Another week, another ugly loss.
The Eagles fell behind early on Sunday and never fully recovered in their 37-19 loss to the Rams at Lincoln Financial Field. They’re an 0-2 football team and these grades reflect that.
Quarterback
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Carson Wentz: 26/43, 242 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 56.5 rating
Last week, there were some built in excuses for Wentz. He didn’t have a preseason, his rookie receivers probably didn’t do all they could on his two interceptions and his offensive line didn’t hold up. None of those excuses were there on Sunday and Wentz was even worse. Just too many poor decisions and a lack of accuracy for No. 11.
Grade: F
Running backs
NFL
Miles Sanders: 20 carries, 95 yards, 1 TD; 3 catches, 36 yards
Eventually, Sanders got cooking and Doug Pederson began to ride his run game. Sanders went for over 100 scrimmage yards and Boston Scott chipped in 43. But that fumble from Sanders on the first drive can’t happen. The Eagles never really recovered from it.
Grade: B-
Wide receivers
DeSean Jackson: 6 catches, 64 yards
Jackson ended up being the Eagles’ top receiver and he didn’t even have a target until the second half. Reagor had an OK day with 41 yards but, all together, not a great performance from this group. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside also had that awful drop and John Hightower wasn’t targeted.
Grade: D
Tight ends
Zach Ertz: 5 catches, 42 yards; Dallas Goedert: 4 catches, 30 yards
Decent production here but nothing wild. Ertz was targeted seven times and Goedert was targeted eight times. Neither had any huge plays and Goedert had a drop in traffic.
Grade: C
Offensive line
A week after Carson Wentz was sacked eight times, he wasn’t sacked once on Sunday. Sure, all those eight sacks weren’t on the OL last week, but that group responded nicely. Even Matt Pryor played well when he came in for Isaac Seumalo. Aaron Donald had just one tackle and one QB hit. They also paved the way in the run game.
Grade: B+
Defensive line
Brandon Graham: 1 sack for 9 yards
That sack from Graham was huge because it basically took three points off the board. Graham had a good game. But didn’t see much from Derek Barnett or Javon Hargrave in their season debuts as Fletcher Cox fought off double teams. And the defensive line certainly didn’t help stuff the run. The Rams had 191 rushing yards.
Grade: D
Linebackers
Nathan Gerry: 7 tackles
The Eagles simply don’t have enough talent at this position. That was evident on Sunday. The linebackers struggled in the run and pass game. A lasting image from this one will be Gerry trailing Tyler Higbee on his third touchdown of the game.
Grade: F
Secondary
Darius Slay: 5 tackles, 1 TFL
I thought Slay played pretty well and I remember one open field tackle from Avonte Maddox. But aside from that, it wasn’t pretty. Jared Goff carved them up early in the game and Nickell Robey-Coleman was beaten badly by Cooper Kupp.
Grade: F
Special teams
Jake Elliott: 2/2 on FGs, 1/1 on PATs
Can’t take anything away from the special teams group on Sunday. Elliott was perfect. Cam Johnson had two punts with an average of 60.5. He downed one inside the 20 and gave his unit a chance on the other. And T.J. Edwards stripped the ball on punt return and K’Von Wallace jumped on it.
Grade: A
Coaching
Record: 0-2
Even if we don’t kill Doug Pederson for the decision to keep the points instead of going for a 4th-and-3 in the fourth quarter, it’s still safe to say the Eagles were thoroughly out-coached on Sunday. While Pederson didn’t have a good game, Jim Schwartz had an awful day. Sean McVay coached circles around him.
Grade: F