Philadelphia Eagles vs. Cleveland Browns Week 1 preview
The regular season has finally arrived, and questions about how the Philadelphia Eagles will do will finally start to get answered.
Between the start of a new era with Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz to a brand new defense, there is a lot to look forward and a lot of change for the upcoming season. Here are key players/matchups to watch when the Eagles take on the Cleveland Browns this Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Carson Wentz
It’s time for NFL defenses to take their vitamins and say their prayers. But in all seriousness, just over a week ago Carson Wentz was expected to be third on the Eagles QB depth chart. He was only supposed to be holding a clipboard and learning from the other QBs. That all changed when the Eagles traded QB Sam Bradford to the Vikings for a 2017 first round pick and a conditional 2018 4th round pick. Now Wentz is taking reps with the first team offense as he prepares for his first ever game as a pro. What better time to start your career than playing at home against the Browns.
Yes, the Browns are still the Browns (at least on defense). They lack talent on the defensive side and have multiple rookies starting as well. Their star cornerback Joe Haden will be returning, but the Browns don’t have a strong pass rush and are weak at other spots. I’m not saying it will be easy for Wentz, because nothing is easy in the NFL. But it’s a good first test since the rookie missed all of the preseason, minus one game, due to a rib injury.
Eagles Corners vs Browns Passing Attack
While the Browns have shown to be inconsistent, at least in the preseason, one thing that has stood out has been their passing attack. Robert Griffin III has been able to connect on big time plays with names like Terrell Pryor and Josh Gordon multiple times during the preseason. Knowing the the Eagles cornerback spot is the “weakest link” of a pretty darn good defense , I sense Hue Jackson will attack that weakness and attack it hard. Nolan Carroll and Leodis McKelvin will be tasked to match up with the Cleveland wideouts. I do have more faith in Carroll to do so as he has been consistently the best cornerback the Eagles have. McKelvin, not so much. He’s made plays, and also given up plays.
Not to mention, you can’t forget about 2015’s breakout tight end Gary Barnidge. Who is also looking to try to make an example out of the Eagles defense. It will be interesting to see how Jim Schwartz game plans and schemes up against the Browns offense to try to mask the weakness in the secondary.
Zach Ertz and Dorial Green-Beckham
I named these two players specifically because I think they are going to be the big playmakers for the Eagles on Sunday. The Browns linebackers are notoriously known for doing a poor job at covering tight ends. I don’t see Sunday being any different. Doug will take advantage of that and use Ertz to his advantage. Not only that, Ertz is the only “starter” that Carson Wentz has played with, so he has a little more chemistry with the former Stanford tight end than the other offensive weapons.
Not only will Ertz be a favorite target for Wentz, I think DGB will play a important role as well. DGB is a big target that will be beneficial to throw to down in the red zone, which they need since the Eagles weren’t so great in the red-zone last season.
Duke Johnson Jr.
Giovanni Bernard made a living in Cincy by being a multi faceted back, could run with elusiveness, and catch the ball out of the backfield. Hue Jackson utilized that as an instrumental tool while he was the offensive coordinator with the Bengals. Duke Johnson Jr. has a very similar skill set to Bernard and I can see the Browns using that skill set against the Eagles defense. The Eagles might get a taste of their own medicine (with the way they deploy Darren Sproles when Johnson is out on the field).