Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/24/22.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Before trade to Eagles, A.J. Brown called this MLB team about becoming the next Bo Jackson - Delaware Online
“I was dead serious,” Brown told Delaware Online/The News Journal about playing baseball. “(The Padres) had reached out to me. They were about to invite me to spring training. They were just waiting on an answer from me.” But there was one snag. Brown said the Padres weren’t interested in him becoming the next dual-sport star like Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders, playing baseball until late summer before switching over to football. “They were telling me if I’m (still) going to play football, then I can’t play baseball,” Brown said. “I can’t just play around with (baseball). So it kind of killed my chances for the moment.” “Who knows?” Brown added. “Maybe when I’m done playing football, I’ll go play baseball.”

Eagles Mailbag: The Jalen Hurts Punitentiary Experiment - BGN
Using “Hurts so good” is just lazy now, which is kind of funny because Jalen Hurts is so good right now. The expiration date on anything being cool is when a corporate or in this case team social media account starts to use something. The Eagles have used “Hurts so good” along with “Slay so much it Hurts” which is advocating doing a lot of murdering, “hit ‘em where it Hurts” which is just obvious, and “the truth Hurts” which is a bad situation to be in. So we can retire those. I think the only title, phrase, saying, idiom, expression, etc. that has “hurt” or “hurts” in it that hasn’t and won’t be done to death is “Everybody Hurts.” This one feels safe because A) it doesn’t really make any sense unless say, he throws a TD to the entire starting lineup, but more importantly B) the phrase immediately brings to mind Michael Stipe taking three seconds a syllable to sing “everybody hurts” and, if you’re old enough to remember the music video, sitting in traffic. No one wants to remember sitting in traffic.

Eye on the Enemy #108: Jamual Forrest joins to talk Eagles-Commanders Week 3 + Carson Wentz’ performance thus far - BGN Radio
John Stolnis talked with Jamual Forrest of Hogs Haven to preview this week’s game, Carson Wentz’ performance thus far, their defensive issues, and Washington concerns about keeping up with the Eagles offense. Also, John shares his thoughts on all the Wentz-Hurts articles out there right now, as well as a prediction.

Game Preview – PHI at WAS - Iggles Blitz
Washington has invested heavily in its DL, but DE Chase Young is still out. He’s the best player so being without him really hurts. Some of the backups are hurt so depth is a real issue. The Eagles would be smart to go with tempo to see if they can wear down the DL. If that group slows down, the back seven is very vulnerable. While the defense has struggled, they do lead the NFL in QB hits. They can pressure the passer, usually relying on blitzes to help them with Young out. The Eagles OL should win most of the battles, but blitzes and stunts are always an X-factor. The Eagles OL must be smart, be aware and communicate well to handle the DL’s games. Run defense has been a real issue. Washington is allowing 7.5 yards per carry. And that’s not some weird stat that needs context. They are 28th in the league in rushing yards allowed. Detroit had a lot of success running right up the middle (and that was with a banged up OL). We don’t have a lot of tape to study, but I’ve not been impressed with the LBs at all. I think the Eagles would be wise to attack the middle of the field, with the run and the pass. Send Miles Sanders and Boston Scott up the middle on runs. Throw the ball to Dallas Goedert. Work the middle.

In Roob’s observations: A hidden advantage Eagles may have Sunday - NBCSP
1. Washington has a few terrific defensive linemen in tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen and edge Montez Sweat. But one thing they don’t have up front is depth. Payne has played 82 percent of Washington’s defensive snaps, Allen 81 percent and Sweat 79 percent. Those are astronomical figures at a position where most teams rotate a bunch of guys on and off the field. The Eagles, for example, don’t have a lineman that’s played 65 percent of the snaps. Washington’s lack of depth up front forces them to play Payne, Allen and Sweat way more than they probably want to. That could give the Eagles a big advantage late in the game Sunday because their offensive line can really wear down that Washington d-line as the game goes on if those guys are playing that many snaps. Could be a real advantage as we get into the third quarter. We know the Eagles love to go tempo and they’re very good at it. They’ve run 18 no-huddle snaps in each of their first two games – that’s 27 percent of their plays – and out of eight possessions in which they’ve run at least two no-huddle snaps, they’ve scored six touchdowns (along with an unsuccessful 4th down and a blocked field goal). What better way to attack a d-line that’s playing too many snaps and could be gassed by the second half than by going up-tempo and really trying to take it to that defensive front with the best o-line in the league? I’d expect a ton of tempo from the Eagles Sunday at FedEx.

Eagles-Commanders preview: Matchups, storylines to watch, game predictions - The Athletic
Wulf: I’m with you. I think Washington’s offense will have success. But I also think Gannon’s philosophy of limiting big plays and forcing the opposing offense to remain patient and precise is sort of the perfect plan of attack against Wentz. Maybe Washington will spring a big play or two from Wentz’s aggressiveness, but it’s hard to believe the Eagles’ defense won’t also be able to create a big play from a mistake. Meanwhile, I think the Eagles’ offense is going to roll. They should be able to run at will, and if Hurts plays about 80 percent as well as he did the first two weeks, they should be just fine. Eagles 31, Commanders 20

NFL Week 3 picks, schedule, odds, injuries, stats, fantasy tips - ESPN
Bold prediction: Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts will rush for 100-plus yards. The Commanders are last in the NFL in yards allowed per rush at 7.5. (The Eagles’ defense is second worst, by the way, at 6.2.) That’s not the kind of vulnerability you want when facing an Eagles team that led the league in rushing a year ago and ranks second in that category (379 yards) through two games this season. Hurts’ only 100-yard rushing game to date came in his first career start (against the Saints in 2020). This is an opportunity to do it again

NFL Week 3 bold predictions: Colts upset Chiefs; Darius Slay keeps balling with pick-six - NFL.com
Darius Slay had arguably the best game of his career in Week 2 with five passes defensed and a pair of interceptions against the Justin Jefferson-led Vikings, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. He is indeed still playing “at an elite level.” Slay follows up that awesome effort with a pick-six off Carson Wentz in a decisive Eagles victory over the Commanders. It’s the third pick-six of the veteran cornerback’s career.

Spadaro: Offensive line braces for Washington’s best - PE.com
Lane Johnson is holding court, brushing off questions about the significance of the Eagles playing their former quarterback on Sunday. The answer has consistently been, “It’s a storyline for the fans, not the players and coaches. Johnson says that nobody is making this game out to be anything other than what it is, an NFC East game in a stadium that seems to always bring strange moments and focusing instead on what he always focuses on: A Washington front seven that can take control of a game. “They’re very good,” Johnson said. “Montez Sweat, I feel like he’s a little bit bigger this year. Really good on the edge and then obviously the interior is probably the strength of their defense with (Daron) Payne and (Jonathan) Allen. Payne is playing out of his mind right now, so it will be a tough matchup. They’ve got an active linebacker crew, too, so they’ve always been pretty good up front and it’s always been a good fight for us.” It’s going to be a good fight because that’s just the way it is in this league, and there is no offensive line in the league that keeps its demeanor the same and accepts each week as a new challenge as readily and earnestly as the Eagles’ group under Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland. Johnson and his linemates have a remarkable ability to flatline their emotions and stay focused on the moment, and it’s one of the many reasons they are so good.

Washington Commanders vs Philadelphia Eagles Preview: 3 matchups to watch - Hogs Haven
Coach Nick Sirianni loves to keep things simple for Philly’s offense. Jalen Hurts has attempted nearly 50% of his passes between 0-9 yards, with a clear emphasis on getting the ball out quickly and taking advantage of the litany of athletes along the perimeter. Washington’s secondary has been abysmal to start this season. With a clear lack of close-out burst and speed, inability to consistently take care of the fundamentals (out-leveraged on a consistent basis), and constant issues with communication, the Commanders must be on their p’s and q’s in order to slow down what Sirianni dials up. Another thing this secondary struggles with is tackling. From angles to the actual art of tackling itself, if Philadelphia sticks to their gameplan and forces Washington’s DBs to come up and make a tackle, there will be ample opportunity for five-yard passes to turn into 50-yard scores. This game may come down to effort in the tackling department, and if the Eagles can get out in space with their multitude of high-level athletes, look out. This one could get ugly.

Jerry Jones tries to explain why the Cowboys traded Amari Cooper - Blogging The Boys
There is essentially no solution for this, because Jerry has made it obvious he will not sell the team as long as he lives, and there is no reason to think Stephen and his siblings would do so in the not too distant future. The family is likely to treat the most valuable franchise in the NFL the way they always have, as an operation they stay deeply involved in running day-to-day despite them really having no qualifications outside of learning on the job. And they don’t appear to have learned the right lessons at all. Frustration is here to stay.

SB Nation Reacts: Are Giants’ fans beginning to believe in Daniel Jones? - Big Blue View
Being 2-0 appears to be bringing out a softer, gentler side of New York Giants fans — at least temporarily — when it comes to their view of often-scorned quarterback Daniel Jones. Asked this week if they approved of the way Jones had played during victories over the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers, 68 percent of voters in our weekly ‘SB Nation Reacts’ poll said they approved of Jones’ performance in those games.

Report: Josh McCown’s son Owen to start for Colorado Saturday - PFT
Josh McCown started games for six NFL teams during his playing career and his son Owen is reportedly set to make his first college start on Saturday. Brian Howell of the Boulder Daily Camera reports that the younger McCown will start for the University of Colorado when they take on UCLA. McCown reportedly took the majority of the first team snaps for the Buffaloes in practice this week.

Establish the Fun: Talanoa Hufanga is a menace and other things to watch in Week 3 - SB Nation
Welcome back to Establish the Fun, where football is fun and I would like to ... well ... establish that! I’m still working on the intro, please be patient with me. Week 2 gave us some amazing comebacks and insane wild, like the Tua renaissance game, the Jaguars simply owning the entire city of Indianapolis and the Justin Herbert “Put the team on his back like Greg Jennings in Madden” moment. All will probably make the video that explains what happened in the 2022 season by the end of the year. However, we move on to Week 3, and with that, more cool things and cool players I enjoyed that you need to watch out for.

Steelers at Browns Reaction, Pick 3, & Week 3 Preview - The SB Nation NFL Show
Rob “Stats” Guerrera, RJ Ochoa, and Brandon Lee Gowton discuss the Steelers’ Thursday night loss to the Browns to kick things off. Pittsburgh might need to turn to Kenny Pickett sooner than they initially thought. We’ve got a fresh ‘Pick 3’ to help you win some money ahead of this week’s NFL action–and we preview each and every Week 3 matchup across the NFL.

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Welcome back, loser

Carson Wentz will play the Eagles for the first time on Sunday. You may have heard about it.

“Revenge” games against the Eagles are usually served ice cold

If history is any indication, Sunday will not go well for Carson Wentz. Returning QBs have not played well against the Eagles. It helps the Eagles that they’ve been a pretty good team throughout the years, players don’t tend to play well against good teams.

