Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/26/22.

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Eagles vs. Commanders: The good, the bad, and the ugly - BGN
DeVonta Smith’s leaping 44-yard catch over Washington’s Kendall Fuller and Bobby McCain with :25 left in the first half. It was Lynn Swann-esque, the way Smith perfectly timed the catch, with Fuller on him and McCain closing in. His reception set up his two-yard TD catch from Hurts for a 24-0 halftime lead. Earlier in the game, on the Eagles’ third drive, Smith’s 45-yard over-the-shoulder catch on first-and-10 from the Eagles’ 39 set up Jake Elliott’s 32-yard field goal. Smith had seven catches for 156 yards receiving in the first half. He finished with a career-high eight catches for another career-high 169 yards.

BGN Instant Reaction Show: The Eagles are 3-0! - BGN Radio
The Eagles remain undefeated after defeating Carson Wentz and the Washington Commanders 24-8 on the road. Jessica Towne Taylor, Victor Williams and Jonny Page share what they saw from the Birds in their first divisional win of the season.

Week 3: Broncos’ Coaching Experiment Pays Off, Dolphins Win ‘Beast’ Game, and What We Learned About the NFL in September - FMIA
Offensive players of the week. DeVonta Smith, wide receiver, Philadelphia. Smith is such a multi-dimensional receiver, and it was all on display late in the first half of an eight-catch, 169-yard game at Washington Sunday. He sprinted deep downfield and floated above two Washington defensive backs to nab a 45-yard strike from Jalen Hurts, coming down at the two-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the two-, with one second left in the half, Hurts threw to the left corner to Smith and he made a contested catch to put this one out of reach at the half, 24-0. Both catches were really hard. Smith’s become one of the best receivers in the NFL, and he’s only 20 games into his pro career.

DeVonta Smith has career-best performance in Commanding win - PE.com
DeVonta Smith prepares himself to be in position where he can beat any defender, anytime and anywhere. That’s the work ethic and mindset of a star wide receiver, so even if it looks like he’s covered, or if it may seem like a catch can’t be made, Smith loves to prove otherwise. Sunday, in a 24-8 win over Washington, Smith did prove otherwise. He made a series of sensational catches on the way to an eight-reception, 169-yard, one-touchdown game as the Eagles’ passing game produced three plays of 40-plus yards and a total of six completions that gained 20-plus yards. That big-play approach gashed Washington’s defense, and Smith was in a starring role. His 45-yard catch down the right sideline on a perfectly thrown Jalen Hurts pass over Smith’s right shoulder was incredible – Smith contorted his body and somehow made the grab and the officials ruled that he got both feet down – the Commanders threw the challenge flag too late, after the hurry-it-up offense astutely ran the next play quickly – and the catch led to the first points of the game, a 32-yard Jake Elliott field goal. “I felt like I got my feet down, but I’ll have to watch the film and see for sure,” Smith said afterward, smiling as he finished his group media interviews. “I just reached out and caught it. You work on making those tough catches and when you make them, they feel great.”

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Commanders game - PhillyVoice
In Week 1, A.J. Brown had a huge performance, catching 10 passes for 155 yards. Smith was shut out. In Week 2, the ball was spread around, with four receivers compiling at least 69 receiving yards. Week 3 was Smith’s time to shine. He finished with eight catches for 169 yards and the highlight-reel TD shown above. But his play of the day was a high-pointed catch in which he outleaped two defenders. Smith made leaping catches all throughout training camp. We already knew he ran slick routes and created separation, but he did not show this level of athleticism often during his very good rookie season. The Eagles have two star receivers, and they’re going to be a problem for opposing defenses the rest of this season and beyond.

Eagles Pound Wentz, Washington - Iggles Blitz
DeVonta Smith, on the other hand, had a game to remember. He was 8-169-1 and made a couple of really impressive catches. Guys his size aren’t supposed to be able to go up and get the ball the way he does. That’s what makes Smith special.

NFL Week 3 takeaways: Lessons, big questions for every game - ESPN
Who is the No. 1 receiver in Philly? A.J. Brown seemed like the clear answer in Week 1, when he went off for 10 catches and 155 yards, but DeVonta Smith has since caught fire. He had a career-high 169 yards and a touchdown against Washington — a performance that included a number of acrobatic catches. His 156 first-half receiving yards were the most by an Eagles player in any half since Kevin Curtis in 2007. However you stack Brown and Smith, the Eagles haven’t been this well set up at receiver since Terrell Owens was in town.

NFL Week 3 Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 24, Washington Commanders 8 - PFF
Offensive spotlight: DeVonta Smith caught all eight of his catchable targets for 169 yards and a touchdown. He moved the chains six times, racked up 69 yards after the catch and came away with four explosive plays of 15 or more yards.

