Eagles Sacked by Washington in Opener
LANDOVER, Md. – The Eagles’ biggest fears were realized on Sunday when a patchwork offensive line was overwhelmed by a Washington pass rush in the season opener at FedExField.
The Washington Football team hammered quarterback Carson Wentz all day long, sacking him eight times to notch a 27-17 win. Wentz threw two interceptions and lost a fumble to account for all three turnovers by the Eagles.
It's something that, first and foremost, can't happen," said head coach Doug Pederson about the sacks. "Sacks don't always go on the quarterback or the O-line, protection from (running) backs are included in that."
It was the first opening-day loss in the Doug Pederson’s head coaching tenure. He had been 0-4. It was also the first time Wentz lost to Washington in his career. He had been 5-0. Finally, it was the first loss against Washington since 2016, a span of six straight wins by the Eagles.
It was Washington's first home-opening win since 2014.
The Eagles, who chose to remain in the locker room during the National Anthem, entered the game with three of its starters out due to injury after right tackle Lane Johnson was ruled out 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
Already without Brandon Brooks and Andre Dillard, the Eagles started 22-year-old undrafted free agent from last year Nate Herbig at right guard and 23-year-old rookie Jack Driscoll at right tackle.
Driscoll left in the third quarter with an injury and was replaced by Jordan Mailata, who was playing his first NFL game, just as Herbig and Driscoll had been.
"A very up and down performance for the line today, very poor in the run game," said center Jason Kelce, referring to the 17 rushing attempts for 57 yards from four different runners. "I felt like we weren’t ever really able to establish the run game well. It’s a combination of the guys not executing. Credit to Washington for throwing some well-timed blitzes. We have to be better. We have to be better up front.
"No excuses. I think I had plenty of work with the guys that were out there today. I don’t think anybody, in particular, played individually a terrible game. Probably not what you guys want to hear, but I think everybody kind of had their chances to screw this one up, myself included. I could’ve played better and I think everybody across the board at their moments where they could’ve got the job done better."
Washington played turnover-free. WFT defensive end Ryan Kerrigan had two sacks, and in the process, moved into first place all-time in Washington’s record books with 92 sacks, one ahead of Dexter Manley. Rookie Chase Young also notched his first career sack.
The Eagles held a 17-0 lead after Wentz hit tight end Dallas Goedert with a 34-yard touchdown pass with 6 minutes, 54 seconds left in the second quarter. Earlier, Wentz hit his other tight end, Zach Ertz, for a 5-yard touchdown for the Eagles first points of the 2020 season with 11:14 to play in the opening quarter.
Sacks, though, consumed the postgame talk, not the touchdowns.
"It’s the game of football," said Goedert, who had eight catches for 101 yards and the TD on nine targets. "One person gets beat and the whole play can be messed up. Just different things. They were winning their one-on-one matchups more than we were winning our one-on-one matchups."
The lead swelled to 17-0 on a Jake Elliot 38-yard field goal with 2:13 left in the first quarter.
After that, the offense did nothing except make it easy for the WFT to launch a comeback with 27 unanswered points.
With less than two minutes to play in the first half, Wentz threw the first of his two interceptions on the afternoon. Given the short field, Washington capitalized, moving 45 yards in five plays and just 57 seconds to get on the board with a touchdown catch by tight end Logan Thomas.
Wentz’s second pick came after a Josh Sweat sack pushed the WFT back to its own 6-yard line and allowed the Eagled to have good field position at their own 45. But Wentz threw poorly to John Hightower and Jimmy Moreland stepped in front of it and returned it to Philly’s 20.
"Regardless of where we start on the field, whether it’s the 25 or a short field, we’ve gotta try limiting those (touchdowns) to three, or even try to cause a turnover any sort of way, we gotta figure it out, regardless of whatever happens," said safety Jalen Mills.
WTF needed just five plays and 2:19 to score a TD that brought it to within 17-14 with 9:25 to go in the third quarter.
More misery was added on the Eagles’ sideline with in-game injuries. In addition to Driscoll, they lost defensive ends Vinny Curry to a hamstring and Brandon Graham, who was evaluated for a head injury and did not return. Philly finished the game with Genard Avery and Sweat at defensive end.
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