Here is how former Eagles QBs have fared when facing the Eagles for the first time, and in some cases the second time, after playing for the Eagles.

Donovan McNabb was victorious as Washington beat the Eagles 17-12 in 2010 in Philadelphia. But he played terribly, going 8-19 for 125 yards and a TD and INT. It was his worst passer rating of that season. Later in the year at home against the Eagles he threw three interceptions in the 59-28 beat down the Eagles gave Washington on Monday Night Football.

Sam Bradford lost 21-10 in Philly less than two months after being traded to the Vikings in 2016. Like McNabb, he also had the worst passer rating of his season after going 24-41 for 224 yards, his lowest yards per attempt and completion percentage of the year. Fittingly he threw a garbage time TD on the penultimate play of the game.

Randall Cunningham came off the bench for the Cowboys in the Pickle Juice Game to start the season in 2000, losing 41-14. He went 13-26 with a TD and an INT. He also started and lost to the Eagles 16-13 later that season, throwing an interception and he was sacked three times.

Doug Pederson lost 35-24 in 2000 while with the Browns. He threw 40 attempts, which as you can imagine was a career high. That game constituted 8% of his career attempts. He was picked off twice and fumbled three times. The following week would be the final start of his career that lasted four more seasons.

Mark Sanchez never started against the Eagles after playing for them but he did come off the bench for both Dallas in 2016 and Washington in 2018, combining for no TDs and three INTs.

AJ Feely went 1-5 with a sack off the bench in 2011 for the Rams, they were the first passes he threw in a competitive game since his second stint with the Eagles in 2007.

Jeff Garcia, Mike Vick, and Nick Foles never faced the Eagles, though Foles potentially could later this season.

Only one QB this millennia had success both in the win column and with their performance.

It was Kevin Kolb.

Kolb missed his first potential matchup with the Eagles in 2011 due to injury. In 2012 he and the Cardinals beat the Eagles 27-6, the third of their four straight wins to start the season. They would finish the season 5-11. Kolb completed 17 of 24 passes for 222 yards and two TDs with no turnovers. He could have had more but the Cardinals raced out to a 24 point lead and spent nearly the entire fourth quarter running the ball. It was the first loss for Andy Reid in 2012. The beginning of the end of the Andy Reid era was brought to you by Kevin Kolb. Go figure.

Don’t let football distract from how toxic the WASTEAM organization is

We know that the Washington Football Team Commanders are a deeply messed up organization since Dan Snyder took over the team. We know this. We know about the stale peanuts, the stale beer, the liquid that may or may not have been sewage that fell on fans, how they brought in a guy who isn’t a Native American to pretend to be a Native American who wasn’t offended by the name “Redskins”, the mugs with the Washington logo on top of a silhouette of the state of Washington. These are standard issue gaffes for this franchise.

But things have gotten worse in recent years, and we’re not even going to get into the lawsuits against Dan Snyder, though the effects of those probably play a role.

One of Ron Rivera’s first hires in 2020 was trainer Ryan Vermillion, who worked with Rivera in Carolina. New coach brings over a training staff member he’s known for a while? What could go wrong? Plenty.

In August Vermillion agreed to a deal with the DEA for illegally dispensing oxycodone to players while with Washington.

Prior to that, defensive coordinator Jack del Rio was fined $100,000 for saying that the January 6 attack on the US Capitol was just “a dust up.” Five people died in that dust up.

Oh.

In August of 2020 Washington hired Jason Wright as team president. After a career as a backup RB for the Falcons, Browns, and Cardinals, Wright got his MBA and then worked for McKinsey, a company infamous for allegedly fixing bread prices to screw over poor people. That’s the kind of background you need to work for Dan Snyder. He’s doing a bang up job.

Under Wright the team has had both of their name changes leaked and screwed up the dates on their own logo.

Wright claimed that the team is doing such a great job selling suites that other teams are calling them up and asking them what they are doing. Yeah that totally happened.

Earlier this year a reporter said to Carson Wentz “Philly didn’t want you, Indy didn’t want you. Do you think this is your last chance to prove you can be a starting quarterback in the NFL?” This is a completely fair question to ask a QB on his third team in as many years. Jim Irsay put out a weird video all but apologizing for letting his team trade for Wentz. It’s absolutely fair game to ask Wentz that question. Wright called the exchange a “childlike provocation” and directly threatened to revoke the reporter’s physical access to the team.

The NBA has forced out Robert Sarver, which will only put more pressure on the NFL to get Snyder to sell the team. Appreciate how poorly this team is run from top to bottom while you can.

Stat of the Week That May Only Interest Me

So the Eagles, who have put up over 450 yards in both games this season, still have big parts of the playbook left to get to. LOL.

Top 5 Musicians from DC

1. Ian MacKaye

2. Marvin Gaye

3. Duke Ellington

4. Henry Rollins

5. Ginuwine

Keep an eye on these NFL Draft prospects.

Another full weekend of college football to watch and quite a few talented players will be on the field. Here are some names to watch.

• Bryan Bresee, DT, Clemson v. Wake Forest (12 PM ET on ABC): Clemson has quite a few NFL draft prospects in their front seven and Bryan Bresee might be the best of the bunch. The athletic interior defender will have a great chance to show how disruptive he can be against an explosive Wake Forest offense.
• Xavier Hutchinson, WR, Iowa State v. Baylor (12 PM ET on ESPN2): ISU is off to a 3-0 start this year and Xavier Hutchinson has been key to that early success. The senior receiver has caught 28 passes through three games and scored five times, which is an absurd amount of volume. Hutchinson will be relied on against Baylor’s stingy defense to give ISU the upset.
• Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida v. Tennessee (3:30 PM ET on CBS): Anthony Richardson has yet to really take off this season, but every week feels like the week he could do it. You can’t blame people for wondering when the big armed, athletic quarterback will start taking over games, but he really has yet to turn that corner. Florida’s showdown with Tennessee will be instructive. If Richardson fails to perform, the ship might sail on him as a legitimate quarterback prospect this year.
• Nick Herbig, LB, Wisconsin v. Ohio State (7:30 PM ET on ABC): Wisconsin sent some quality linebackers to the NFL last year and it’s Nick Herbig’s turn to step into the spotlight on Wisconsin’s defense. Herbig is a speedy, versatile linebacker that can blitz with the best of them. Herbig has 13 sacks in his last 16 games and will continue to be a difference maker on the Badger defense. He will need a great game to help Wisconsin against Ohio State’s high powered and balanced offense.
• Marvin Mims, WR, Oklahoma v. Kansas State (8 PM ET on Fox): Marvin Mims has been a difference maker since he stepped onto the field at Oklahoma. In his junior season, he and Dillon Gabriel have formed one of the more dangerous QB-WR combos in the country. Mims is averaging an absurd 22 yards per catch and his big play ability will be needed for four quarters against an undefeated KSU team.
• Asa Turner, S, Washington v. Stanford (10:30 PM ET on FS1): Another year, another Washington defensive back bound for the NFL. Asa Turner has been a difference maker when on the field for Washington, but has missed significant time over his career with injuries. If he can get back on the field against Stanford after missing last week’s game against MSU, he will be worth a watch.

Week 3 game status updates.

The Philadelphia Eagles issued their third and final official injury report on Friday in advance of their Week 3 game against the Washington Commanders.

For the first time all season, the Eagles are entering a game with at least one player listed with a game designation.

Starting left guard Landon Dickerson is QUESTIONABLE to play this week.

Dickerson did not participate in Friday’s practice due to a foot injury.

For what it’s worth, the sense here is that the team isn’t overly concerned about Dickerson missing this week’s game. Still, it’ll certainly be worth monitoring if he’s listed among the inactives on Sunday morning.

If Dickerson can’t play, the Eagles would likely start Sua Opeta in his place. Opeta brings some experience to the table; he’s logged four starts in 20 games played during his NFL career.

Quez Watkins, Haason Reddick, and Avonte Maddox are all good to play after being limited on Thursday.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES INJURY REPORT (FRIDAY)

QUESTIONABLE

OG Landon Dickerson (foot)

...

RESERVE/INJURED

OT Andre Dillard
DE Derek Barnett
TE Jaedan Graham
WR Greg Ward

From this group, Dillard is eligible to be activated as soon as Week 5. Barnett is out for the year due to the nature of his ACL injury. Ward and Graham are out for the year since they went on IR before roster cuts to 53.

RESERVE/PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO PERFORM

TE Tyree Jackson
T/G Brett Toth

Jackson and Toth are eligible to be activated as soon as Week 5.

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS INJURY REPORT (FRIDAY)

A fortunate development for the Eagles if Dickerson DOES miss the game (or if he doesn’t) is that the Commanders are thin on their defensive line.

Star pass rusher Chase Young is missing this game since he’s on the PUP list until at least Week 5. His replacement, James Smith-Williams, is listed as questionable to play after being limited on Thursday and Friday. JSW did say he will be OK play but we’ll see. Rotational contributors Casey Toohill and Daniel Wise are both OUT.

OUT

DE Casey Toohill (concussion)
DE Daniel Wise (ankle)

QUESTIONABLE

DE James Smith-Williams (abdominal)
LB David Mayo (ankle)

...

RESERVE/INJURED

OG Willie Beavers
TE Curtis Hodges
DT Phidarian Mathis
C Chase Roullier

RESERVE/PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO PERFORM

C Tyler Larsen
DE Chase Young

RESERVE/NON-FOOTBALL INJURY

RB Brian Robinson

Carson Wentz may have had his problems in Philadelphia during his last season as an Eagle in 2020, but the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft is still a very viable, talented quarterback and his former team will see that this Sunday when the Eagles face the Washington Commanders at 1 p.m. at FedEx Field.

Wentz is No. 2 in the NFL in passing (650 yards) behind Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (740) and third overall in total yards (685) behind Tagovailoa (740) and Jalen Hurts (723) over two games.

On Monday against Minnesota’s passive shell defense that dared him to throw, Hurts became the first player in NFL history to throw for over 300 yards (333) with a completion percentage above 80% (83.9%) and score two rushing touchdowns in the same game.

While Hurts continues to build an MVP year, Wentz has quietly had success of his own. The Eagles lead the NFL in offense, averaging 470.5 yards a game, second in rushing (189.5 yards/game, behind Cleveland’s 200.5), first in average yards-per-catch (9.1) and, more importantly, second in third-down efficiency (converting 17/30 for 56.7%, behind league-leading Buffalo’s 14/23 for 60.9%), Washington—under Wentz—has done well in critical areas, too.

The Commanders are third in the league in third-down efficiency, and Wentz and the Commanders have been perfect in the red zone this season, converting all five of their red zone opportunities. Wentz’s best down has come on third down, where he’s completed 17 of 21, for 212 yards and a 148.3 quarterback rating.

