“The sky’s the limit”, Eagles coach Doug Pederson said.
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If there’s one number the Eagles might be taking note of, it’s sacks.
After scoring his first touchdown as an Eagle on a 59-yard pass from quarterback Carson Wentz in the first quarter, Smith took a baseball hitter’s stance in the back of the end zone and pretended to whack a pitch from wide receiver/pitcher Nelson Agholor over an imaginary fence.
The Cardinals didn’t have any turnovers this game that actually mattered.
The second-year passer has the Eagles rolling at home. Wentz was the big reason.
The Eagles took a three touchdown lead over the Arizona Cardinals following the touchdown. It’s the first time he’s thrown more than two touchdowns. The loss of superstar David Johnson (wrist) and a patchwork offensive line has upped the workload of Carson Palmer, who is second in the league in completions (108) and tops in dropbacks (201) and attempts (183) heading into a tilt versus the Eagles’ 30th-ranked pass defense.
“To be that efficient, that’s huge”, Wentz said. When he got to the end zone he knelt down and prayed, with the reason being, “It meant so much to me after what I was going through”.
Wentz is the first Eagles player to throw for three touchdowns in the first quarter of a game.
Fellow receiver Torrey Smith was impressed. Kenyon Barner would return that punt 76 yards, on a play that cost the Cardinals their long snapper Aaron Brewer to a broken wrist.
It started on offense with a three-and-out. Wentz went 7/9 with 121 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter. The slump ended Sunday. They averaged just 2.2 yards per carry, which put Palmer in tough third-down spots and opened the door for the Eagles’ pass rush. Wentz under threw Torrey Smith and Patrick Peterson almost picked it off. “We’ve missed a couple down the field”. “I wanted to show that Carson can be protected once I’m in there”. He didn’t. Smith used the ball as a bat and swung for the fences.
Wentz burned the blitz with some subtle pocket movement before rifling a pass to Agholor, whose initial defender blitzed from the slot, leaving him with Baker to beat.
Agholor’s TD catch was on third-and-19. Wentz delivered an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Ertz. It was a tribute to former Eagle DeSean Jackson.
Malcolm Jenkins made Fitz look ordinary with six worthless catches, all in the second half, none more than 15 yards. Wentz would throw a lovely ball to Trey Burton for a 15-yard touchdown.
That was the most impressive highlight of the game, but the Cardinals posed little threat to comeback by the point. Even though they ran for close to 400 yards the last two weeks, they found a way to come in today and just get him established.
Defensively, they allowed the Eagles to convert on nine of 14, including seven of their first nine, leading to a 21-0 lead.
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