LANDOVER, Md. − Oh, what Carson Wentz must have been thinking.
The Washington Commanders quarterback, and former Eagle, was constantly under siege Sunday. That began shortly after he exchanged hugs with several ex-teammates before the game.
Then the Eagles kept hugging Wentz, albeit much more violently, by sacking him nine times. The Eagles sacked Wentz six times in the first half alone and forced two fumbles.
Then Wentz could only watch as his Eagles replacement, Jalen Hurts, lit up the Commanders on defense. Hurts threw for 279 of his 340 yards in the first half. DeVonta Smith, meanwhile, came down with deep balls, twisting and turning his sinewy body to haul in Hurts’ passes, finishing with a career-high 169 yards, with 155 of them coming in the first half.
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.
Hurts said the matchup with Wentz hardly mattered to him. Hurts was a rookie in 2020 when he replaced a benched Wentz late in the season. That led to Wentz’s trade to Indianapolis, followed by his trade to Washington. Hurts, meanwhile, keeps proving himself as the franchise quarterback whom Wentz once was.
But that’s not what Hurts was thinking about after the game when he finished 21 of 34 for 340 yards.
“It’s a faceless opponent to me,” Hurts said. “We came out here, we were able to get away with a win. We didn’t play to our standard, and that’s the biggest takeaway I have from this game.”
Hurts said that because for the second straight week, the Eagles scored 24 points in the first half and zero in the second half after beating the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 last Monday night.
But wow, what a second quarter, when the Eagles scored all 24 of their points.
That’s because the Eagles started slowly on offense. But it didn’t matter because Wentz and the Commanders were going nowhere.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said the defensive game plan was simple: “Get the quarterback. … Our defensive line just went out and hunted.”
Wentz was 3-for-10 for 24 yards in the first half before finishing 25-for-43 for 211 yards. Brandon Graham led the way with 2½ sacks.
“Just knowing Carson, I just feel like with any quarterback that you have to get pressure on him when you can, and make sure we keep him contained in the pocket,” Graham said.
Then the offense got going.
Hurts completed a 45-yard pass deep down the sideline to Smith, who may or may not have gotten only one foot in bounds. The Eagles quick-snapped the next play, preventing the Commanders from challenging the ruling of a catch.
That drive ended with a field goal.
On Washington’s next possession, Graham sacked Wentz and forced a fumble that Javon Hargrave recovered, setting the Eagles up at the Commanders’ 24. Hurts hit Dallas Goedert for a 23-yard TD. Later in the second quarter, Hurts hit A.J. Brown on a 9-yard slant for a TD, and it was 17-0 with 2:56 left.
The Eagles weren’t done.
Hurts and Smith connected for 44 yards, down to Washington’s 1-yard line with 26 seconds left, as Smith leaped high and then came crashing down on his back, along with defender Kendall Fuller.
With no timeouts left, the Eagles tried two passes into the end zone that didn’t work. Then on third down, Hurts was stopped on a quarterback sneak. But the Eagles couldn’t stop the clock or get the field-goal unit on the field on time. So Hurts got everyone to the line and called a play that wasn’t in the game plan.
Of course, it was a pass to Smith, who leaped to catch it in the end zone.
“The play that was called, we didn’t necessarily have it in the game plan,” Smith said. “You just never know what’s going to come. We had to be on the same page, and we executed well.”
The same couldn’t be said for Wentz.
“Not good enough,” Wentz said. “They got after us, and I didn’t play to my standards, especially early. … I have to get rid of the ball in a lot of those situations, find a check-down and move on, different things like that.”
Batman cape comes out
Last week, A.J. Brown used Batman nicknames for the receivers, calling himself “Swole Batman,” Smith “Skinny Batman” and Quez Watkins “Fast Batman.”
He said he needed a cape.
On Sunday, Brown brought out the Batman cape that he purchased on Amazon for $9.99 after he scored a touchdown in the second quarter.
“Every time we get in the end zone, we’re gonna put that cape on,” said Brown, who finished with five catches for 85 yards.
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 of 122 yards, 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 nine 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 third-and-5, that forced a punt. On the next possession, Cox and Javon Hargrave sacked Wentz on the first two plays, forcing a third-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 2½ sacks, while Cox, Reddick and Sweat each had 1½ sacks. Hargrave and T.J. Edwards each had one sack.
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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, was also on the game-day roster.
For the Commanders, starting CB William Jackson was ruled inactive for the game. He plays opposite Kendall Fuller. Rookie Christian Holmes was listed as Jackson’s backup.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
