If you’re looking for some good news about the Philadelphia Eagles’ pass rush heading into their Week 2 tilt with the Atlanta Falcons, this may do the trick.
Four quarters of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ first game came and went, and we keep talking about the same things that it seems like we’re always talking about. Where’s the pass rush? What’s going on with the running game? Why is it that, regardless of whatever they do, they just can’t seem to stop anybody’s passing attack?
At times, the Eagles’ secondary made Case Keenum look like Joe Montana. At others, they held up, and the Eagles’ pass rush did just enough to make his life uncomfortable. The Eagles rattled Keenum enough, but, for the most part, what was supposed to be a vaunted pass rush was neutralized. Philly was only able to muster one sack, and that came from an unexpected source, reserve defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan.
The bad news is this. Washington Redskins didn’t even have their best offensive lineman, Trent Williams, on the field. The good news is this. If there’s any team that they can get on track against, it’s the Atlanta Falcons.
The issues with their offensive line have been well documented, and if you thought it couldn’t get worse, you may want to rethink that.
Their 14th-overall selection in the most recent draft, Chris Lindstrom, was placed on the IR (injured reserve) on September 9th. Matt Ryan was sacked four times by the Minnesota Vikings in the season opener. On Sunday, the task of protecting Ryan’s blindside belongs to Jake Matthews. How did he do in Week 1?
According to Pro Football Focus, not only did he turn in a pretty bad showing, there was only one other left tackle who was worse.
Here’s more from Ben Linsey, the writer of this one.
"Jake Matthews came away from the contest with a pass-blocking grade of 47.0 which ranked second-to-last among 32 qualifying left tackles. He allowed five pressures in 52 pass-blocking snaps, including two sacks, but that doesn’t tell the story on just how overmatched he was. Matthews allowed two additional pressures on plays that ended up being nullified by penalties. Let me tell you, the fact that they didn’t end up counting doesn’t diminish just how bad Matthews looked on those plays."
Matthews has a chance to turn things around versus the Eagles. The Eagles have a chance to get their pass rush on track. The battle in the trenches will play a big role in determining the outcome of this one. We’ll see how things go on Sunday Night Football.