5 Things learned in Philadelphia Eagles’ win over Washington Redskins
The Philadelphia Eagles open the 2017 season with a thirteen-point win over the Washington Redskins.
Well, you can’t win them all until you win the first one. Okay, the Philadelphia Eagles probably aren’t going to go undefeated, but it was a great day for their fans nonetheless. Philly walked into FedExField, slapped the Washington Redskins around a little and walked out with a 30-17 victory.
Even in winning, their was a ton of things that were exposed that are going to need to get worked out. It’s okay. A victory is a victory, but another road game is on the horizon before the Eagles have their home opener. Next, they take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. They’ve got a little time to celebrate this one. Then, it’s back to work.
In the meantime, here are three things we learned from the week-one victory.
1. The Nelson Agholor hype is, indeed real.
Former longtime Eagles receiver and current Eagles radio color commentator Mike Quick once said Nelson Agholor was the most physically gifted of all of the team’s receivers. We laughed. Now, we’ve seen a great offseason. Then, it carried over into the first game. Quick may be right. There were drops, but that was mostly due to bad tosses from Carson Wentz. Agholor emerged today, and it was good to see.
2. There may be some of the old Patrick Robinson left.
When Ronald Darby left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury, everyone held their breath. When Patrick Robinson took the field in his absence, no one felt much better. After seeing how he filled in, everyone’s smiling. Robinson struggled through training camp, but fans will forget a little of that after today’s performance. He did a great job against the ‘Skins on Sunday.
3. Sending pressure does, indeed, work.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles pinned their ears back a little in the second half, and it led to two huge plays.
There was a drive-ending interception by Jalen Mills when the Redskins had driven into the red zone and were threatening to reclaim the lead. Then, there was the play that decided it.
Brandon Graham made his way into the backfield, knocked the ball free from Kirk Cousins and Fletcher Cox went “scoop and score”. The Michael Jackson, Thriller-esque touchdown celebration needs work, but we’ll take the result. There’s no question about it.
4. If the stars struggle on offense, there are enough weapons to make up for it.
Torrey Smith had a grand total of one catch. It went for 30 yards, but it was one catch. Alshon Jeffery needed three receptions to eclipse Smith’s 30 yards by an additional eight. That’s all they’d get from their prized acquisitions at the wide receiver position. LeGarrette Blount, who started quickly, stalled a little as the game went on.
Still, the Eagles got just enough from the reserves to pull things out. The star of the day had to be Nelson Agholor. On another note, Wentz still throws the ball too much. He was one pass shy of 40 attempts. The ground game has to get going moving forward.
Next: Darby leaves Redskins game with injury
5. Zach Ertz didn’t wait until December or until he saw a Giants jersey to have a good game.
Zach Ertz finished with eight receptions. That was good enough to earn him 93 yards through the air. For those of us who asked where he disappears to in big games, that was good to see. If he maintains some consistency, the Eagles will be in business all season long.