Though Wentz has always had a penchant to struggle at certain points in games. He’s a frontrunner. When things are going well, he plays well. In the Commanders’ 36-27 loss at Detroit, Washington punted on five of their six first-half possessions, with the other drive resulting in a safety. He’s good at playing from behind or playing with a big lead. He’ll make mistakes. Washington has a chance, only if the Eagles turn the ball over.

Against Detroit, Washington left tackle Charles Leno and right tackle Sam Cosmi had their hands full with Lions’ first-round pick Aidan Hutchinson, who had three sacks and three hurries. Wentz was under a lot of pressure. That will be the Eagles’ plan: Force Wentz to play faster and that will force his mechanics to deteriorate.

Wentz would love to hand his former team their first loss of the season.

He’s capable.

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written features for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, and his breaking story on Carson Wentz for PhillyVoice on January 21, 2019. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

The Eagles head coach also took responsibility for the Jalen Hurts to Kenny Gainwell pass that was picked off in Week 2.

Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni spoke with reporters on Friday ahead of their game against the Commanders, and he talked a lot about how they work on pairing explosive plays with protecting the football.

Sirianni was asked how they allow Jalen Hurts to play big, while also trying to mitigate turnovers — the QB has only had one turnover through two games. The head coach said that the two stats, other than wins and losses, that they look at and focus on, are winning the explosive play battle and winning the turnover battle. It takes a lot of work, but those two areas are worked on throughout the week.

The head coach explained that because they put so much work on the fundamentals and keeping the ball safe, they are able to be aggressive without being careless with the ball.

“So, you can be aggressive and still be able to protect the football. As far as the interceptions go, you can be aggressive and still protect the football.

That doesn’t mean careless, though. Yeah, that play’s there, I’m trying to take this deep shot right here. Is it there? No. Check it down. Is it there? Yeah. Got a step, take it.

So, we don’t ever want to freeze him in those scenarios, but hopefully we have done enough to teach him, hey, this is what it looks like when it’s there and here is what it looks like when it’s not there, and let’s move on.”

Sirianni was then asked about the interception from Monday night on a pass from Jalen Hurts to Kenny Gainwell, but the head coach took responsibility for that turnover.

“That was on me. I just felt like I didn’t love the way that looked as far as to the quarterback’s eye and to the running back’s eye.

So, it was a little muddy in there. When it’s muddy, and I knew it could be muddy in there, and so it was something I thought that was 100% on me.

We needed to have a little bit more reps. I had to feel a little bit better about it to call it. That’s a good lesson for me, right, in the sense of if you’re not really convicted on a play or a scheme because of something, the way it looks, then don’t run it and that’s 100% on me.”

As for explosive plays, he’s also expecting the same from the return game. Sirianni later acknowledged that he does pay attention to average field position — the Eagles are last in the league —, and where they’re getting the ball to start a drive. The head coach doesn’t spend too much time on it because he knows it changes throughout the year, but he expects it to get improve.

Other notables

• After watching the defense’s film from Monday night, Sirianni said that Hasson Reddick looks like he’s really close to having a big game. In his experience, sometimes defensive ends need a couple weeks to get warmed up, and then they have a breakout game.
• Sirianni echoed what Shane Steichen said on Thursday about their use of 11 personnel on Monday. That was just the case for the game plan against the Vikings. He did say that when you get hot with something, you stick with it, but that could be any of the personnel groupings in any game.

“So that’s kind of how that’s been. We don’t want to be predictable in anything we do. But then again, we want to put our best players on the field. I think for the most part, we’ve always been more dominant of 11. I don’t want to say by a lot, by significant like we were on Monday night, but we still want to be balanced in that.

That’s just the way that game plan went right there and the way the game shook out.”

The Eagles are 2-0 and riding high after a big win over the Minnesota Vikings. It is easy to feel good about the team and coaching staff heading into a week three match with a vulnerable Washington Commanders team. That being said, there are still some questions about the rookies ahead of Sunday’s showdown.

Does Jordan Davis retain his role?

Jordan Davis saw a bigger workload against the Vikings than he did the week prior. The rookie nose tackle did not log a stat in the Monday night game, but made a clear impact taking up space and creating opportunities for his fellow defenders in the front seven.

Will Davis see a similarly big workload against Washington?

The 1-1 Commanders clearly have their problems, but scoring points has not been one of them. Washington has put up 28 and 27 points in the last two weeks and shown explosive potential in the passing game with seven touchdowns coming through the air. The Eagles might prioritize slowing down the passing game, so that leaves into question what kind of playing time Davis gets when conventional wisdom slots him in as a run defender.

Sunday’s game should give everyone a great idea of how they see Davis at this stage in his career.

Is there room for Nakobe Dean on this defense?

Nakobe Dean has seen single digit snaps on defense over the last two weeks combined. Hard to imagine back in spring that Dean would be a backup on any defense in the NFL, let alone a team that was so linebacker-starved as the Eagles.

The new reality is that the Eagles have a fine group of linebackers between TJ Edwards, Kyzir White and Haason Reddick. Jonathan Gannon clearly wants dependable veterans in the middle of the defense instead of taking chances on a rookie, no matter how talented that rookie might be.

These things can always change, Dean can work his way into the lineup over the course of the season with strong practices. His skill set fits well into the new defensive philosophy of versatility and aggressiveness. However, there just doesn’t seem to be much room for him to get meaningful snaps at this point.

Washington’s offense is different from Minnesota’s which was different from Detroit’s and Gannon seems intent on crafting lineups and snap counts to the nature of the opponent. So maybe there is something about what Washington wants to do on offense that could get Dean on the field more.

And is Jeff Stoutland the GOAT?

In honor of one of the questions in this mailbag I’m pulling out a cliche: you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

What is a pun for Jalen Hurt’s name that hasn’t been rinsed to death yet? - Lonis

Using “Hurts so good” is just lazy now, which is kind of funny because Jalen Hurts is so good right now. The expiration date on anything being cool is when a corporate or in this case team social media account starts to use something. The Eagles have used “Hurts so good” along with “Slay so much it Hurts” which is advocating doing a lot of murdering, “hit ‘em where it Hurts” which is just obvious, and “the truth Hurts” which is a bad situation to be in. So we can retire those.

I think the only title, phrase, saying, idiom, expression, etc. that has “hurt” or “hurts” in it that hasn’t and won’t be done to death is “Everybody Hurts.” This one feels safe because A) it doesn’t really make any sense unless say, he throws a TD to the entire starting lineup, but more importantly B) the phrase immediately brings to mind Michael Stipe taking three seconds a syllable to sing “everybody hurts” and, if you’re old enough to remember the music video, sitting in traffic. No one wants to remember sitting in traffic.

Not technically a question but I’m going to mailbag a larger response:

I think he’s the best assistant coach in Eagles history. I’d rank the top 5 assistant coaches as follows:

1. Jeff Stoutland, offensive line 2013-present

I give Stoutland the top spot because he has both peak with a Super Bowl ring and longevity as he’s on his third head coach and offensive line is not a coaching position that tends to have a high level of job security when there is a head coaching change. Look around the league at position coaches who have been around much longer than their head coach and you’re probably looking at a running back or tight end coach. Stoutland keeps producing elite offensive line play and developing player after player. It feels like the only reason Jeff Stoutland will stop being the Eagles offensive line coach is because Jeff Stoutland decides he doesn’t want to be the Eagles offensive line coach.

2. Jim Johnson, defensive coordinator 1999-2008

If you want to make the argument that Johnson should have the top spot, you’ll get little resistance from me. Andy Reid is going to the Hall of Fame and is the only true QB guru coach in the league, and yet the best unit of his Eagles teams was the defense. Johnson had some great players to work with, but he also got a rotating cast of supporting players. During his tenure the Eagles blew through linebackers, the defensive line was always in flux, and in the four straight NFC Championship Game run from 2001-2004 he had four different starting secondaries. Change never stopped Johnson.

3. Marion Campbell, defensive coordinator 1977-1982

Find a really good Eagles team and you’ll find a really good defense. When the Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 1980 Dick Vermeil, Ron Jaworski, Harold Carmichael, and Wilbert Montgomery were the headliners, but their defense led the league in scoring. From 1977-1981 Marion Campbell had the Eagles top 10 in scoring defense and were #1 back to back. He had a good core of players but other than Charlie Johnson and Bill Bergey didn’t have any stars. He just kept putting out really good defense after really good defense. As a head coach he was terrible, but as an assistant he was top notch.

4. John Harbaugh, special teams 1998-2006, defensive backs 2007

Andy Reid inherited Harbaugh and then spent eight years giving him an ever changing cast of players and asking Harbaugh to give him a good special teams unit out of them. And he did. In those eight seasons he had eight different players return double digit punts or kicks, to say nothing of the churn of coverage unit players. If teams weren’t afraid to hire special teams coordinators as coaches he would have been hired sooner, as evidenced by being hired one year after being a defensive backs coach.

5. Jon Gruden, offensive coordinator 1995-1997

I could go a few ways for the fifth spot. I give it to Gruden because might have done more with less than anyone in consideration here. He got the Eagles offense to punch above its weight, in 1996 the Eagles were 9th in scoring, 10th in DVOA, and 4th in passing yards despite being 12th in attempts, his QBs were Rodney Peete and Ty Detmer, they threw to Chris Jones and 34 year old Irving Fryar. In 1997 Bobby Hoying threw 11 TDs to 6 INTs to end the season. It seems ridiculous now but heading into the 1998 season he was seen as an up and coming potential starting QB. But Gruden had left to become Raiders head coach that offseason. Bobby Hoying never threw a TD for the rest of his career.

Honorable mentions: Jim Schwartz, who won the Super Bowl; Bud Carson, who had great defenses but also a ton of talent to work with and Buddy Ryan ahead of him on the depth chart; and Juan Castillo, who did a great job as an offensive line coach and a terrible one as a defensive coordinator. I’ll also point out that the Eagles have employed Sid Gillman, Wade Phillips, Dick LeBeau, Jeff Fisher, Tom Coughlin, Bill Callahan, Ron Rivera, and Ted Marchibroda at various points in their coaching careers, who all had successful assistant or head coaching careers.

How much Eagles gear is too much in a wedding? - Tyler R.

If you’re not going to be able to kiss your bride or groom then you’re wearing too much. Other than that, it’s your wedding, do what you want, though I’d stay away from face paint.

If you want to go all out, here are some tips (do not take this advice):

-Get married in the Jetro lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if this has been done before.

-Have your food and drink like a tailgate, you’ll save money on a bartender by having a keg. Actually if done right that could be a pretty cool wedding. Damn, I am mad I didn’t think of that for mine.

-Walk down the aisle to the Eagles fight song, sung by everyone in attendance.

-Instead of a bridal veil go with a helmet with a full cage face mask.

