Alshon Jeffery quiet in his Eagles debut against the Redskins
Eagles wide receiver Alshon Jeffery had an underwhelming debut against Washington.
One of the biggest stories of the offseason for the Philadelphia Eagles was the signing of wide receiver, Alshon Jeffery. He was considered to be the answer to quarterback Carson Wentz’ passing problems. After a quiet preseason, Jeffery finally had his regular season debut in week one against the Washington Redskins.
Although the Eagles picked up the victory on Sunday, Jeffery was not much of a factor in the passing game. Could it be because he and Wentz struggled to find a connection? Or was it because Redskins cornerback Josh Norman shut him down? Let’s look at the statistics from Sunday’s division battle.
The stat line:
Jeffery was targeted by Wentz seven times on Sunday. He finished the game with an underwhelming three receptions for 38-yards and zero touchdowns. Although he was being covered by one of the NFL‘s best cornerbacks, he struggled to find space to get open for Wentz to get him the ball.
It was clear that Wentz was looking to get Jeffery the ball in key situations with the clock running out. Unfortunately, they were not able to connect 57-percent of the time. Wentz took a deep shot to the end zone at the end of the second quarter targeting Jeffery, but the ball was nearly intercepted.
In the third quarter, Jeffery ended up having two drops. One of them would have been a major gain, but Jeffery was not able to secure the ball as he hit the ground. Jeffery understands that he was brought to the Eagles to make the big catches that their wide receivers couldn’t make last season, but unfortunately he struggled to do so on Sunday.
Wentz and Jeffery did, however, connect on a two-point conversion after the defense scored to, ultimately, put the game away.
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Luckily, Jeffery’s presence on the field was enough to create opening for the other recievers. Tight end Zach Ertz led the team in recieving with 93 yards off of eight receptions. Third-year receiever Nelson Agholor also had a decent day with 86 yards and a touchdown. Although Jeffery was fourth on the team in receiving on Sunday, he’ll surely be looking for redemption on Sunday in Kansas City.