DeVonta Smith Hasn't Had a "Turn" in a Few Weeks, but Monday's Coming

It's been A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert's turns recently, but Smith was a handful the last time the Eagles played Washington, so maybe his turn again is coming Monday night

USA Today

PHILADELPHIA – Shane Steichen assured everyone that DeVonta Smith’s turn will come again.

The Eagles' offensive coordinator and play caller has an offense where more than one ball is required, except the rules don’t allow for more than one ball to be used.

So, sometimes the weapons have to stay holstered at times during a game.

Two weeks ago, it was receiver A.J. Brown’s turn. He had a career-high 156 yards receiving and three touchdowns in the win over the Steelers.

Last week, it was tight end Dallas Goedert’s turn. He had 100 yards receiving, eight catches, and one touchdown.

Smith’s last turn came on October 9, and it was more of a half-turn.

He had 10 catches in the win over the Cardinals, but for just 87 yards, with a lot of his targets coming out wide and just off the line of scrimmage, plays that have struggled to gain many yards when called.

He has two touchdowns after putting up five last year when he led all Eagles receivers with 916 yards, which was a franchise rookie record. He has 38 catches for 420 yards in eight games this season.

He had just two catches on two targets against the Texans for 22 yards. 

Four days earlier, in the win over the Steelers, he made five catches but for just 23 yards, with most of those receptions, again, being short throws to the side that never seem to work the way they’re intended.

Nevertheless, Smith isn’t making any noise about his production, or lack thereof, lately.

“He's been great,” said Steichen on Tuesday about Smith’s attitude as he waits his turn. “He's selfless. He knows that his time is going to come around again. It's an ultimate team game, and we're in it to win football games. 

"Those guys know that it's going to come around to them, whether it could be this week, it might be next week, we don't know, but those guys understand that, that we are trying to win, and when it's their time to get the ball, they're going to make plays.”

Smith’s big breakout game of this year was in the Week 3 win over the Washington Commanders when he played one of the more wonderous games an Eagles receiver has ever played.

He made an assortment of difficult sideline catches. He skied high to haul down one pass near the goal line, had the wind knocked out of him, but returned a play later and went high above a Commanders defender to score a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play

He finished the game with a career-high 169 yards on eight catches and one TD.

Now along comes the Commanders again. They will visit Lincoln Financial Field on Monday night.

Maybe Smith’s turn will come once again.

Steichen was asked if they go into games with the idea of trying to get him established early.

“I think every game we go into that, we think about certain players and getting them going early and how the game is going,” he said, “and I think that'll be dictated week by week.”

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.