-Have the bridesmaids wear Eagles varsity jackets like Princess Diana. Have the groomsmen in jerseys, if you have five groomsmen you can either go all offensive line or all skill position players.

-Have your vows on an Andy Reid-sized playsheet, or have the best man or maid of honor hold up play cards like Chip Kelly used.

-The bouquet has to be snapped to the bride before being tossed.

-Have whoever officiates the wedding say “time’s yours” instead of “I now pronounce you…”

-Have a recording of Merrill Reese saying “IT’S GOOOOOOOD!!!!!!” when the bride and groom (or bride and bride or groom and groom) kiss. Maybe for the right price he’ll officiate?

Seriously though, midnight green would be a really good accent color for a wedding.

Which Eagle would you want as your cornhole partner? - Tyler M.

I’m taking Gardner Minshew for two reasons. One, you need a consistent, soft, accurate, arcing toss to excel at cornhole. That’s kind of the passer that Minshew is. He’s not going to try to rifle it in there.

But more importantly, when the Jaguars took Minshew in the 2019 draft… he was playing cornhole.

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/23/22.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Hurts wows teammates with his powerful running style - NBCSP
Hurts rushed for 57 yards on Monday night and he dragged defenders across the goal line on both of his touchdown scores. Through two games, Hurts has 28 rushing attempt for 147 yards and 3 touchdowns. What’s even more impressive, though, is how he’s doing it. According to ProFootballFocus, Hurts has 105 rushing yards after contact. That ranks 12th in the NFL among all players and first among quarterbacks by a wide margin: Jalen Hurts: 105, Josh Allen: 45, Justin Fields: 38, Carson Wentz: 37, Daniel Jones: 35, Kyler Murray: 34, Lamar Jackson: 34. “He’s a strong guy,” DeVonta Smith said. “When he does run the ball, he’s explosive.” A lot of it is determination, but pure strength likely plays a role too. Hurts was a competitive powerlifter in high school and was seen in a video before the 2021 season deadlifting an incredible 620 pounds.

Looking back on the Jalen Hurts and Carson Wentz relationship - BGN
“It was like you were back in high school with the cool kids table and the nerds table,” someone very close to the situation put it a few years ago. “Carson was the captain of the cool kids table. He’d treat Jalen, really one of the best guys you would ever want to meet, like he wasn’t there. Jalen did his work. He kept his head down and paid attention. The other guy wasn’t about to lift a finger to help him. What made us all laugh was he just got a boatload of cash. Why was he so insecure about Jalen? The other part of the problem was everyone liked Jalen. Not so much the other guy.”

Breaking down Eagles big win over Vikings + Previewing Week 3 matchup against Carson Wentz’s Commanders - BGN Radio
The Eagles are 2-0! Brandon Lee Gowton and Jimmy Kempski break down the Birds’ big win over the Vikings. The guys discuss Jalen Hurts’ impressive improvement, Jonathan Ganonn’s adjustments, and more. BLG and Jimmy also preview Philly’s much-anticipated Week 3 matchup against Carson Wentz’s Commanders and make their weekly predictions/NFL picks against the spread.

Mailbag: If Jalen Hurts is the answer at QB, what are the Eagles’ biggest 2023 draft needs? - PhillyVoice
1) Edge rusher: Edge rusher is the Eagles’ biggest long-term need, in my opinion, and it just so happens that the early indications are that it should be a very strong edge rusher draft. In terms of players that the Eagles can count on long-term, they have Josh Sweat, and not much else. Obviously, it is a very important position, and one the Eagles are more than willing to spend premium draft resources on.

Game Review – PHI 24, MIN 7 - Iggles Blitz
Hurts threw one INT. It was a screen pass that Kenny Gainwell bobbled and it went to a LB. Hurts threw a catchable pass. I thought he made a poor decision to throw the ball. The Eagles were up 24-7. There was 8:18 left in the game. The Eagles were at their own 24. You have to be smart in that situation. Think risk/reward. Gainwell had a DT right on him. Hurts had to throw the ball awkwardly to get it to him. Gainwell should have made the catch. No one disputes that. I just think the smart play would have been for Hurts to just run for a couple of yards and keep the clock running. Instead, the Vikings got the ball deep in Eagles territory and could have really changed the game.

NFL Week 3: Top anytime TD props - PFF
Washington Commanders (+6.5 vs. Philadelphia Eagles (47.5). BET: EAGLES RB MILES SANDERS ANYTIME TD (+130 ON DRAFTKINGS). He’s Getting Plenty Of Usage: After not scoring a single time in all of 2021, Sanders finally snapped his streak, scoring in Week 1. With Jalen Hurts at quarterback, a lot of the rushing game — including stats and touchdowns — is siphoned away. However, Sanders is getting plenty of looks, seeing 15 carries a game to start the year. With those carries, Sanders is averaging nearly six yards a clip. Against the Commanders, who rank 29th in run defense grade, the Eagles are nearly a touchdown favorite in the NFC East showdown. Sanders should get the same opportunities, if not more, and this is a great matchup to again hit pay dirt.

Week 3 NFL Picks Against the Spread - The Ringer
Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Commanders (+6.5). Three times in NFL history has a quarterback thrown for 300-plus yards and rushed for 50-plus yards while completing over 80 percent of his attempts: Lamar Jackson in Week 5 of last season, Josh Allen in the wild-card round of last year’s playoffs, Jalen Hurts on Monday night against the Vikings. That was the best game of Hurts’s career. He was accurate, made plays from inside the pocket and outside the pocket, and was in full command. The Commanders fell behind 22-0 against the Lions before making it close in the second half. When Carson Wentz has had time, he’s connected on some nice throws downfield. When he’s been pressured, it’s gotten ugly. But the biggest issue for Washington is on the other side of the ball. The Commanders defense has had too many miscues. I think Hurts takes advantage. The pick: Eagles (-6.5)

Carson Wentz vs. Eagles: Key questions as he faces his former team for first time - The Athletic
If the DL isn’t stout, good luck. Washington’s linebackers are underwhelming, and 2021 first-round pick Jamin Davis remains a work in progress. There is talent in the secondary, but miscommunications resurfaced after the Lions loss. Back-seven depth is unproven, putting the onus on the starters to improve or … gulp. The potential return of safety Kamren Curl (thumb surgery) after missing the first two games would help greatly in the run game and in coverage against Goedert and slot receivers. The 6-foot-2 Curl is aggressive and offers a bigger body. He’s also not Ronnie Lott. In other words, for a Washington win, it probably needs Carson Wentz thriving in a shootout. Imagine that.

Jonathan Gannon: For defense’s success, it must be one for 11, 11 for one - PE.com
A defense is like a puzzle and it takes every piece to fit just right to make it work. As the Eagles prepare for Sunday’s game at FedEx Field against Washington, Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon took a moment on Thursday to remind everyone of the “one for 11, 11 for one” idea in the wake of Monday night’s dominating performance versus Minnesota. “It’s not just the corners, the nickels, the safeties, the linebackers, all those guys fit in together and what you see is typically what sometimes people don’t realize is, really good cornerback play probably starts with the front. That’s what you saw in this game,” Gannon said of a performance that included the Eagles intercepting three Kirk Cousins passes and limiting Minnesota to 264 total net yards and seven points. “When the front’s rushing and winning at a high level like they were, it just makes the quarterback uncomfortable and sometimes he’s got to throw it before he wants to throw it, or the timing might be knocked off a little bit. “But all 11 are tied together. Our guys understand that and understand that here’s how these calls need to be played so we can win the down. But I thought all our coverage players in the back end had a pretty good game.”

The Gameplan: 3 Keys to beating Philadelphia - Hogs Haven Podcasts
Jamual previews the matchup between Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles with Brandon Lee Gowton and Mark Bullock. Brandon covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SB Nation’s Bleeding Green and Bleeding Green Nation Radio. Mark covers the Washington Commanders by way of detailed film analysis. Mark and Jamual gave their 3 keys to a Commanders victory against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Commanders fans give Terry & Carson a thumbs up, but are pessimistic about Sunday vs. the Eagles - Hogs Haven
After he started Week 1 with two touchdowns, followed by back-to-back interceptions, followed by two more touchdowns to get the win, we heard all about how the Eagles fans and Colts fans had warned us about “the Carson Wentz Experience”. (Meanwhile, the Colts fans watched their team play to an unsatisfying tie that Irsay blamed on the kicker). One week later, the entire team came out flat for the Week 2 game in Detroit; they looked shellshocked. Wentz seemed unprepared for the defense he was facing, and suffered several 3 & out drives en route to a 22-0 halftime deficit. However, he came out in the second half firing, and led the team to 4 touchdowns, including 3 passing scores. Fans were rightly critical of the horrible first half performance, but grudgingly admired the fight on display by the quarterback and the team in the second half, despite the loss.

Jerry Jones cannot stop himself from creating needless attention around the Dallas Cowboys - Blogging The Boys
It would have been very easy for Jerry to say something that praised Rush, offered hope for his performances, and extended support for Dak Prescott as he continues his recovery to ready himself to play for the Cowboys. “Wouldn’t it be something if Cooper played well again? We always want to have as many talented players as possible and so to have another high-caliber quarterback behind Dak Prescott would give us a lot of depth to help us feel comfortable for the rest of the season. This is a contact sport which means injuries happen and it is nice knowing that Cooper provides tremendous insurance for our franchise quarterback.” But that wouldn’t have generated the attention that Jerry is looking to cause with this line. Welcome to the Dallas Cowboys. We’ll see you Monday night.

New York Giants Thursday injury report: Kayvon Thibodeaux, Azeez Ojulari getting closer - Big Blue View
Edge defenders Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari appear to be inching closer to making their season debuts on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys. Thibodeaux (sprained MCL) and Ojulari (calf) have yet to play this season. Both remained listed as limited participants during Thursday’s practice, which was moved inside the Quest Diagnostics Training Center practice bubble by thunderstorms that soaked the practice field. During early portions of practice open to media, though, both players appeared to be ramping up the amount of work they were doing.

Ranking NFL’s worst 2-0 teams since 1981 and where the 2022 Giants land - ESPN+
The New York Giants were not expected to be competitive in 2022, but a surprising 2-0 start has made them one of the league’s undefeated teams. They’re playing better on both sides of the ball, backed by a new coaching staff led by Brian Daboll and his aggressive mentality. Kick a game-tying extra point against Tennessee? Run on third-and-long and punt to give Carolina one more drive? No thank you. The Giants play to win. So why are the Giants only 18th in the Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings? It would be understandable if these ratings included prior data; that’s part of why the Giants are so low in the ESPN FPI ratings, for example. But the DVOA ratings are only based on the first two games, and they don’t even include opponent adjustments this early in the season, so it isn’t an issue of the Giants getting dinged for beating a bad Carolina team and a declining Tennessee squad. It turns out the Giants have been somewhat lucky in escaping with two close wins to start the season. When we drill down to their play-by-play performance with DVOA, we find that the Giants are one of the weakest 2-0 teams we’ve ever measured, going back to 1981.

