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Philadelphia Eagles: Dreams And Nightmares from Week 1

By Scotty Pierre

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 05: Carson Wentz #11 of the Philadelphia Eagles warms up as head coach Doug Pederson looks on prior to the NFC Wild Card game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lincoln Financial Field on January 5, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 05: Carson Wentz #11 of the Philadelphia Eagles warms up as head coach Doug Pederson looks on prior to the NFC Wild Card game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lincoln Financial Field on January 5, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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Philadelphia Eagles
(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) /

Dreams

Dallas Goedert

I had been raving all offseason about Dallas Goedert, and it appears I was right to. Goedert was indeed the one player on the Eagles’ offense that really stood out in a good way in Week 1. Goedert racked up eight catches on nine targets for 101 yards and a receiving touchdown against Washington.

Goedert had a long 34-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter to put the Eagles up 17-0. After a hot start, the Eagles, for some reason, got away from passing to their tight ends, which worked well at the beginning of the game. With Zach Ertz only totaling three catches for 18 receiving yards, it appeared Goedert was involved in the offense a lot more. With Ertz’s contract situation lingering over the team, you have to wonder if the Eagles are planning to phase out Ertz by involving Goedert heavily. The better and more involved Ertz is in the offense, the more focus that gathers around getting Ertz extended.

Regardless of the Ertz contract talks, I knew Goedert would explode this season, and I also knew the Eagles would involve him more. Goedert’s targets, receptions, and receiving yards doubled from his rookie year to his sophomore year, and I expect much of the same this season. With two years left on the 25-year old’s rookie-scale contract, the Eagles need to see what they have in the third-year tight-end before picking between him and the older Ertz.

Josh Sweat

I’m not going to lie, it was hard finding anymore dreams from this disappointing loss to start the season, but I did some digging and found this gem in Josh Sweat. Sweat was one of the few bright spots that stuck out on defense. With Derek Barnett out due to an injury, Sweat stepped in and made his presence felt, finishing out the game with three tackles, one sack, a forced fumble, and two QB hits, which was tied with Malik Jackson and T.Y. McGill for the most on the team.

Sweat was also recognized by Pro Football Focus as the second-highest graded defender in Week 1 minus the Monday Night football participants with a grade of 92.7. The third-year defensive end out of Florida State University should continue to garner snaps down the stretch of the season if he continues to play with this level of intensity and efficiency. Mix his stellar performance with the fact that Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry also went down with injuries in the Week 1 matchup; the Eagles are incredibly thin at defensive end all the sudden. Even if Barnett returns to action, Sweat should still see ample playing time against the Rams.

With the dreams of Week 1 few and far between, the Eagles have to hope that that’s not the case in Week 2against the Los Angeles Rams. If we see the same nightmares from Week 1 in Week 2, then we will see an even worse result than the loss to Washington. If the Eagles thought Washington’s defensive line was as tough as it gets, then they will be truly surprised when they run into Aaron Donald and that crew.

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