PREVIEW – Week 1: Three Keys to the Eagles Beating the Washington Redskins
Kickoff is at 1 P.M. sharp on Fox, with Charles Davis and Kevin Burkhardt calling the game. The Eagles are favored by 10 points, their largest opening day spread since their 2014 opener against Jacksonville.
Division rivals, Washington Redskins, come into Philadelphia led by Case Keenum, the 3rd different Redskins quarterback to face the Eagles in the last two seasons. Despite the lack of recievers, the Redskins boast a terrific running back trio of Derrius Guice, Adrian Peterson, and Chris Thompson. Unfortunately, however, Jordan Reed has been ruled out with a concussion suffered in pre-season, so Vernon Davis will take his place as the starting tight end. It’s also important to note that starting left tackle Trent Williams will not be playing due to an ongoing contract holdout.
The defense, on the other hand, makes up for the lack of talent on offense. The front seven consists of elite pass rushers such as Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Montez Sweat, and Ryan Kerrigan. Rounding out the defense is the secondary, featuring Landon Collins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Josh Norman.
Carson Wentz and the Eagles come into the game with one of the most highly praised rosters in the NFL. After loading up in the backfield with Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders, all weaknesses on offense were taken care of. If there was still any doubt that points would not be scored, the Eagles acquired DeSean Jackson via trade to add to Wentz’s arsenal. Brandon Brooks has made a spectacular recovery from his Achilles injury suffered against New Orleans in January, which means he, along with the rest of the offensive line, is fully healthy and ready to go.
On the other side of the ball, we know what defensive line is capable of doing, so the secondary will be the focal point. The young corners showed flashes of potential last year, but the question is if they can do it with consistency. Unlike previous years, this is an Eagles team that comes in fully healthy with a few exceptions who weren’t going to start regardless.
Keys to Victory
Stop the Run
Run stop needs to be number 1 in Jim Schwartz’s gameplan. A weak passing game means the Redskins will like to keep the ball on the ground in order to control the game and keep the Eagles offense on the sideline. As mentioned before, the Redskins backfield is bruising, but fortunately for the Eagles, some of the best run-stoppers on their side.
Get Going Early
The Eagles are 22-4 when scoring first since Doug Pederson took over, including the playoffs. Obviously, scoring first doesn’t equate directly to a win, but it does result in momentum as well as the crowd taking over. If this offense can fluster the Redskins defense early, it’s going to be a big day for the Eagles as a team.
Carson Wentz
With his last competitive snap coming in December of last year, Wentz will need to break out of the rust quick, especially since he didn’t take part in pre-season. As we saw on Thursday night with both Aaron Rodgers and Mitchell Trubisky, withholding from pre-season led to a shaky start and loss of rhythm.
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