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The Eagles’ offensive coordinator said that the message to the team is the importance of stay consistent, week-in and week-out.

The Eagles offense had an impressive performance in the first half against he Vikings on Monday, but stalled out a bit in the second half. Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen spoke to reporters on Thursday and talked about what he’s seen from Jalen Hurts and his development, how they plan the running back rotation, and how important Dallas Goedert is to the offense

Here’s what the OC had to say:

On Jalen Hurts

“It doesn’t surprise me at all what he’s doing. He’s continuing to grow every single day, every game. We saw it in the spring. It carried over into training camp. We’re in Week 2, he knows that. And he played well. We have to continue to play well individually, collectively, everybody, coaches included. We have a lot of football ahead of us. We have a heck of a challenge going into Washington, a division opponent. We just have to stay on it.”

Steichen said that anytime someone works on their fundamentals, they’re going to become a better football player, and that’s what they’re seeing from Hurts. He emphasized that they need to continue to work on things and improve, and he’s not a finished product — but that’s true of everyone.

“Shoot, one play that really stood out to me in the game, it was two minute right there at the end and we were trying to throw a shot and we had a check down, he hit Dallas [Goedert] on a check down. He just like was in protection and he threw Dallas a diagonal and it went for 30. But the decision to see it as fast as he did and get that ball, they all synced out of there and it was like, here, ball. I was on the sidelines seeing it unfold and I was like, there’s Dallas. Boom. It was right there, and it went for 30 down the sidelines which got us into a good chunk. Then we hit the seam to get points at the end of the half. That was a heck of a drive by him. Heck of a drive by everybody on that two-minute drive.”

Steichen followed that up and said he thinks that Hurts would have made that same play last year, but with the reps he’s had since then, you see more of those quick decisions.

On the running backs

Steichen gave RB coach Jemel Singleton a lot of credit for doing a good job rotating the three backs — Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, and Kenny Gainwell. He said that it’s a combination of what they have planned going into a game and then feeling out how things are going and what might help the offense.

The OC also talked about the development of Miles Sanders over the years and how he’s been able to cut down his number of negative runs. Steichen explained that it all starts up front with the offensive line, but Sanders has shown patience and vision to hit it and get yards when it’s tight.

“He does a nice job of just sticking his foot in the ground and getting through those voids. It might be an ugly two or three yards, but it’s not a negative run. He’s doing a nice job and we have to continue to do that.”

On Dallas Goedert

“He’s been tremendous. He led the team in receiving yards. I think he had 5 for 82. He continues to grow every single week. He’s so strong and powerful. He makes a ton of plays. He was awesome in the run game. Everything he does every day in practice it shows up on Mondays and Sundays. He’s continuing to be a better player every single day. Credit to him. A credit to Jason Michael, our tight end coach, for preparing him every week. He’s been awesome.”

Other notables

• Steichen said that they went a little tempo in the first half against the Vikings, but that's something they can do out of different personnel groups — it just so happened that on Monday they did a lot more 11 personnel.
• Head coach Nick Sirianni took responsibility on Wednesday for taking their foot off the gas in the second half against the Vikings, and while Steichen didn’t go into detail, said that his communication with Sirianni is unbelievable, and they talk about things like that throughout the week and throughout the game.
• With the Eagles having the No. 1 ranked offense in the NFL through two weeks, Steichen that the biggest message to the players is about consistency. They have to stay consistent, and there’s a lot of football ahead of them — starting this week with a division opponent.

Watch this Week 3 Thursday night matchup here!

The 2022 NFL regular season is in full swing, and Week 3 will kick-off with an AFC East matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football.

The Steelers lead the all-time series between these teams, 77-60-1, including the most recent two meetings. They faced off in early-January with Pittsburgh winning at home, 26-14, and the Steelers also got a road win in Cleveland last October, 15-10. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky has only started in one game against the Browns back in 2017 when he was still with the Bears, and won handedly, 20-3.

Let’s face it, both teams are coming off losses, and neither team is doing anything super dynamic on the field through two weeks. The Steelers definitely seem to have a lot more potential, but there’s always a chance the Browns come back and snag a (not so well-deserved) win in the final minutes.

Here’s everything you need to know about tonight’s game.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns

TV Schedule

Game time: 8:15 PM EST

Channel: Amazon Prime Video

Date: Thursday, September 22, 2022

Location: FirstEnergy Stadium | Cleveland, OH

Announcers: Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung (field reporter)

Radio: Westwood One | SIRIUS: 81 (PIT), 83 (CLE), 88 (National) | XM: 226 (PIT), 225 (CLE)

Online Streaming

FuboTV | Prime Video

Odds

Pittsburgh Steelers: +4 (+160)

Cleveland Browns: -4 (-190)

Over/Under: 38.5 points

BLG Pick: Browns -4

SB Nation Blogs

Steelers: www.BehindTheSteelCurtain.com

Browns: www.DawgsByNature.com

Open thread: Discuss Thursday night’s game in the comments below.

The latest news on Philadelphia and Washington.

The Philadelphia Eagles issued their second official injury report on Thursday in advance of their Week 3 game against the Washington Commanders.

The Eagles listed 12 players as limited. That’s a lot! Just over 23% of their current active roster.

Most of the limited participants were listed with rest designations, however. They’re all going to be fine to play in Sunday’s game.

The players who were NOT listed with rest designations: Quez Watkins, Avonte Maddox, and Reddick. Watkins is dealing with an illness but one would think that won’t hold him out of game action. The Friday injury report will be telling for Maddox and Reddick. If they’re upgraded to full go, they’ll be ready to play. The guess here is that’s exactly what will happen.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES INJURY REPORT (THURSDAY)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

WR A.J. Brown (rest)
DT Fletcher Cox (rest)
OG Landon Dickerson (rest)
DE Brandon Graham (rest)
OT Lane Johnson (rest)
C Jason Kelce (rest)
CB Avonte Maddox (back)
LB Haason Reddick (knee)
OG Isaac Seumalo (rest)
CB Darius Slay (rest)
DE Josh Sweat (rest)
WR Quez Watkins (illness)

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS INJURY REPORT (THURSDAY)

The Commanders practiced without rotational defensive ends Casey Toohill and Daniel Wise for the second day in a row. They’ve played the third and fourth most snaps, respectively, among players at their position for Washington this season. They’ve been needed more than usual with Chase Young missing time.

Speaking of Young’s absence, James Smith-Williams has been a starter in his place across from Montez Sweat. JSW was newly added to today’s injury report with an abdominal issues. Speaking to reporters, JSW said he will be fine and that he merely over-extended himself. Still, not a good development for the Commanders to see him get banged up when they’re already looking thin at defensive end.

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

DE Casey Toohill (concussion)
DE Daniel Wise (ankle)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

OL Saahdiq Charles (shoulder)
DE James Smith-Williams (abdominal)

FULL PARTICIPATION

DT Jonathan Allen (groin)
S Kam Curl (thumb)
LB Cole Holcomb (quad)
OG Wes Schweitzer (hamstring)
DE Shaka Toney (illness)
OG Trai Turner (quad)

This is what happens with things like this. Players today learn to wear multiple masks when the cameras are on, the klieg lights are shining, and the mics are turned up. They get coached up by media coordinators behind the curtains as to how to answer certain questions in the most politically correct ways possible to not stir any waves.

What lurks underneath is usually far different.

Jalen Hurts, most know by now, is a pretty good guy off the field. He’s a leader who’s building an MVP season while in command of currently the most powerful offense in the NFL, which is averaging an NFL-best 470.5 yards a game and an accumulated total nearly 100 yards more than the next-best offense, Miami (941 yards of total offense to Miami’s 854).

The Eagles face Carson Wentz, their former 2016 first-round draft pick, this Sunday at 1 p.m. at Washington’s FedEx Field. The same Carson Wentz who created a stir when he was with the Eagles after his knee injury in 2017, and then an explosion when he demanded a trade after the 2020 season, angry the Eagles drafted Hurts (as backup insurance) with the 53rd pick of the 2020 draft.

Now with his third team in three years, Wentz is No. 2 in the NFL in passing (650 yards) behind Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (740) and third overall in total yards (685) behind Tagovailoa (740) and Hurts (723) over two games.

Though, Wentz is still frequented by the ghosts of Philadelphia.

Regrettably, Hurts got pulled in by the storyline machine.

In the year Hurts had to endure Wentz, Hurts was treated very coldly by the guarded 2016 NFL Draft second overall pick. Part of that was understandable, since Wentz thought Hurts was drafted to be his possible successor—a stunning miscalculation for a highly intelligent guy that had been rewarded with a franchise-record four-year, $128-million contract extension. That happens in the NFL. Brett Favre was brutal to Aaron Rodgers when he first arrived in Green Bay, just like Rodgers has been abrupt with Jordan Love.

But part of that frostiness was innately Wentz. He would huddle up with his pals Nate Sudfeld and quarterback coach Press Taylor in the quarterback’s room and ignore the others.

“It was like you were back in high school with the cool kids table and the nerds table,” someone very close to the situation put it a few years ago. “Carson was the captain of the cool kids table. He’d treat Jalen, really one of the best guys you would ever want to meet, like he wasn’t there. Jalen did his work. He kept his head down and paid attention. The other guy wasn’t about to lift a finger to help him. What made us all laugh was he just got a boatload of cash. Why was he so insecure about Jalen? The other part of the problem was everyone liked Jalen. Not so much the other guy.”

Yet on Wednesday, Highroad Hurts took the high road, which is typical.

Hurts could have ripped Wentz, though chose not to.

“I think any time you have the opportunity to be on a team like that with a player like him and coaches like we had, with their experience, it’s always a learning and teachable moment,” Hurts said. “And that’s every opportunity I have, I try to learn from everything that I put myself into, or every position that I’m in. And I learned a lot.

“It’s something that I preach to my teammates a lot, the younger guys now. Take advantage of the opportunities you have when you’re not playing because it pays dividends in the end. You just have to be patient, be a sponge and soak it all in. There’s definitely a mutual respect between the two of us. When he went to Indy and now here, definitely a mutual respect and I wish him nothing but the best.”

It is interesting, however, when pressed on the personal relationship between the two, Hurts cut it off, saying, “I’m just going to say, I think we’re focused on the now. I’m focused on the now.”

One former Eagles coach said Hurts “would live” at the Eagles’ NovaCare practice facility if he was allowed.

