Plenty of blame to go around following Eagles’ embarrassing Week 1 loss to Washington | 6 observations

After jumping out to a 17-point lead, a brutal second-half collapse by Carson Wentz and the Eagles’ offense led to a 27-17 loss to the Washington Football Team on Sunday at FedEx Field.

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The Eagles allowed an inferior team to sneak back into and take over a game that they didn’t belong in. Wentz was routinely beaten up behind a makeshift offensive line, but the quarterback wasn’t blameless for the epic meltdown. He was inaccurate and looked lost throughout the majority of the second half.

After defeating Washington six consecutive times over the past three years, the Eagles are now the ones with the series losing streak. This one will sting for quite a while.

Here are six observations from the Eagles’ 27-17 loss to Washington:

The second-half meltdown on offense was worrisome

The Eagles got off to an incredible start, emerging with a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. However, following the initial surge, the team crumbled and couldn’t get its head back above water. Wentz was off throughout the majority of the afternoon, and the offensive line let him down routinely as well. With the early effort of the defense wasted, that unit eventually fell apart as well.

Overall, it was a pathetic second-half effort from the entire team.

Wentz has a tale of two halves

Wentz came out on fire to start the game. He completed 12-of-15 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns. Then, he went 10-of-24 for 79 yards and two interceptions. The quarterback was largely the issue on Sunday, and as much as apologists will blame the offensive line, Wentz owns a very big part of the blame for Sunday’s embarrassment.

He finished 24-of-42 (57.1%) for 270 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Frankly, the numbers are nice in comparison to the optics.

Makeshift offensive line falters

Wentz was sacked a career-high eight times on Sunday. The unit had two first-time starters, right guard Nate Herbig and rookie right tackle Jack Driscoll. While the group had a strong first two drives, communication issues sparked almost immediately afterward. The blitz attempts by Washington got home with regularity and Wentz was hit 14 times overall. In the third quarter, Driscoll was forced to leave the game and Australian import Jordan Mailata was asked to enter the game at right tackle. He didn’t play well, either.

New secondary is an improvement

While the offense struggled, for the most part, the Eagles’ new secondary showed up. The group only allowed 178 passing yards and a touchdown to Washington QB Dwayne Haskins on Sunday.

Terry McLaurin, who dominated the Eagles’ secondary last season, was held to just five catches for 61 yards against new No. 1 cornerback Darius Slay. Avonte Maddox, Nickell Robey-Coleman, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Jalen Mills and Rodney McLeod all had nice plays in coverage. Eventually, though, the group was on the field for too long in the second half and allowed some passing plays down the stretch.

The pass rush is there, despite a plethora of injuries

The Eagles were able to get to Haskins, despite their several injuries on the defensive line. The group lost defensive ends Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry in the second half, but still produced three sacks during the afternoon. Defensive end Josh Sweat and defensive tackles Fletcher Cox and Malik Jackson all forced regular pressure.

Running game without Miles Sanders leaves a lot to be desired

The running game never seemed to get going on Sunday, and that didn’t really help Wentz during his disastrous performance. The trio of Corey Clement, Boston Scott and Jason Huntley produced just 55 rushing yards on 16 carries. The offensive line deserves some blame here too, but it was clear the Eagles were missing Sanders’ dynamic ability as well.

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