2022 NFL season, Week 3: What We Learned from Sunday’s games - NFL.com
DeVonta Smith highlights Philadelphia’s aerial showing. After a scoreless first quarter, the Eagles decided to air it out in the second frame. They never looked back. Smith led the team with 169 receiving yards off eight catches, setting single-game career highs. Smith’s stellar performance featured several big plays and a critical touchdown that came in the waning seconds of the first half as the timeout-less Eagles went for it on fourth down at the goal line. It was a moment of growth as Smith jumped up and snatched the ball away from a defender. The former first-rounder is coming into his own in Year 2. A.J. Brown (five catches, 85 yards, TD) and Dallas Goedert (three catches, 26 yards, TD) also had good days, while quarterback Jalen Hurts did the distributing with 340 passing yards (22 for 35) and three TDs with no interceptions.

‘Nine sacks — that’s crazy’: Eagles defense pummels Carson Wentz in a win over the Commanders - Inquirer
Jason Kelce held up the grass-stained No. 11 jersey that Carson Wentz exchanged with him, but it might have been better served going to one of the Eagles defensive players who pummeled the Commanders quarterback on Sunday.“I love Carson,” Kelce said of his former teammate. “I do not feel bad at all that he took seven sacks.” Apparently even Kelce lost count of the Eagles’ nine sacks during their resounding 24-8 win over Washington. But it wasn’t just sacks that told the story of the defense’s dominance and of Wentz’s woeful showing in his first game against his old team.The Eagles hit him 17 times, forced him to fumble twice — one of which he lost — and had the quarterback seeing ghosts in the secondary. Wentz’s final passing numbers don’t look egregious, but his first-half statistics were truly indicative of how much he and the Commanders struggled vs. defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s unit.

Roob’s obs: Smith, D-line have huge days, plus more - NBCSP
1. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the Eagles’ defensive line simply take over a football game like this. This is what Reggie, Clyde and Jerome used to do to teams. Take away their heart. Crush their spirit. Destroy their will. Remove their hope. Carson Wentz’s 17 first-half pass plays Sunday resulted in three short completions, seven incompletions, six sacks, one fumble and minus-16 net yards. Ballgame. Jonathan Gannon’s unit finished with NINE sacks – tied for 4th-most in franchise history – pitched a defensive shutout until the last few minutes and held Washington to 240 yards – most of them in garbage time. This is the first time since the Super Bowl season the Eagles have held consecutive teams to single digits and only the fourth time since 2009. This was old-school Eagles defensive football. The front four generated insane pressure, the back end defended the few times Wentz was able to get the ball out, and Washington had no answer. The biggest question about this defense after two weeks was its ability to generate pressure, and they answered that one in a hurry. Wentz, working behind a mediocre offensive line that’s been hit hard by injuries, had no chance, and the Eagles didn’t hold back on their former teammate. He kept taking those seven-step drops and somebody – Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Josh Sweat, Haason Reddick, Javon Hargrave – was in his face every snap.

Eagles beat Commanders, reach 3-0 start for first time since 2016 - DraftKings Nation
This year’s Eagles squad feels a little different than both of those teams. Jalen Hurts seems to offer significantly more explosiveness than Carson Wentz or Nick Foles. He’s outplayed a lot of expectations, adding solid accuracy to his scrambling abilities. The Eagles entered Week 3 as the sixth highest scoring offense in the league.

Carson Wentz: When you’re sacked that many times, it’s not the offensive line - PFT
“Definitely not good enough,” Wentz said. “That’s a good defense. It’s a good team, they got after us. I did not play to my standards, especially early. I think that’s tough. And unfortunately, in back-to-back weeks we’ve dug ourselves a hole. I got to be better, especially early on, so that we’re not having to throw the whole second half and let them play coverage and do some things differently. So I got to be better.”

Washington is blown out by the Eagles at FedEx Field to fall to 1-2; they travel to Dallas next week - Hogs Haven
The major statistical differences, aside from the score, were time of possession (32:54 for Philly), total yards (400 to 240), passing yards (328 to 153) and sacks (9 for 58 yards vs. 3 for 12 yards). Obviously, Jalen Hurts had another great day, throwing for 340 yards and 3 TDs with no turnovers. In the end, it was a blowout that dropped Washington to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the division, while the Eagles remain one of the 5 undefeated teams in the league at 3-0, and 1-0 in the NFC East. For Commanders fans, the hope will be that the team can rebound against a Cowboys team that will be without Dak Pescott next week, and then pick up some energy with the hoped-for return of DE Chase Young and the introduction of RB Brian Robinson – both of whom are currently on IR — to the NFL when the Week 5 game against the Titans comes around. The team certainly needs something to go right after back-to-back losses.