Wentz also spoke this week, lamenting about what transpired in Philadelphia, saying, “There’s always things I look back on, ‘Man, I could’ve been better here, better as a person, better as a teammate. [I have] a lot of really good memories from my time there, I’m not going to lie,” he said Wednesday. “A lot of great friends, a lot of great relationships that I made. So, I definitely will have some mixed emotions in terms of those things. But nothing crazy jumps out other than my time there was a whirlwind. It was wild. The NFL is a whirlwind, but I’m grateful to still be playing, and I’m excited for this one.”

What originated in Philadelphia trailed Wentz to Indianapolis, where he was traded a second time in two years to Washington. Wentz stressed that it’s helped him grow.

“It was definitely a wild ride in many, many ways,” Wentz said. “… But it definitely does catch you off guard. Things change, and you have to learn to grow up and change and adapt. And at the end of the day, I’m thankful for it. I’m thankful for the changes that life has brought, and I’ve grown a lot from it.

“There are always things I look back on and [think], man, I could have been better here. I could have been better as a person, as a teammate. [There are] lots of things that you do take for granted,” he said. “And so, I think I definitely thank God for the experiences I’ve had even though sometimes they’re dark or sometimes they’re not how I envisioned them to be. But I think it’s allowed me to grow as a person, and I’m thankful for that.”

The unspooling of events has worked out for both Hurts and Wentz.

Hurts is maturing into a franchise quarterback, while Wentz is getting another chance to prove 2017 was no mirage.

Despite their public niceties, Hurts would like nothing more than to pound Washington, and for Wentz, this is his personal Super Bowl. He would like nothing better than to hand his former team and their fanbase their first “L” in 2022.

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written feature stories for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Predicting the winners of this week’s football matchups.

Our Week 3 picks for the 2022 NFL season are in!

Bleeding Green Nation staff members are here to predict the winners of every game on the schedule. We’ll tally the results along the way and see who comes out on top at the end of the season. Feel free to post your own predictions or discuss the writer predictions in the comments.

You, the reader, can also join in on the fun by voting for who you think will win the games (scroll down for polls). I’ll tally those results in a “BGN Community” section under our picks table generated by Tallysight.

After Week 2, the reigning BGN picks champion is on top. That’s me. Meanwhile, the BGN Community is second-to-last! Gotta step it up, folks.

When it comes to this week’s Philadelphia Eagles game, the BGN staff is feeling confident about a Birds win. I mean, how could you not be after that Monday night performance? I’m a little less confident in the Eagles covering a 6.5-point spread ... but the Eagles are going to beat Carson Wentz.

BGN Community Week 2 record: 9-7

BGN Community record: 16-15-1

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The defensive coordinator spoke about the Vikings win and preparing for Carson Wentz and the Commanders.

The Eagles defense was notably better against the Vikings in Week 2, and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon spoke to reporters on Thursday about their success with the blitz and his thoughts on their four-man rush. He also talked about preparing for Carson Wentz and the Commanders various skill players.

Here’s what the DC had to say:

On the Monday night win

“I think coaches and players did a good job of executing. We played four quarters. The things we emphasized throughout the week, I thought they did a good job of taking the coaching, and preparing the way we need to prepare, and execute. And some of the things we needed to get cleaned up in a hurry, we cleaned up.

Looking forward to the challenge this week, on the road, divisional game. They’ve got a lot of good players over there, and our guys will be ready to roll.”

Gannon acknowledged that a lot of their game planning was focused on Justin Jefferson last week, saying that when you’re doing research, you look at how they’re scoring points, and the WR is a big factor for the Vikings.

The DC talked about how really good corner plays starts with the defensive line, and that was the case against Minnesota.

“When the fronts rush in and winning at a high level like they were, it just makes the quarterback uncomfortable and sometimes he’s gotta throw it before he wants to throw it, or the timing might be knocked off a little bit.”

He said that it takes all 11 players working together to be successful, and the guys understand that. But, he did say that he felt the whole backend had a pretty good game.

On their effective blitzing

“I don’t know if it was more effective, I think we’re able to deploy some of them in the game because the situations came up and we decided when we put the game plan together, this is when we want to use some of these calls — and a lot of times, those calls are up in a game, but they don’t come to fruition so to speak. So, I thought the guys did a good job when those were called. Some of those pressures were called, they executed them, and the rush got there and we held up in coverage.”

On preparing for Carson Wentz

He didn’t want to give away the game plan, but said in general they look to affect the quarterback pre- and post-snap and will need to win their one-on-one matchups.

“[Carson Wentz]’s lighting it up right now. That’s a big time challenge. He’s got a big arm, he can make off-scheduled plays, he’s got really good skill guys, and their o-line does a good job of, when they need to protect him, they protect him. So, we got a big time challenge.”

Gannon later pointed to Curtis Samuel, Josh Doctson, and Terry McLaurin as some of the skill players they’ll have to prepare for, and also noted they have a good tight end and two good running backs. He says they’ll have to do different things in different coverages, and make the Commanders find the weak spot in each coverage. They’ll also have to see how Washington’s offense is playing and then make some in-game adjustments as needed.

On the Eagles’ 4-man rush

“I think we’re winning at a high rate. I think if we keep winning at a high rate, the production will come. You saw a couple sacks, the strip sack by [Fletcher Cox], [Josh Sweat] ended the game. A couple of those picks were four-men rushes. Some guys won if they hit the quarterback. So, I like where we’re at right now and that’s another part of our game, just like every part, that we’re always going to try and continually improve on and make better.”

Other notables

• Gannon later talked a little bit about their schematic philosophy and game planning and how they have a certain number of calls ready every week, but how many are used is something fluctuates with what their game day opponent is showing.
• Head coach Nick Sirianni said on Wednesday that Gannon was good at blocking outside noise, and the DC agreed and said that dwelling on that — good and bad — is a recipe for disaster. So, he doesn’t feel any more pressure this week than he did last week.
• Gannon said that CJ Gardner-Johnson was making progress, and was a doing a good job in the box and in the pass game. He noted that it’s important for safeties to be reliably in the right spot, every time, and the DC said CGJ took a big jump in that regard from Week 1 to Week 2.

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/22/22.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

After ‘wild ride’ in Philly, Carson Wentz prepares for his former team - Washington Post
“There are always things I look back on and [think], man, I could have been better here. I could have been better as a person, as a teammate. [There are] lots of things that you do take for granted,” he said. “And so I think I definitely thank God for the experiences I’ve had even though sometimes they’re dark or sometimes they’re not how I envisioned them to be. But I think it’s allowed me to grow as a person, and I’m thankful for that.” [...] A division victory could change the trajectory of either team. But with Wentz in burgundy instead of green, the matchup has personal ties that could ensure the wild ride carries on. “I’m excited for it,” Wentz said. “But … you try not to make the game bigger than it needs to be. Every week is a big week. It’s hard to win in this league. And so I know once the first kickoff goes, it’ll be football again.”

Inside the Eagles’ 2020 QB shift that altered careers for Jalen Hurts, Carson Wentz - ESPN
Trust was at the heart of the issue. Wentz was often reluctant to play within the system during his time in Philadelphia, sources with direct knowledge of the offense’s inner workings said. He became irritated, one of those sources said, when his freedom to operate the offense was largely stripped from him as injuries and inefficient performances piled up during the 2020 season. His relationship with Pederson became strained. With coach and quarterback pulling in different directions, the offense flopped. Much has been made of Wentz’s standing among his teammates during his days with the Eagles. The bottom line is this: Wentz was largely viewed as a good guy and good teammate — several players said they spoke with Wentz just in the past week and were complimentary of him as a person and player — but he ran in a tight circle and therefor didn’t have strong relationships built up across the entire locker room. So when Wentz would target good friend Zach Ertz significantly more than the other receiving options over the course of a season — like when Ertz had 48 more targets than any other pass-catcher in 2019 — it would rub some players the wrong way because they did not have the same access to him off the field as Ertz did.

Eagles at Commanders: Five matchups to watch - PhillyVoice
His stats, in print, look pretty good. He’s 57 of 87 (65.5%) for 650 yards (325 per game), 7 TDs, and 3 INTs. His 7 TDs tie him with three other quarterbacks for a share of the league lead, however, his 3.4% INT rate (small sample size alert) happens to be the same as it was in 2020, when he led the league in INTs despite getting benched for the final four games. It should be noted that all three of his INTs this season have been his fault. The Eagles need to force the “What the hell was that?” moments, and they can do that with pressure. Wentz’s worst trait remains his lack of pocket presence [...] One of my favorite Wentz pocket presence quirks is that once he either avoids an edge rusher, or an edge rusher runs by him, it’s as if he believes that that player no longer exists, and won’t continue to keep trying to get after him. He did it throughout his career in Philly, and it has carried over into Indianapolis and now Washington, with an example shown in the Twitter thread above. Normally, you don’t want your edge rushers getting too far up the field and simply getting escorted around the bend, taking themselves out of the play. Against Wentz, Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat should not feel the need to try to flatten their path to the quarterback as much as possible. Taking wider paths to Wentz can be just as effective. If you get in behind him, Wentz will eventually drift back in the pocket into strip sack opportunities. The plan should be to enclose him in the pocket, and whenever a lineman is within striking distance, tackle the football, not the quarterback, because he is one of the worst in the league at protecting it.

Eagles vs. Vikings: 18 winners, 5 losers, 1 IDK - BGN
Hurts also made a real impressive throw rolling to his left to hit Quez Watkins along the sideline, only to be wiped out by a holding penalty. As a runner, Hurts picked his spots well as opposed to relying on his legs too often. His 26-yard touchdown scramble on 3rd-and-2 was incredibly impressive. He easily could’ve ran out of bounds but he saw a weakness and attacked it, fighting through contact and extending the ball over the goal line for the score. Hurts left no doubt on Monday night. He looked like a franchise quarterback that the Eagles would be more than happy to sign to a long-term contract extension as soon as after this season. More than that, though, he looked like a freaking NFL MVP candidate out there. THIS was a needle-moving performance that raises the Eagles’ ceiling to being legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Pretty exciting stuff!

NFL Week 2 Secondary Rankings - PFF
8. Philadelphia Eagles. Highest-Graded DB: CB Darius Slay (84.8) We saw a vintage performance from Darius Slay on Monday Night Football in Week 2, picking off Kirk Cousins twice. He was absolutely dominant on his way to the fourth-highest game grade (86.6) among 189 qualifying secondary players in Week 2. With Slay, Avonte Maddox and James Bradberry, the Eagles have one of the league’s best cornerback trios. But, of course, they need their safeties to play better —and they will. Until then, they are ranked only just inside the top 10.

Week 3 NFL game picks: Steelers outduel Browns; Buccaneers top Packers - NFL.com
The Commanders’ offense is erratic yet surprisingly fun. They have enough playmakers and derring-do to bring the Eagles back to earth. But the communication problems on Washington’s defense and lack of pass rush are all too reminiscent of 2021. Like most teams facing Philly, the Commanders aren’t tough enough.

