McLeod again is leading our secondary with 2 picks, and Linebacker Nigel Bradham with 1. Lone chief's corner Marcus Peters has more picks in 5 games (4) than we do as a team. With speedster DeSean Jackson, vet Pierre Garcon, and TE sensation Jordan Reed to battle. The defensive secondary will have a challenging day and the line will need to get to Kirk Cousins as fast as possible. The Eagles will try to rattle him the best they can running a lot of man blitzes, trying to keep Jackson from going deep.

Overall, I feel that this is anyone's game provided they put their best on the field. Although, the Eagles get the edge for their ability to control the clock. Keeping the ball in Wentz’ hands rather than Cousins’ will be extremely beneficial for Philadelphia. Both team have their playmakers except the Redskins have more reliable offensive weapons, so yet again the Eagles D needs to step up like they did against Pitt, and not get steamrolled like they did last week.