LANDOVER, Md. − Several Eagles players hugged Carson Wentz before the game.
Then they kept hugging Wentz, in a manner of speaking, with sacks throughout the game. The Eagles sacked Wentz 6 times in the first half alone, forcing two fumbles, and 9 times overall. All of which helped the Eagles build a 24-0 lead on their way to a 24-8 win Sunday.
The Eagles improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2016.
The Eagles then took over on offense through the first half as Jalen Hurts, the quarterback who replaced Wentz late in the 2020 season, threw for 340 yards, with 279 of them coming in the first half. DeVonta Smith had a career-high 169 yards, with 155 in the first half.
The Eagles sacked Wentz three more times in the second half. But it hardly mattered. He was 3-for-10 for 24 yards in the first half before finishing 25-for-43 for 211 yards.
The Eagles kept Washington off the scoreboard until allowing a safety with 14:06 left in the fourth quarter. That came after the Eagles stopped the Commanders on 4th-and-goal from the 1.
By then, the Eagles were in complete control, although they didn’t score in the second half for the second straight week after building big first-half leads.
Hurts clearly outperformed Wentz. He completed 18 of 27 passes for 279 yards and 3 TDs in the first half alone. That included a final 2-yard TD pass to Smith on 4th-and-goal as time expired.
Smith had 7 receptions for 155 yards in the first half. His previous career high for a game was 122 yards.
Wentz was under pressure right from the start. The Eagles forced 2 fumbles on sacks, one of which they recovered at Washington’s 24 early in the second quarter. The Eagles sacked Wentz four times in the first quarter, the most first-quarter sacks for the Eagles since 1994.
Hurts also got off to a slow start as he was just 1-for-5 for 5 yards through the first two series. But then he hit Smith on a 45-yard pass down the sideline, setting up a field goal. On the next series, the Eagles took over at Washington’s 24 after Wentz was sacked by Brandon Graham and fumbled the ball away.
Hurts then hit Dallas Goedert for a 23-yard TD. The Eagles made it 17-0 on Hurts’ 9-yard TD to A.J. Brown, set up by a 31-yard completion to Smith on 3rd-and-5 from Washington’s 42.
The Eagles had one last chance, getting the ball back with 1:57 left in the half. With about 40 seconds left, Hurts went deep to Smith, who came down with the ball at Washington’s 1. With no timeouts left, the Eagles tried a QB sneak on 3rd-and-goal from the 1. When that was stopped, the Eagles had to go on fourth down because they couldn’t get their field-goal unit in on time.
Hurts threw to Smith in the back corner, and Smith outleaped a defender for the ball.
The Eagles couldn’t quite keep it going in the second half.
But with Wentz constantly under siege from the Eagles’ pass rush, and from his penchant to hold the ball too long, the Eagles never had to worry about a comeback.
DeVonta’s delight
Smith had a receiving day for the ages for the Eagles. His 156 yards in the first half shattered his previous career best, set last Oct. 3 against Kansas City.
It was also the most receiving yards for an Eagle in the first half since Kevin Curtis had 205 in the first half in 2007. As for an entire game, Tommy McDonald has the all-time record with 237 receiving yards in a 1961 game against the Giants.
In that 2007 game against the Lions, Curtis finished with 221 yards, which is second. The Eagles tried going deep to Smith early in the third quarter, which would have pushed him near 200 yards. But the play was broken up.
Eagles having a sack party
The sacks began early.
The 9 sacks were the most since the Eagles had 10 against the Jets on Oct. 6, 2019. Their record for a game is 11 against the Cowboys in 1991.
The Eagles sacked Wentz three times in Washington’s first two possessions, including sacks on consecutive plays on the second possession.
Cox and Josh Sweat split the first sack, on 3rd-and-5, that forced a punt. On the next possession, Cox and Javon Hargrave sacked Wentz on the first two plays, forcing a 3rd-and-23. Wentz handed off after that and Washington punted again.
The Eagles got their fourth sack on Washington’s next series as Haason Reddick and Graham split it. On that play, Wentz held the ball for several seconds before the Eagles got him.
Graham led the way with 2.5 sacks, while Cox, Reddick and Sweat each had 1.5 sacks. Hargrave and T.J. Edwards each had 1 sack.
A better matchup than QBs
The quarterback matchup was not the only intriguing matchup.
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Both teams have a dynamic wide receiver drafted in 2019, just one round apart. A.J. Brown was taken in the second round, No. 51 overall, by the Tennessee Titans. Washington took Terry McLaurin in the third round, 76th overall.
As a quick aside, the Eagles also took a wide receiver in the second round that year, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside. But he didn’t work out. Arcega-Whiteside is on Seattle’s practice squad after the Eagles traded him over the summer.
Brown and McLaurin have panned out, and they have been rewarded for it. The Eagles traded for Brown last April and signed him to a four-year contract extension worth as much as $100 million. The Commanders signed McLaurin to a three-year extension worth as much as $68 million.
Through three-plus years, their stats are pretty similar. Brown has 200 catches for 3,219 yards and 24 touchdowns; McLaurin has 228 catches for 3,223 yards and 17 TDs. Brown has gotten off to the better start this season with 15 catches for 224 yards while McLaurin has 6 catches for 133 yards.
For Slay, McLaurin was his second straight marquee matchup after facing the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson last Monday night. Slay held Jefferson, who set an NFL record with 3,016 receiving yards in his first two seasons, to just 48 yards on 6 receptions.
Slay had 2 interceptions and 5 passes defensed. It was the first time an Eagles cornerback accomplished that feat since Lito Sheppard in 2006.
Their stats on Sunday were similar, but McLaurin was held without a catch in the first half. Brown finished with 5 catches for 85 yards, while McLaurin had 6 catches for 102 yards.
Eagles, Commanders inactives
The Eagles announced their inactives before the game Sunday, and it consisted of bottom-of-the-roster players in QB Ian Book, S Reed Blankenship, RB Trey Sermon, DE Janarius Robinson and G Josh Sills.
TE Grant Calcaterra was on the game-day roster for the first time. His first career reception went for 40 yards. And G Landon Dickerson, who was listed as questionable with a foot injury, is also on the game-day roster, and thus expected to start.
For the Commanders, starting CB William Jackson was ruled inactive for the game. He plays opposite Kendall Fuller. Rookie Christian Holmes is listed as Jackson’s backup. Expect the Eagles to test him right away.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
