The Philadelphia Eagles kicked off the 2019 football season in typical Philly fashion. There was some good, some bad, and a whole lot of ugly.
The Philadelphia Eagles walked away from the Lincoln Financial field with a ‘dub’ against the Washington Redskins in Week 1 of the 2019 season.
There were definitely some pros and a whole lot of cons, but let’s just hit on some key points.
1. DeSean Jackson is back, and we absolutely love it.
’10’ picked up exactly where he left off when he was last in the midnight green, which seems like a century ago. The last time Philadelphia fans cheered for DeSean Jackson, Chip Kelly was still around. Thank the football gods for his return because he appears to be just as good as he was when he left.
It took a while for Philly’s offense to get rolling, but once it did, it was clear that the Carson Wentz-to-Jackson connection was going to catch fire. Wentz connected with Jackson eight times, and he and ’10’ celebrated Jackson’s homecoming with 154 yards and two touchdowns. Both were a thing of beauty.
Check out the first if you need any evidence.
And it begins…#WASvsPHI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/jqKrRJyU11
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 8, 2019
It feels like that’s going to become a pretty familiar refrain, and that’s fine by any Eagles fan.
2. The Eagles’ secondary continues to struggle.
It seems like every season, the subject often turns to Philly’s flawed secondary, and 2019 is no different after just one game. It’s hard to tell how many blown coverages there were, but it got to be tiresome to watch after a while. The defense, as a whole, seemed to wake up in the second half, but it was anything but pretty in the first.
Washington’s quarterback, Case Keenum, could do no wrong early. The Eagles had no answer for his aerial attack. Keenum posted 267 passing yards and was spreading the love as he hit eight different receivers. Thankfully, the Eagles’ defense found some answers.
3. The Eagles defense has to get off the field on third down more consistently
Early, it appeared that Philly’s defense just loved being on the field. Every Redskins’ third-down attempt seemed to be converted with ease. It didn’t matter if it was third and short or third and long.
The Redskins converted 5 of their 13 third-down attempts and were perfect on fourth down (2 for 2). That may not sound bad, but the numbers don’t tell the story. Washington did whatever it wanted and led by a score of 20-7 at the end of the first half.
Conclusion: In the end, it’s only the first week of the regular season. There were many more pros than cons. Philly gets to work all of those out, and hopefully, we’ll all see more consistency in Week 2.
The bottom line is it wasn’t pretty or perfect, but the guys in midnight green got the job done. Sure, they have plenty to work on. Every team does, but hey. Smile ‘Birds’ fans. Your team is 1-0 after their first game, and now, it’s on to the next game.