FedEx Field is for the birds as Eagles fans take over - Washington Post
In the parking lot, Eagles tailgaters outnumbered Commanders fans. Even team-sponsored functions, such as the HBCU tailgate, were inlets of burgundy and gold among a sea of green. Philly had such a strong presence in part because larger fan experience companies — such as Philly Sports Trips, Phans of Philly and the Green Legion — had bussed in a few thousand fans. Several said they had paid about $350 for a round-trip bus ticket, lower-bowl seats, an open bar, food and custom T-shirts.The game attracted smaller groups too — such as 717 Rec, a cornhole league from Lancaster, Pa. Tim Hollenbeck, the organizer, said the group has done a few other trips but has found it difficult to find 50 tickets together at most stadiums. “It’s impossible to get a crew of 56 people that can get a ticket to the game in Philadelphia,” he said. “You physically can’t do it. For us, it’s a lot easier to get tickets down here.”

NFL Week 3 takeaways: Did the Titans, Bengals, Panthers and Colts save their seasons? - The Athletic
2. Which of these two 3-0 teams has been most impressive so far this season? Dolphins or Eagles? Kahler: This is hard, but I’m going with Miami because they’ve had a bigger turnaround and are in the first year of a brand new staff and just beat the team that looked the most unbeatable so far this season. Buffalo had 90 (!) offensive plays, double the number of first downs as Miami (31 and 15) and twice as many passing yards (400 to 186) yet the Dolphins still found a way to win by two. Howe: The Dolphins delivered a statement with their win against the Bills. This was a really impressive win because they had contributions from all phases, made clutch plays, overcame adversity with the late safety and hung on when Josh Allen was trying to lead a winning drive. Mike McDaniel is clearly building something promising. It was evident last week with that 21-point comeback against the Ravens, and the Dolphins followed it up with a wholly impressive win against a Super Bowl favorite. It sure looks like the Dolphins will be playing meaningful games in December and January.

Report: The earliest Dak Prescott will be back for Dallas Cowboys is October 16th against Eagles - Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys are off on Sunday as they visit the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. It is their third game of the season and the second full one that they will have to play without quarterback Dak Prescott. As to when QB1 will make his return to the Cowboys lineup, the team has done what they can to inspire as much optimism as possible. Jerry Jones, who also noted that he would welcome a quarterback controversy in usual Jerry Jones fashion, has made it seem like Prescott could return as soon as next week against the Washington Commanders at times. Given that the initial timeframe associated with Prescott’s thumb injury was 6-8 weeks, none of that really made sense. During Sunday morning’s news roudndups across the national space NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport noted that it is his understanding that the “earliest” Dak could return is October 16th on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Brian Daboll’s good start, frenzied fans, more ‘things I think’ before Giants-Cowboys - Big Blue View
Saquon Barkley had experience with ‘White Outs’ while playing for Penn State. He’s looking forward to what Monday’s MetLife Stadium White Out looks like. “If it’s anything like State College, it’s unbelievable. Words really can’t describe it,” Barkley said. “Literally when I found out we were going to do that, went right back to memories of playing in State College. I had a lot of good memories in the White Out. Hopefully, that can rub off this Monday, too.” I think this could — no, should — be the wildest we have seen MetLife Stadium for a Giants’ game in a long time. Monday Night Football. Dallas Cowboys. Induction of seven men into the Ring of Honor, including four 1980 and 1990s era players. “We expect it to be rocking,” said defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. “It should be like an avalanche once they get in that stadium.” If the Giants win to go to 3-0? Oh, boy!

The Dolphins’ butt punt was a beautiful disaster - SB Nation
Football has given fans so many things. Including the Butt Fumble, and even the Butt Interception. On Sunday down in Miami, the Butt Punt joined the party. With the Buffalo Bills trailing the Miami Dolphins by a score of 21-17 late in the fourth quarter, the Bills faced a critical 4th and goal at the Miami two-yard line. Josh Allen’s pass in the direction of Isaiah McKenzie fell incomplete, and the Dolphins took over possession on their own two-yard line, with just under two minutes remaining. Miami, however, could not simply run out the clock, as the Bills still had two timeouts remaining. After a pair of running plays burned both of those timeouts, the Dolphins faced a third down on their own one-yard line. Head coach Mike McDaniel called for a pass, which fell incomplete, stopping the clock with 1:40 left in the game. He then sent on his punt team. Not just onto the field, but into football immortality.

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