Team Grades: If There Is A Grade For Grittiness, Eagles Get "A" vs. Redskins
By Kevin McGuire
Chip Kelly has said before his team is going to fight for everything it can. On Sunday, they actually did. As tensions boiled over in a testy division match-up with long-time rival Washington, the Eagles managed to improve to 3-0 on the season. No win has come easy with the Eagles trailing by at least 10 points in each game played so far, but the Eagles showed a great ability to dig deep and pull out a victory.
Quarterback
Nick Foles turned in another 300-yard performance with 325 passing yards and three touchdowns, but his performance meant so much more than the numbers that show up in the game book. This game was all about the mental toughness of Foles to shrug aside being beat up by the Washington defense and not allowing a lengthy delay before even seeing the playing field hurt him too much. If Foles was not already respected enough, he earned it with one of the grittiest performances of his still young NFL career on Sunday afternoon. Grade: A+
Offense
The Eagles won this one by using the passing game because the running game was wiped out by the Washington defense. LeSean McCoy rushed for just 22 yards on 20 attempts as the Redskins managed to break through a weak and faltering offensive line from start to finish. This was especially true in the second half following the ejection of Jason Peters and injury to center Jason Kelce. Jeremy Maclin had a game-high 154 receiving yards and a touchdown and rookie Jordan Matthews recorded his first two career touchdown receptions. Together, Maclin and Matthews combined to catch 16 of the 19 passes targeting them, an improvement from last Monday night in Indianapolis. The Eagles were just four of 11 on third down conversions and just two of four on scoring opportunities inside the red zone. In the end, the Eagles put together 37 points despite only a brief appearance on the field in the first quarter. Grade: B+
Defense
Let’s just say the Eagles managed to win in spite of its defense on Sunday afternoon. Washington got off to a great start by grinding down field on two lengthy possessions in the first quarter, thanks in part to an Eagles kickoff return for a touchdown sending the defense immediately back on the field to start the game for the first 13 minutes of the game. That put them behind the eight ball from the start, and they could not find a way to knock Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins off his game. Washington piled up 511 yards of offense, with 427 through the air. The Eagles gave up some big plays on passes, including some blown coverage on DeSean Jackson’s long touchdown play. All of that said, the Eagles came up with some big plays late in the game to prevent Washington from at least moving into field goal range for a game-tying opportunity. That shows some grit and that should be commended. There is plenty of room for improvement for the Eagles on defense if they are to become a legitimate Super Bowl contender. : Grade: C-
Special Teams
Once again this week, what was there not to like about the Eagles on special teams? Rookie kicker Cody Parkey once again turned in a productive and dependable afternoon by kicking three field goals and four extra point attempts for 13 points. One of those field goals came from 51 yards out and he nailed it. The big special teams play though came from Chris Polk, who returned the first kickoff to the Eagles 102 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. Polk had been bothered by a hamstring in recent weeks but showed no signs of anything keeping him from taking advantage of some key blocks in front of him on the return. Grade: A
Who Said This Was Supposed To Be Easy?
Nobody ever said winning is supposed to be easy, especially in division play. That has been true for the Eagles and Washington for a long time and continued to be the case on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles have a tough offense that can wear a defense down and it looks as though Foles is going to be one tough gunslinger to take down for opposing defenses. We will see how those hits leave Foles feeling on Monday but this was a full team effort that saw players sticking up for each other and nobody giving in despite some sloppy and rough play on both sides of the football at times. The offense bailed out the defense in a tough first half and the defense made the plays they needed when the Eagles offense could not run more clock in the final minutes. The Eagles are going to have to clean up some things before next weekend’s game on the road against the San Francisco 49ers, which should be a lot of fun.
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Kevin McGuire is a Philadelphia area sports writer covering the Philadelphia Eagles and college football. McGuire is a member of the FWAA and National Football Foundation. Follow McGuire on Twitter @KevinOnCFB. His work can be found on Examiner.com.