Philadelphia Eagles Get Shredded By Washington Redskins 27-20

After the Lions game, I obviously felt that the Eagles were extremely screwed by the officiating, but I cannot say that this time. I want to give a huge shout out to the officiating crew in this game against the Redskins because while the game was not perfect and no game is, I didn't feel cheated after it. The Eagles were given one bad call and the Redskins were given one bad call, that was about it. You see, at the end of the day, I can be a gracious loser and give the other team credit if they were truly the better team. Going into the game, the Redskins were missing tight end, Jordan Reed and the Eagles were finally missing offensive tackle, Lane Johnson, who missed the first game of his ten game suspension for using a banned substance. They were also missing cornerback Leodis McKelvin, who has missed most of the games this season. 

This time, the Eagles received the ball first and after two straight sacks on first and second down, the Eagles called a running play for their first first down of the game, however, they had to punt the ball three plays later on fourth down. Carson Wentz luckily only came out of that drive with a torn jersey thanks to the Eagles starting rookie right tackle, Halapoulivaati Vaitai or "Big V". Unfortunately, "Big V" played like a big void as Redskins edge rusher, Ryan Kerrigan had his way with the young man. Sometimes to the detriment of Carson Wentz as it was truly horrible to watch. And while it wasn't the worst performance for an Eagles offensive lineman in their debut, it was by far the most pathetic. With that said, the Eagles did not give the young man much support and he continued to struggle all game. 

The Eagles defense was actually handling the Redskins high powered offense and stopping the run. However, this was all until Redskins quarterback, Kirk Cousins, aired a pass to former Eagles receiver, DeSean Jackson. The young man was being covered by rookie cornerback, Jalen Mills and the play went for around 30 yards. By the end of the drive, the Redskins had gotten inside the red zone and Cousins had exploited the Eagles man to man defense with a Jameson Crowder passing touchdown. The problem really wasn't the defense at this point, they had previously stopped the Redskins on two drives, it was the fact that once they got another first down, they were at 2nd and 3 and coach Pederson called a passing play that got Carson Wentz sacked. The Redskins are very poor against the run and instead of calling more running plays in these situations, Pederson called a passing play and took the Eagles out of manageable third down position. 

The Eagles punted on that drive and the Redskins lead a masterful drive down the field, which ended in a newly acquired, Vernon Davis touchdown. The Redskins had mastered the running game against the Eagles. At the time I was completely unsure of whether or not Matt Jones or Rob Kelley was running the ball, but it didn't matter because with my poor vision and from where I was sitting, they looked the same. I didn't even know the Redskins utilized a two back system like this. Off screen on that touchdown though, the Redskins committed an excessive celebration penalty when Vernon Davis threw the football through the uprights of the goal post after scoring. So up 14-0, the Redskins kicked the ball off from their own 20 yard line and Wendell Smallwood returned the ball for a touchdown and the Eagles terrible offense was unable to hit the field to stink it up. 

Then the Redskins went down the field to around their 40 yard line, then called a triple reverse play. It appeared that struggling linebacker, Mychal Kendricks took down Jameson Crowder, but according to the replay, he didn't and the Eagles got away with a phantom tackle. Didn't matter because a few plays later, Kirk Cousins threw a pick 6 to Malcolm Jenkins and the Eagles were able to tie the game up. However, my pleasure with the play ended when Cousins was able to redeem himself, get the ball down the field, challenge the Eagles at the goal line, draw a Fletcher Cox roughing the passer call, and then on 3rd and short they ran the ball with Rob Kelley for a short touchdown. After this horrid chain of events, the second quarter ended and the Eagles offense barely had the ball.

The Redskins started their first drive of the second half by stalling very early after good kick coverage by the Eagles special teams. However, after Kirk Cousins ran for yet another first down, he was able to get the Redskins down the field. You see, while the defense bent, they didn't break as they forced Dustin Hopkins to kick a field goal. While on the next drive, the Eagles showed promise, they were called on an illegal block in the back on Wendell Smallwood, which negated a 38 yard pass to Dorial Green-Beckham. It was a bad call, but it was the worst call the Eagles were given on the day, which was a shame because it was a really good play. On the Eagles ensuing drive, the Eagles were able to get the ball down field and Jordan Matthews had a really nice 54 yard catch, best I have ever seen from him, however, the Eagles were only able to get a field goal after Barner was unable to pick up a four yard first down on third down.  

The Redskins had an ensuing drive that was a lot like the field goal drive before, more good running yards and more throwing to wide open receivers on crossing routes across the field. At this point in time, the Eagles line was weak after Bennie Logan got injured and the linebackers were still unable to make tackles. It was almost as if the running backs were still moving their legs even after getting tackled. The Redskins again, made it into the red zone and stalled, they then finished the drive off with another Hopkins field goal. The Eagles still showed that they had some fight though. Especially after Wentz finally completed a pass to Dorial Green-Beckham for 23 yards and then to Zach Ertz to the 22 yard line. The drive later stalled after Wentz was unable to connect with Ertz for a touchdown because the young tight end dropped the ball yards before the goal line. 

After the Redskins punted on the ensuing drive, all the hope rested on Carson Wentz and the offense to tie the game up. And while the young quarterback tried to rally, he was unable to as the Redskins sacked him two times in a row and the Eagles were unable to get the ball back. This game stunk to watch because the Eagles were unable to do anything on offense. The Redskins were next to last when it came to stopping the run and the Eagles barely used their running game and were not putting the offense in a good situation to win. Those two returns for touchdowns were also a double edged sword because while the Eagles got enough points to tie the game up, the defense was left on the field for more time than they needed to be. Also, throwing a rookie tackle onto the field with no help didn't do the offense any favors as Vaitai was a turn style and it really hurt the momentum of the offense. On a final note, while the game was called much more fairly, it came out at the end of the game that the Eagles were penalized more than any team has in a two game span, so that is always great. I expect to see more of the same when the Eagles play the 6-0 Minnesota Vikings. 

Carson Wentz gets his jersey ripped off by Ryan Kerrigan