NFL picks against the spread: Vic Tafur likes the Bills and Giants to get to 3-0 - The Athletic
The Carson Wentz revenge game against the Eagles. Yeah, baby. The Commanders couldn’t stop Jared Goff last week, so what the heck are they going to do with eventual fantasy football MVP Jalen Hurts? And Miles Sanders averaged 7.4 yards a carry last week. (Washington is the only team to already allow two runs of 50-plus yards, while 25 teams haven’t even allowed one.) We’re just asking Wentz to not throw the ball to Darius Slay and for a talented receiving corps to keep it close and not lose big at home to a team that played Monday night. An ATS win still counts as revenge, right? The pick: Commanders (+6.5)

Spadaro: The pulse of the locker room? Focus is all on Washington - PE.com
In the context of everything that defensive tackle Fletcher Cox has seen in his 11 Eagles seasons, this is nothing over which to break stride. Yeah, it’s nice that the Eagles have won their first two games and, of course, the players and coaches understand that storyline that is Carson Wentz as the starting quarterback for the Washington Commanders on Sunday. Two things to consider here, no doubt, but given the natural course of the season, not much more than blips. “It’s about us and that is something I say every week,” Cox said on Wednesday as the Eagles prepared for their walkthrough practice at the NovaCare Complex. “We have to get ready for a football game on Sunday against a good Washington team that knows us, that is in our division. We know that every time we play them it’s a battle. That is our focus.”

Tracking the 2022 Linear Super Bowl title - Daily Norseman
But our friends over at the Norse Code podcast have taken this idea to heart, and as such we’re now going to be tracking this year’s “Linear Super Bowl” title. See, the Vikings won the Super Bowl in Week 1. . .if you’re stupid. . .and the Philadelphia Eagles then defeated them for the Linear Super Bowl title this past Monday. This week, your Linear Super Bowl championship will either remain with Philadelphia or move on to their division rivals, the Washington Commanders. We will continue to track this title throughout the course of the season and see where it ends up. Will it get an opportunity to come back to Minnesota? Possibly. . .but there’s a long way to go on that front.

Commanders vs Eagles Wednesday Injury Report: Kam Curl was a full participant in practice today - Hogs Haven
Starting safety Kam Curl suffered a thumb injury in the Commanders 2nd preseason game and had surgery. He missed both games, and has been wearing a cast to practice while working in the side field. He was a full participant in today’s practice and is expected to play on Sunday. His replacement, Darrick Forrest, will also be worked into the defense after some positive play in relief of Curl.

Are the 2022 New York Giants for real? Numbers to believe, and not believe - Big Blue View
It’s two games, don’t get excited. A statistically insignificant sample. The teams the Giants have played are not good. This may well be true for Carolina. Tennessee was thought to be a high quality opponent but they were dismantled by Buffalo, so it remains to be seen whether they will survive the loss of A.J. Brown to the Eagles. The Giants are a collection of mostly mediocre players, but the coaching is compensating for that with good offensive and defensive schemes and good play calls at the right time to hide their deficiencies and put them into positions to succeed. This is plausible but difficult to quantify. Surely Wink Martindale’s aggression on defense and heavy fronts vs. dime packages has made a difference. Surely Mike Kafka’s offensive sequences that run different plays off the same early motion make a difference. Surely Brian Daboll’s decision to go for two made a difference. They’ve just been lucky. A missed 47-yard field goal. A made 56-yard field goal. Reverse those and maybe they’re 0-2.

Cowboys at Giants preview: Michael Gallup, Jason Peters could change things for the game - Blogging The Boys
As for Peters, it’s a little more murky. The plan is for him to practice this week and see how that goes. Here is what Stephen Jones said about him playing. “Start[ing] to feel good, especially as we know Peters and Connor McGovern are going to be getting well sooner rather than later,” Jones added. “So, it will just help with our depth in the offensive line.” Earlier in the week Jerry Jones mentioned ‘position flex’ when talking about Peters playing. So it’s unclear where exactly he would fit in if he played. But if the Cowboys want to roll out their best five, it would be LT Peters, LG Smith, C Biadasz, RG Martin, RT Steele.

Why stopping the Bills’ passing game is almost impossible - SB Nation
I try my best to be prepared for every single radio appearance. On Tuesday, for the first time in a long time, I was unable to answer a question. It came during my weekly appearance on Sportsnet 650, with my friends Bik Nizzar and Randip Janda, which you can catch every Tuesday at 2:30 P.T. if you are interested. Late in the segment, they posed a relatively-straightforward question. “How do you stop the Buffalo Bills?” I stumbled my way through a non-answer, because in the moment, I could not come up with a way. Through two games, it seems that I am not alone. The Bills, preseason Super Bowl favorites, are 2-0 and are living up to expectations. They went on the road in Week 1 to take on the defending Super Bowl Champions, and beat the Los Angeles Rams by a final score of 31-10. Then on Monday night, they hosted the Tennessee Titans — last year’s top-overall seed in the AFC — and won by a final score of 41-7. Meaning they beat the Super Bowl Champions and the AFC’s top seed in back-to-back weeks by a combined score of 72-17. They have punted just three times this season.

Bills WR Stefon Diggs, Bills at Dolphins, & the Gauntlet - The SB Nation NFL Show
This week on the SB Nation NFL Show, Rob “Stats” Guerrera, Kyle Posey, and Justis Mosqueda prepare you for week 3 of the NFL season. Before we preview one of the biggest games of the week between the Bills and Dolphins–we sit down with Bills superstar wide receiver Stefon Diggs coming off his huge Monday night performance. Normally we preview the Thursday night game–but we’d rather discuss this huge AFC East matchup between the Bills and Dolphins. To wrap things up we take the biggest NFL overreactions through “the gauntlet.”

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Closer look at Jalen Hurts’ growth, Jonathan Gannon’s adjustments, and more.

Well, how good was that?

The Eagles absolutely dominated the Vikings on Monday night in every single aspect of the game. This is a going to a very positive and very fun article, so enjoy!

Offense

Passing Game

I wrote this about Hurts’ performance last week when I felt people were too harsh on him.

For anyone who has read my pieces for a while, it’s fair to call me a Jalen Hurts ‘skeptic’ or whatever that means. I don’t understand the discourse around his play this week. I thought he was fantastic. I saw clear progress passing the football from last year and I think he has taken a step forward. I said I wanted to see Hurts hit his back foot more and deliver the ball in stride. He absolutely improved in this area week 1. He was decisive and got rid of the ball at the top of his drop far more frequently.

We clearly saw this trend continue against the Vikings. Hurts mobility is obviously exceptional, but this was just a proper passing game from the pocket. This was such a big step forward for Hurts as a pocket passer. He delivered time and time again right on time and got into a really good rhythm throwing the ball with outstanding accuracy. He also excelled throwing in the middle of the field! This was a huge, huge weakness of Hurts in previous years and it will really open up this offense if he can continue to use the middle of the field more.

We saw this on show in the first drive of the game. He looks so calm in the pocket and waits for his receiver to come open rather than move on or leave the pocket early. This is a beautiful throw for the first down

I mentioned middle of the field throws...

His processing speed continue to improves too. This is a fantastic play outside of structure but it is only possible because he quickly realises none of the 3-level stretch concepts will come open against this coverage and he eliminates all the routes before feeling pressure and moving to his right. Eliminating what is not there is a vital part of processing speed for a quarterback. You can’t stare down receivers as you simply don’t get the time in the NFL.

As well as improving his processing speed, his accuracy seems to have taken a step forward due to his calmness in the pocket and rhythm he is throwing with at the moment. This throw is a beauty, you couldn’t place it any better.

This might be my favorite throw of the game. Another thing I wanted Hurts to work on was his anticipation. A lot of mobile quarterbacks have historically been too reliant on ‘see it, throw it’ throws. Well, Hurts throws this ball before Smith is out of his break and it’s a perfect ball, once again. The ball placement was consistently so good.

I changed my mind, this is my favorite throw. It almost seemed too easy at times due to how good the offensive line was, but he had to complete this one under pressure and with a defender in his face. The ball placement is just exceptional and he’s continuing to throw the ball perfectly in sync with his drop which is so good to see.

This play was brought back due to a holding call, but is this the best throw of Hurts career if it stands? The accuracy and arm talent to do this whilst rolling to your left, is incredibly impressive.

Hurts mobility was also an absolutely massive factor in this game. He didn’t run or scramble anywhere near as much but the offense Sirianni/Steichen have created does a fantastic job of utilising Hurts mobility as much as possible. They deserve huge credit for buying into Hurts talent and building an offense around him, rather than trying to force him to fit exactly what they want to do. There’s a lot of plays like this that put defenders in a bind and they are really useful on 3rd short/medium where you just need a few.

The offensive line were absolutely outstanding too. They did a superb job of picking up the Vikings pass rush and keeping Hurts safe. Hurts has made fantastic progress this year but there’s no doubt the surrounding talent has benefited him massively. I don’t even think it’s right to shoutout a particular lineman this game, the pass protection was just outstanding from every single one of them. The offense is in a really good place right now.

The only negative I could see really on the film was the play against the blitz in the 3rd quarter. The Vikings sent a few more blitzes and the Eagles were not great against them

Just one final note on the passing game, as good as the Eagles offense was, the Vikings defense was equally as bad. There was a total lack of disguise or variety to their coverages. It was incredibly bland and passive and I really think they made it easy for Hurts and the Eagles. I know the Vikings are a much better defense than this and I do think things will get a lot harder for the Eagles moving forward. This is not to downplay what the Eagles did, I just think the Vikings were really, really bad in this one. I’m not sure why, they were!

Running Game

Believe it or not, I was actually slightly disappointed with some of the run plays on early downs. I thought the Vikings defense was so negative and passive that the Eagles could have actually had more success on early downs. But maybe I’m getting greedy! The Eagles run game remained very multiple this week and we saw some draw plays which I haven’t seen a great deal from the Eagles in recent years, but, is there anything that Jeff Stoutland can’t coach effectively.

The Eagles did have a lot of success running against the Vikings 2-high shell looks which gave them so much space in the box. It was almost too easy at times and I would have been frustrated as a Vikings fan.

The draw play was a nice addition to the repertoire for this week too. The Eagles used it really effectively and it works particularly well against a team whose safeties were as far back as the Vikings were.

As well as the obvious light box the Vikings played (which I mentioned in my stats article!) you also cannot ignore the impact Hurts has on the running game. Even when he doesn’t keep it, defenses have to account for him and you could see how scared the Vikings were of Hurts keeping it in this one. I can’t quite believe the Vikings didn’t adjust throughout the game but anyway, they didn’t!

Hurts mobility also played a huge part in the Eagles running game, which is no surprise. This play on the goal line made me laugh. What else can you really do as a defense? You have a defensive back right there and you also bring an unblocked linebacker to help and Hurts still scores! His size and power is useful in the red zone and I expect him to score a lot of touchdowns similar to this one throughout his career. It reminds me so much of Cam Newton when he was good and it’s so hard to stop these plays near the goal line.

