Philadelphia Eagles: 5 positive talking points from the Week 1 loss

Jack Driscoll and Nate Herbig played kinda okay.

Now I get it, how can I include anything offensive line related when the unit gave up a collective total of eight sacks? I hear that argument, and I’ll be the first to point out that the Eagles O-Line played absolutely horrible on Sunday.

However, context is key, and I thought Jack Driscoll and Nate Herbig did their part in holding their own against a dominant Washington pass rush.

Driscoll was a fourth-round pick this year, and heading into Week 1 people weren’t even sure what position he would be playing. He played a mix of tackle and guard in college, and the Eagles reportedly worked him out at center a bit in the pre-draft process. Having to fill in for Lane Johnson going up against Chase Young and Ryan Kerrigan without any preseason experience is a borderline impossible task, and the fact that he didn’t give up 100 sacks should be viewed as a “win” for the rookie.

Herbig on the other hand was a UDFA from 2019, and he too was making his debut on Sunday. At 6-4. 334 lbs, the former Stanford guard is an absolute behemoth of a man. Like Driscoll, he held his own fairly well during his first NFL game.

Herbig actually graded out as the Eagles best overall pass-blocker on Sunday (according to PFF), which is fairly surprising considering guys like Jason Peters, Issac Seumalo, and Jason Kelce were all active and playing. I’ll let you decide if this should be viewed as a positive or a negative, but there’s definitely reason to be excited about Herbig’s NFL future moving forward.

Obviously losing to Washington to kick off the new season is a disastrous result, but not everyone on the field played bad during the loss. It’s encouraging to see some of the young players like Sweat, Reagor, and Goedert play well, Slay came as advertised, and it’s not all bad on the O-Line moving forward. Onto Los Angeles in Week 2 we go.