Eagles' defensive line turns Wentz's day into a nightmare

[time2rock]

Eagles' defensive line turns Wentz's day into a nightmare

 

 

 

Reuben Frank

EAGLES INSIDER

It took 63 seconds for the Eagles to record their first sack.

By halftime, 38 percent of the Commanders’ pass plays were sacks.

With six minutes left in the third quarter, Washington still had negative net passing yards.

This was a demolition.

Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon on Sunday unleashed his defensive front on an overmatched Washington offensive line and a quarterback who still hasn’t learned how to get rid of the ball when he’s under siege, and the result was a nine-sack masterpiece from the Eagles’ defense in a 24-8 win at FedExField in Landover, Maryland.

"It’s real fun when everybody’s making plays and being productive and disrupting the quarterback,” Javon Hargrave said. "We were all having fun.

"We go into every game thinking we have a chance to dominate, but things just went right for us today.”

The Eagles had just three sacks in their first two games, but their nine sacks Sunday are the most in the NFL this year, the fourth-most in Eagles history and just two off the franchise record of 11 set in Dallas early in the 1991 season.

Brandon Graham had 2 ½, matching his second-most ever, and Fletcher Cox, Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat added 1 ½ each. Hargrave and T.J. Edwards contributed one apiece.

The nine sacks are the second-most ever recorded against Washington. The Bills sacked John Beck 10 times in a 23-0 win at Rogers Centre in Toronto in 2011.

"They played their tails off, they were awesome,” Nick Sirianni said. "We thought they could get after him a little bit, and they did. That’s the strength of our team. That’s what you want in a divisional game, you want the strength of your team to go out there and play like they did right there.

"One thing we really wanted to do was get after (Wentz) and get him to known-pass (situations). I think we did a really nice job of getting him to known pass, and then our defensive line, they just went out and hunted.”

The first two weeks of the season, the Eagles faced 67 pass plays and recorded three sacks. Sunday, they faced 52 pass plays and had nine sacks.

The Eagles had as many sacks Sunday as in their five previous games combined. In their previous 11 games, they had just 15 sacks.

But it was clear from the start, this was their day. Six of the first 11 times Wentz dropped back, he was sacked.

"We (started) fast,” said Graham, whose strip-sack deep in Washington territory set up the Eagles' first touchdown. "We got two right off the (bat). Then Fletch, Sweaty, Javon, we all was out there trying to get after him, and it just kind of opened up for us as the game kept going. … We were just having fun out there.”

Other than a leaky second half in Detroit, this defense has been superb this year.

They’re now the No. 5 defense in the NFL in yards allowed and No. 7 in points allowed. This is the first time since 2004 the Eagles have held back-to-back teams to eight or fewer points.

"We just wanted to go out there and play as a team and just keep getting better,” Graham said. "Our standard is our standard, and I’m just happy that we finally got one of them games where we had a nine-sack game and we were out there having fun.

"We just played together. The biggest thing for us is making sure we do what we do and not worry about anything else. We played together, and we made sure we never we never let off the gas.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-defensive-line-turns-carson-wentzs-day-nightmare

[UK_EaglesFan89]

In some ways it was quite sad to watch Wentz. I mean I don't like the way that he handled himself and his exit from Philly. But this was a player who once showed some promise and potential and to see him take such a beating against us was a little sad.