DeVonta Smith, Defense Shine, as Eagles Open 24-0 Halftime Lead

LANDOVER, Md. – The Eagles made life difficult for Carson Wentz in his first game against the team that drafted him second overall in 2016, sacking him six times, while DeVonta Smith tortured the Washington defense, setting a new career-high with 156 yards and a touchdown.

His seven receptions tied a career-high, which he had in last Monday night’s win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Many of those grabs were terrific and helped the Eagles opened a 24-0 halftime lead in Sunday’s NFC East game at FedEx Field.

Perhaps his best two catches were at the end of the half.

With the game clock down to about one second left in the half, Jalen Hurts got the snap off in time to throw a jump ball for Smith in the end zone from two yards away that Smith somehow came down with.

Smith set up that score with an acrobatic 44-yard catch at the 2, skying high to haul down a catch. He landed hard on his back and had to leave the game.

It was only a temporary trip to the sideline, though, returning to haul in the TD.

Hurts threw three touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the defense sacked Wentz six times.

Brandon Graham had a strip sack fumble that teammate Javon Hargrave recovered at the Washington 24. On the second pay from there, Dallas Goedert turned a screen pass into a 23-yard touchdown, just 1:35 after Jake Elliott opened the scoring with a 32-yard field goal early in the second quarter.

Goedert appeared to patiently wait for his blocking to develop after receiving Jalen Hurts’ throw. After Isaac Seumalo and Jason Kelce arrived on the scene to do just that, Goedert accelerated through a tiny crack and burst onto the end zone.

Hurts threw his second TD of the game, capping a 64-yard, six-play drive that spanned just 2:49 with a touchdown throw to A.J. Brown from nine yards on third down. Brown just overpowered Benjamin St.-Juste.

Brown had four catches for 75 yards in the half.

Here’s who recorded sacks and how many:

Graham 1.5

Fletcher Cox 1.5

Haason Reddick 1.5

Hargrave 1

Josh Sweat .5

There were also two forced fumbles among those sacks. In addition To Graham, Reddick also forced one. Wentz fell on this one, though.

Wentz completed just three of 10 pass attempts for 24 yards. He had a first-half passer rating of 39.6.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

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