Washington Woes

Wow. Just wow. That will quite possibly be the most disappointing game of the year against the Redskins of all teams. Matt Jones? Jamison Crowder? The entire Redskins line, defense and offense? All players who stepped up to rock the Eagles back into last season. The Eagles couldn’t pressure Kirk Cousins, and definitely could not stop the pass rush for the life of them.

The offense was atrocious and even that is putting it lightly. Carson Wentz must of forgot he was a rookie the first three games and was brought back to reality on Sunday’s game. He was on his rear more times than most quarterbacks have been in the entire season so far, getting sacked 5 times. Lane Johnson’s suspension hit the Eagles harder than it should have. However, the one bright spot was a bomb to Jordan Matthews for 54 yards. Proving Wentz can get the deep ball into a tight spot when it’s thrown to the right receiver. Carson finished the game with a 50% completion rating, only 179 yards and no touchdowns.  Running game? What running game? Our starter got 60 yards! Against the Redskins! What is that? It seems a little early to be this frustrated, but a lot of Eagles fans are getting flashbacks to last season that was an utter disappointment. Ryan Matthews managed 60 yards on 9 carries which isn't a horrible YPC, but most of his runs wound up getting nowhere when we needed them. Don’t even get me started on our o-line, those who watched the game noticed that they were getting pushed around like school children. That was embarrassing Philly, fix it.

Okay, besides the offense getting walked over, the defense can’t be trashed as much. The biggest problem clearly was our inability to stop the run game at all. Matt Jones was an absolute nobody in the NFL until yesterday and the same goes for Robert Keeley. The Eagles just paid Fletcher Cox the big money, and the man just wasn’t able to play up to that paycheck. No tackles on the the line with no penetration whatsoever. Here’s hoping it was a one time thing for our d-line. Giving up 238 rushing yards when we had only given up 56 total rushing yards in 4 games is just bad, there is no sugar coating it. Malcolm Jenkins looked like the only man playing with his heart and his brain, taking an interception to the house tying the game up in the second quarter. A beautiful read after Cousins had a hurried throw, led to such a reviving play. Pre-pick however, Wendell Smallwood managed to return a kick return for a touchdown which couldn’t have been more impressive from the rookie. Speeding past defenders and leaving them in his dust, blockers not holding, and a definite morale booster for the team. The biggest problem being, those are the only two names on a non-offensive squad that did much of anything. Nigel Bradham got burned up the middle by the wily vet Vernon Davis, and the whole defense was just dominated on all sides.

At the end of the day they need to fight back to get their fan support back. A lot of fans lost Wentzelvania and the Sprole-train cheers by the middle of the game, me included. The Eagles need to get back to week 2 when they destroyed the Steelers and keep playing that game. The defense was on fire stopping the best offense in football, and the offense clicked better than ever.  Now, onto the return of Sam Bradford, who needs to be put in a wheelchair after what he did over the off season.