Defense

Pass Defense

This was a fascinating game to watch from an Eagles perspective as it was so different from last week. We saw more disguise, more man coverage, more single-high and more blitzes. Basically, we saw a lot of things that we wanted to see last week!

Darius Slay was absolutely unbelievable. He played completely lights out like an elite cornerback. He played Justin Jefferson about as well as you possibly can. The Eagles absolutely gave him support at times but sometimes he was just one on one with Jefferson and he flat out won. It was an incredibly impressive performance. On all these clips below, just watch how he never, ever gets out of his backpedal. He never turns to run and isn’t worried about the threat of Jefferson beating him over the top. He just stays incredibly patient which allows him to break on the ball so quickly. Let’s just post a few clips back to back so you can really see how good he was.

The Eagles also used 2-man to help bracket Jefferson and Slay could then play in trail technique which made it really hard for Jefferson. Jefferson couldn’t beat Slay one on one, so he didn’t have much chance with a safety over the top as well!

When you play more man coverage, you need other defenders to step up. TJ Edwards was fantastic in man coverage and Bradberry also was really impressive.

I keep seeing Eagles fans complain about Reddick/Sweat/Graham dropping into coverage but you just have to get used to it. If the Eagles play 5-man fronts more, then unless you are blitzing on every single play, one of the EDGE defenders at least is going to have to drop into coverage. It allows the Eagles to be way more versatile and unpredictable with their pressure and coverage on the back end. There was a lot more post-snap rotation this week.

With that in mind, I think Reddick needs to do better when he is in coverage. He can’t just be a non-factor in coverage.

Josh Sweat had a really good day and was constantly harassing Kirk Cousins. He is turning into a really, really good player and was definitely the Eagles best pass rusher in this week.

Another play who absolutely deserves a mention on defense was Avonte Maddox who was brilliant. He was aggressive and instinctive both in man and zone coverage. He’s a very good slot cornerback.

As well as more post-snap rotation, we saw some pressure! The Vikings had absolutely no answers for the Eagles 0 blitzes, so they kept doing it in the second half.

I watched Haason Reddick really closely and I wasn’t particularly impressed by him but he definitely had a few better rushes than he did last week. It has only been 2 weeks but I would like to see a big play or two from him next week. I mentioned some concern about CGJ last week, I thought he was much better this week but would like to have this play back.

Also... hello Zech McPhearson!

Something to note, and I wouldn’t say I’m concerned yet, but Jordan Davis was an absolute non-factor rushing the quarterback. He couldn’t get anything, even when lined up one on one with the center. I didn’t actually think he played that well to be be honest.

Run Defense

I’m going to say it: stop crediting Jordan Davis with the Eagles improved run defense this week. Jordan Davis was fine, but he wasn’t the only reason the Eagles improved. The Eagles used more 5-man fronts and had far better gap discipline than they showed last week. Crediting Jordan Davis only does a huge disservice to the players on the field who were far better against the run, starting with Josh Sweat. It was interesting to see the Eagles counter the Vikings formation by going to a 5-man front with the same personnel, all they did was add White to the line of scrimmage.

This isn’t an anti-Jordan Davis point, I just find the discourse online is basically that the Eagles run defense was much better because they used him more and played more 5-man fronts. The 5-man fronts were certainly used more, but the Eagles didn’t really use Davis a great deal more and I thought the overall run defense was just much, much better this week.

Right, that will do for this week. Thanks for all the lovely comments to last weeks post, it is much appreciated! Any questions feel free to ask as always.

Update on Philadelphia’s injuries.

The Philadelphia Eagles issued their first official injury report on Wednesday in advance of their Week 3 game against the Washington Commanders.

Note that this report is an estimation because the team held a walkthrough in lieu of a normal practice. The players are getting a lighter workload coming off Monday Night Football.

One player was listed under DID NOT PARTICIPATE: Quez Watkins.

Watkins was listed with an “illness” designation. Until we hear otherwise, one would assume he’ll be OK to play this week.

Two players were listed under LIMITED PARTICIPATION: Avonte Maddox and Haason Reddick.

Maddox is dealing with a back issue while Reddick is listed with a knee ailment. Until we hear otherwise, one would think they’ll be OK to play this week.

The Eagles are otherwise healthy. They’ll have their first full practice ahead of this week’s game on Thursday.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES INJURY REPORT (WEDNESDAY)

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

WR Quez Watkins (illness)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

CB Avonte Maddox (back)
LB Haason Reddick (knee)

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS INJURY REPORT (WEDNESDAY)

The Commanders are a bit more banged up than Philly is.

The Commanders placed starting center Chase Roullier on injured reserve earlier this week. Significant loss for them.

The Eagles will dodge Chase Young since he can’t be activated from the PUP list until Week 5 at the earliest.

Backup defensive linemen Casey Toohill (probably the most former Eagle on Washington’s roster), Shaka Toney, and Daniel Wise all missed practice.

Starting right guard Trai Tuner and starting linebacker Cole Holcomb were limited. So was backup blocker Saahdiq Charles.

Starting safety Kam Curl is expected to play after previously missing time with a thumb injury.

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

DE Shaka Toney (illness)
DE Casey Toohill (concussion)
DT Daniel Wise (ankle)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

OL Saahdiq Charles (shoulder)
LB Cole Holcomb (quad)
OG Trai Turner (quad)

FULL PARTICIPATION

DT Jonathan Allen (groin)
S Kam Curl (thumb)
OG Wes Schweitzer (hamstring)

Without the right parking pass, Covey was denied entrance to the players’ parking lot for the Eagles Week 2 game.

Not every player on the Eagles roster is super well known, but you’d still expect the team’s facility staff to know one when they see one. That wasn’t the case for special teams player Britain Covey, who was actually denied entrance into the players parking lot on Monday night. To be fair, his teammates told him that the practice squad pass he had would be enough, and to just tell them he had been elevated — well, that didn’t quite work out.

Covey ended up parking about a half-mile away with the tailgaters — who coincidentally, also didn’t really recognize him. He smiled and said it reminded him of college, trying to find his way to the stadium, and also inspired him to see how much the team meant to fans and how they were getting pumped for the game.

Covey had a great attitude about the whole situation, and said he hasn’t done anything to earn that recognition in Philly just yet, but the experience gave him some extra motivation to make his mark with the team.

The Eagles’ head coach talked about his messaging to the team this week, how he’s preparing for Carson Wentz, and what he sees as Jalen Hurts’ ceiling.

The Eagles have a short week heading into their Week 3 division game against the Washington Commanders. Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters on Wednesday and talked about preparing for Carson Wentz and leaving no stone unturned, as well as talked about Jalen Hurts’ ceiling, and ignoring the outside noise — both good and bad.

Sirianni’s message to the team last week was about connection, and this week it’s about competing with a focus on how they need to practice utilize their time in a short week.

Here’s what else the head coach had to say:

On facing Carson Wentz in Week 3

Sirianni was asked if he has to address Wentz’s time in Philly with the team ahead of Sunday’s game, but the head coach pointed out that what needs addressed is that you never leave a stone unturned. This is something he’s talked about a few times this season when asked if they watched Hard Knocks before facing the Lions, or if he watched head coach Kevin O’Connell’s press conferences before facing the Vikings.

So on whether he would be talking to people around the building who knew Wentz, the answer is yes, the head coach admits he’s looking for information.

“I think he’s doing a nice job over there, Like what I’ve seen — I’ve seen, obviously, he’s thrown for a bunch of yards and we know that he can get hot, and be really on, and we know he’s powerful with the ball in his hands and he can make a play at any time. So, we’re going through our process to get ready for him and we know he can make a lot of plays.”

He didn’t want to admit that he spoke to Frank Reich in Indy about Wentz, but said that he’s talked to some of the other Colts’ coaches, and emphasized again that he leaves no stone unturned.

Sirianni later kept things vague about whether he was planning for Wentz to be his quarterback last season — the QB was still on the Eagles roster when Sirianni was hired. He said that he reached out to a lot of players at different positions to start building relationships, but ultimately, he didn’t do any sort of planning because he wanted to evaluate every player in person versus from their tape.

On second-half offense vs. Vikings

“I took my foot off the gas, and I forced Shane [Steichen] to take his foot off the gas, and I know I did that. That’s not good enough on my part. So, you know, there’s a lot of room for improvement — the penalties, we’ve got to clean to clean up. The communication was better from Detroit. So, you’re just hoping to see that improvement each and every day.”

On Jalen Hurts’ ceiling

Sirianni was asked if the quarterback’s performance on Monday night changed his perception of what Hurts’ ceiling is.

“I don’t think I know what his ceiling is yet, you know, I just continue to see him get better. So, yeah, I knew he had it in him. Again, I’m not surprised by anything that Jalen does on the football field because I’ve seen him doing this all offseason, all training camp, practices, the meeting room. I see his growth consistently all the time.”

On tuning out the outside noise

Sirianni said that he was blessed to have great captains and leaders in the locker room, including four lineman — Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham, and Fletcher Cox — who have “climbed the mountain” and know what it takes to get the job job done. He said that when his guys are just focused on their job and getting better everyday, it doesn’t matter what people on the outside are saying — whether it’s saying how good they are like this week, or how bad they are like this time last year.

There’s a similar mentality with defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who didn’t pay attention to all the noise following their rough Week 1 performance against Detroit’s ground game. Sirianni said that the DC just went back to work, had a list of things he wanted to clean up, and then focused on putting players in the best spot to be successful.

“He didn’t allow anything to affect him on that. That’s a great quality to have — not everybody has it. Not everybody’s built to coach, I get it. Not everybody’s built to coach in this city or play in this city. But, that’s why we’re trying to create this mindset. The common denominator of players that are really good have this mindset of I am in the moment of where I am right now, and I’m not worried about anything else. That’s dog mentality”

Other notables

• On the illegal down field penalties they’ve racked up in just two games, Sirianni admitted that the refs made the right calls on Monday night. The head coach took responsibility for one of the penalties — on a screen —, acknowledging that he tried to make a change to the timing of something to throw off the defense, but it didn’t work and resulted in a flag. Still, he says they’ve had some explosive plays come from that particular call, so they’ll work at it and coach it better, but the play isn’t going anywhere.
• Sirianni said that the relationship between quarterback Jalen Hurts and OC Shane Steichen continues to grow and strengthen. They’ve spent a lot of time together watching film and talking through plays and preferences, so that rapport is bound to grow.
• The head coach was asked about Zach Pascall and he lauded the wide receiver for the work he’s doing on special teams and as their enforcer at times. He mentioned that Pascall is doing what they ask of him and his role is one that will be rewarded when possible with a target that can turn into an explosive play.