Eagles TE Dallas Goedert Nowhere to Be Found in Win vs. Patriots
The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 25-20 on Sunday, escaping Foxborough with a win to open the season. However, the Eagles offense wasn't particularly sharp in the season-opening victory.
In some senses, you have to tip your cap to coach Bill Belichick, arguably the greatest defensive mind in the history of the sport. For whatever questionable offensive personnel decisions Belichick has made in recent years, his defenses have continued to be excellent, and a group led by pass rusher Matthew Judon has a chance to be one of the league's elite units in 2023.
Still, given that coach Nick Sirianni and the Eagles are breaking in a new offensive coordinator in Brian Johnson -- elevated from quarterbacks coach after Shane Steichen departed to become the coach of the Indianapolis Colts -- it's unlikely you'll hear patience preached this week on the airwaves in Philadelphia.
Dallas Goedert didn't have a catch in Week 1. (USA Today)
Among the most concerning things about a sloppy Week 1 win is that tight end Dallas Goedert was held without a catch against the Patriots. Heck, he was only targeted once by quarterback Jalen Hurts. Mind you, Goedert had 55 catches for 702 yards a season ago.
Granted, the Eagles have one of the best receiver tandems in the NFL with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, who combined for 14 catches Sunday. There are a lot of mouths to feed in this offense. But for Goedert to only be targeted once in 33 pass attempts by Hurts is pretty surprising.
"I'm going to do whatever I can to help this team win games," Goedert said postgame. "Today, I was blocking more than catching the ball. That's fine. We got the job done. It wasn't the prettiest game, but a win's a win, and it's tough to do in this league."
On the CBS telecast, color commentator Tony Romo did point out two occasions where Goedert was seemingly running wide open early in the fourth quarter and Hurts elected to, unsuccessfully, throw the ball elsewhere. That seemingly wasn't the only time Hurts didn't see an open Goedert Sunday.
Back in July, Goedert said that in his mind, Hurts deserved to be No. 1 overall on the NFL Top 100 players countdown. This isn't an issue where the two don't have chemistry -- like was seemingly the case with former quarterback Carson Wentz and receiver Alshon Jeffery.
But on Sunday, Hurts and Goedert didn't appear to be on the same page, something that will need to change before Thursday evening's matchup with the Minnesota Vikings.
"The benefit for me is I get to be in there in the run game, and I get to take my frustrations out on the defensive ends and the linebackers," Goedert said. "I had a lot of fun playing today. It was a great team win for us. It was a lot of fun. Maybe next week will be my week. If not, we'll keep chopping away until it comes."
