Philadelphia Eagles: 2 Ways to contain Aaron Donald in Week 2

2. Better playcalling by the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach should do the trick.

There was a lot of blame being thrown around after the loss to Washington on Sunday and head coach Doug Pederson was the recipient of a lot of the backlash. The Eagles finally had speed at the wide receiver position and it was clear that Pederson wanted to take advantage of that fact with deep passes. The issue, however, is that Wentz simply didn’t have enough time to let these deep routes develop.

Quick passes should be the name of the game for this offense moving forward. After all, there are other ways to take advantage of speed on the outside. Bubble screens (with someone other than a tight end) on the outside can spark a drive, and quick breaking routes can get receivers the ball in space. Donald won’t be able to sack Wentz if the ball is already out of his hands.

“Wham” runs are tricky but can be very effective. Essentially, the offensive line would leave Donald unblocked momentarily and a tight end would motion in and block Donald at the last second, creating a path for the running back to run through.

“Trap” runs are a similar concept except a guard would be responsible for blocking Donald. The hope in this play is that the Eagles would be able to use Aaron Donald’s aggression and speed against him in these types of plays.

As good as these screen passes and “gimmick” runs are, it’s imperative that the Eagles use them in moderation. They can be used to jump-start a drive, but a smart player like Donald will be able to easily diagnose the play if he has seen it before. It’s impossible to completely stop a player like Donald from impacting the game, but there are ways to contain him.