[The Eagles] had a right tackle who I could have done as much as he did, because he didn’t block anybody, either, in [Halapoulivaati] Vaitai. “Therefore, he’s going to play, and he’s going to gain valuable experience week in and week out”. The Redskins gashed that group for 230 yards and controlled the football for more than 34 minutes. Only two members of the team’s active roster (Vernon Davis and Cullen Jenkins) were even alive the last time the Redskins had such a streak.
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Bad officiating had nothing to do with this defeat.
“I felt like he had a slow start, but really settled in nicely throughout the game”, Pederson said about Vaitai.
To get back in wild-card contention, the Panthers would likely have to close the season at 8-2 at a minimum. The penalties and the self-inflicted things.
Washington’s defense was created to challenge Wentz. Next up for the Eagles is a home game against the Minnesota Vikings, probably the best team in the NFC. The Ravens (3-3) lost their third straight. He has been credited along with offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo for the work he has done to help the young QB thrive, and he has been better than advertised when it comes to scheme and in-game management. He also slipped in some Andyisms along the way.
“Listen, last week, this week, these are going to be great learning lessons for Carson”, Doug Pederson said. “We have to learn from this. It makes for the best with both of us”. “But I thought as the game progressed, he settled in nicely and did some good things”.
“Let’s just calm down with the Redskins. That starts with me”. It’s got a little more weight to it, especially when they’re doing as well as they started the year.
With the Eagles down a touchdown in the fourth quarter and facing a 3-and-15 on the Philadelphia 49-yard line on the first play after the two-minute warning, Smith and fellow linebacker Trent Murphy sacked Wentz, allowing the Redskins offense to finish the game. But he held the ball too long on a couple of those in the second half, showing he’s still a rookie. He made a decision to scrap the original contingency plan (which was worked on frequently this summer), which would have put Allen Barbre at right tackle and Stefen Wisniewski at left guard, and filled the Johnson void with Vaitai instead.
“It was tough to get in the groove today”, said Wentz, the rookie from North Dakota State University who grew up in Bismarck. After throwing three picks in his first two games he has three in the last four games to go along with eight TD’s.
Always lurking behind each Washington Redskins game is the same question: How did quarterback Kirk Cousins do?
Wendell Smallwood returned a first-half kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown, the first score of the game for the Eagles.
Defensive problems? You’re kidding me, right? They’re just 21-for-63 for the season, a number that will put them near the bottom of the league.For all that, the Eagles were somehow still in this game until the final minutes, and rookie quarterback Carson Wentz again did some things that make you see why the team was willing to make him the starter.Wentz was sacked five times and hit another half-dozen times.
Wentz finished 11-of-22 for 179 yards with zero touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 77.7 passer rating.
Pederson expects Kelce, a 2014 Pro Bowl selection, to play against the Vikings, though he is suffering from plantar fasciitis, a tissue injury that causes pain in the heel. “It’s one of those things where I have to go back and watch the tape and really critique”.
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He wasn’t alone and now we have to wonder if the Eagles’ fast start was all a grand illusion that is about to disappear beneath an avalanche of losses.
