Eagles-Washington Report Card

You have to go back 65 years in Eagles history to find a collapse against the Washington Football Team remotely like what happened in Landover on Sunday when the WFT roared back from a 17-point deficit to top a Philadelphia team that suffered more attrition during a 27-17 setback.

The path to victory for Washington was predictably its defensive line and pass rush. Carson Wentz was sacked a career-high eight times and turned the football over on three occasions.

The grades are not good, starting with Wentz who had a Jekyll and Hyde-like game, starting out incredibly hot before regressing badly as the hits started to pile up.

Quarterback - D

Too much inconsistency from Wentz when it comes to accuracy but the worst part was his penchant for holding onto the football, something that has already resulted in too many fumbles during his career and looks like it's going to continue.

At some point, it's understandable when a QB starts to struggle with subpar pass protection but you'd also like to see a better understanding of the situation because Doug Pederson spends so much time stressing situational football.

Wentz finished 24-of-42 for 270 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a strip-sack fumble that essentially sealed it for the WFT. The first quarter and a half Wentz was an A-level player and from there forward, he was an F

Any hope of a Jalen Hurts package being unveiled was extinguished pre-game when the rookie signal-caller was put on the inactive list.

Running Backs - D

Without Miles Sanders, the Eagles went with a lot of spread sets early when they had their success and when things fell apart the running game was an afterthought.

There was 16 carries total between Boston Scott, Corey Clement, and Jason Huntley with Scott getting nine of them for 35 yards. Early returns indicate the depth is simply not there behind Sanders. The longest run of the game was a 13-yarder by Scott.

Receivers - D

You saw the speed of Jalen Reagor on a 55-yard hookup from Wentz early and the rookie was behind the defense again later when Wentz turned inaccurate.

Overall, the rookie first-round pick caught only one of his four targets. Fellow rookie John Hightower didn't carry camp success into the regular season with a drop and failing to fight for the football on a Jimmy Moreland interception. DeSean Jackson was banged-up early but did return to look every bit of 33 with only two receptions on seven targets.

Tight Ends - B

The tight ends were great, especially Dallas Goedert, who may have had his best game as a receiver with eight receptions on nine targets, including a beautiful over-the-shoulder 34-yard touchdown catch that was perhaps Wentz's best throw of the day with tremendous ball placement and a nice adjustment on the back end by Goedert.

Zach Ertz also caught a TD but had an uncharacteristic drop late that will surely be brought up after reports surfaced from the NFL Network that he got into a somewhat heated conversation with GM Howie Roseman earlier in the week over his contract negotiations.

Offensive Line - F

The big news came in the pre-game when right tackle Lane Johnson was ruled out after recent ankle surgery, described as a clean-out procedure.

That meant the Eagles were down 60 percent of their projected starting O-Line -- Johnson, left tackle Andre Dillard (torn biceps) and right guard Brandon Brooks (Achilles').

Also notable was that Matt Pryor didn't get the nod at either RT or RG with Nate Herbig getting his first NFL start at RG after three career reps in 2019 and rookie Jack Driscoll starting at RT in his first NFL game. Things were OK early and then quickly fell apart especially after Driscoll left and was replaced by Jordan Mailata. Jason Peters also wasn't ready for his return to left tackle after a summer spent at RG.

Defensive Line - B

The defensive line actually played pretty well as a whole but lost Vinny Curry to what looked like a somewhat significant hamstring injury and Brandon Graham to a potential concussion. Malik Jackson was a beast early and while the pass rush wasn't great, understand the defense was behind the 8-ball. Of the three WFT TDs, the longest was 48 yards so the short fields hurt.

Linebackers - B

Nate Gerry and T.J. Edwards were the starting linebackers but Duke Riley mixed in and saw more action than Edwards. Gerry was very active in run support and pass coverage and looks like one of the Eagles' most improved players. He finished with a team-high 10 tackles, two for loss. Riley had six tackles and a half-sack.

Secondary - B

The rebuilt secondary was solid, not allowing a pass play of more than 21 yards. Rodney McLeod, Avonte Maddox, and Cre'Von LeBlanc, a surprise starter for Nickell Robey-Coleman, each had a pass-breakup while Jalen Mills registered five tackle in his first game at safety.

Overall, the WFT had 239 yards of total offense and Dwayne Haskins only threw for 178 yards so the entire defense was good enough to win a clean game.

Specialists - C

Cam Johnston had a big game punting but Jake Elliott was short on a 53-yard field goal and Reagor muffed his first punt return, no surprise for those who saw his shaky ball security in camp.

When Philadelphia was backed up they went with Greg Ward as the PR and rolled the dice with Reagor when it thought the potential was there for a return. Rudy Ford did an excellent job in punt coverage.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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