Game Recap: Redskins Lay an Egg Against the Eagles in Week One
September 10, 2017
By Steve Thomas
The Washington Redskins lived up to their reputation as a slow-starting team Sunday, dropping the first game of the 2017 season to the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 30 – 17. The victory was the first by the Eagles over the Redskins in 6 opportunities dating back to the 2014 season. The offense looked out of sync and poorly-prepared for most of the game, only putting up 10 points and making several game-changing mistakes along the way.
The first quarter started out much the same for the Redskins as have looked throughout the preseason – slow and mistake filled. In the opening drive of the game, the Redskins managed a first down before stalling out and punting in just six plays. The Eagles scored on their first drive on a deep ball to Nelson Agholor, on a play in which safety D.J. Swearinger was late tracking over to the receiver after he had beaten the Redskins initial defender, then badly missed what would have been a touchdown-saving tackle. The next Redskins series ended with a Kirk Cousins fumble during a sack which was recovered by the Eagles. At the end of the quarter, the Redskins were in a 7 – 0 deficit, having run the ball just 5 times for 16 yards and having just 2 completions for 8 yards.
The Redskins got rolling in the second quarter somewhat thanks to a Ryan Kerrigan touchdown off of an interception of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz. The Redskins moved the ball well towards the end of the half and scored their second touchdown on a classic Chris Thompson touchdown pass, complete with 2 broken tackles and a spin move. On the defensive side of the ball, the defensive line continued to get good pressure on Carson Wentz, although the Eagles did manage to score another touchdown and then tacked on a 50 yard field goal as time expired. The half ended with the Eagles up 16 – 14 in a tight battle, with the Redskins posting on 36 yards rushing and 116 yards passing.
Both offenses stalled in the third quarter, as both the Redskins and the Eagles managed only a field goal each as both teams saw long drives stopped short of the end zone. The Redskins’ offensive woes continued, with only 4 rushing attempts and 6 passes for a total of 152 yards.
The Eagles shut out the Redskins in the final quarter, scoring another touchdown on a controversial Kirk Cousins fumble after a sack in which it appeared as though Cousins’ arm was moving forward in a passing motion before the ball came loose. Eagles defensive lineman Fletcher Cox ran the ball into the end zone with only 1:29 left in the game to effectively end the competitive portion of the game. Referee Brad Allen stated after the game regarding the controversial fumble call that “[r]eal time, I have lack of control in the hand. That means empty hand going forward. We ruled fumble, recovered by the defense”, and further stated the review of the play showed “nothing conclusive that would overturn the ruling on the field.”
As is his established pattern, head coach Jay Gruden quickly abandoned the run game after not finding success early, and ended the game with only 17 total carries on the day, 4 of which came from Kirk Cousins on either scrambles or designed quarterback keepers. Quarterback Kirk Cousins had a poor day and finished with 23 completions on 40 attempts for 240 yards, with one touchdown, one interception, and two lost fumbles for a 72.9 quarterback rating. The Redskins made a concerted effort throughout the game to get the Cousins – Pryor connection going, with 11 targets to Pryor for 66 yards on 6 receptions; however, Pryor dropped two passes, including a long pass in the end zone on a play that would have been erased by a holding penalty and one more pass late in the game that would have resulted in a first down. Cousins and Pryor also tried to connect deep on the first play of the game after Pryor broke away from the defender but appeared to be unable to see the ball in the sun, with the ball falling incomplete in front of him. Star tight end Jordan Reed had a quiet game by his standards with only 5 catches for 36 yards. Redskins’ receiver Ryan Grant had a productive outing with four catches for 61 yards. Running back Rob Kelley finished the day with just 30 yards on 10 carries after seeing very little room to run for much of the day.
2015 first round draft pick, wide reciever Josh Doctson, was essentially a no-show, only seeing the field for a handful of plays, with no targets. Gruden later stated that “[w]e’ll give him more and more reps as the season progresses.”
The Redskins offensive line had a poor overall effort, giving up four sacks, other hits on the quarterback, and generally being unable to open up running lanes for much of the day. Star left tackle Trent Williams was briefly shaken up with an ankle injury and right tackle Morgan Moses was seen in a walking boot after the game.
Defensively, the defensive line was able to put adequate pressure on Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, despite only getting two sacks on the game. Linebacker Zach Brown led the team with 12 tackles. The Redskins held the Eagles to just 58 yards rushing in a much improved effort over last year’s failings. Highly-touted linebacker Junior Galette showed promise in limited opportunity, with one sack being taken away courtesy of a penalty unrelated to Galette’s effort. Cornerbacks Josh Norman, Kendall Fuller, and Bashaud Breeland all showed strong play with quality pass breakups downfield against quality Eagles receivers in the form of Alshon Jeffrey, Torrey Smith, and Nelson Agholor. Tight end Zach Ertz had the strongest game of all of the Eagles pass catchers with 8 receptions for 93 yards.
The Redskins will travel to California in week 2 and attempt to right the ship against the Los Angeles Rams.