5 Bright spots in an ugly Week 1 loss for the Philadelphia Eagles

Josh Sweat made an impact for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The score won’t tell the full story, but the Eagles’ defense played as good a game as you could hope for. They only struggled when the Eagles’ offense gave Washington’s offense great field position.

One of the most impressive guys on that side of the ball had to be Josh Sweat. Most of Philadelphia, including the ITI staff, has been calling for Sweat to start over Derek Barnett.

With Barnett hurt for the opener, that happened and Sweat made his first career start. He certainly didn’t disappoint. Sweat got around the edge to record a strip-sack on Haskins on a third and four at the start of the second half. He also added three tackles and two more hits on the quarterback. He was pressuring Haskins and getting in his face all day. Geron Christian didn’t stand much of a chance.

Sweat’s production was similar to that of Barnett’s in 2019, but he just didn’t play as many snaps since he was a sophomore who took his whole first year adjusting to the new scheme. Sweat also has a bit more size than Barnett and definitely more athleticism in the snaps we’ve seen from both of them. We’ll have to wait and see how he plays against better competition at tackle but this was encouraging, to say the least.