Carson Wentz wasn’t sacked once on Sunday. So that means they won the game, right?
Wrong. The Eagles were completely confused by Sean McVay’s “illusion of complexity” — to quote Jamon Brown — and watched them salt away a 37-19 victory in Week 2. Philadelphia battled back from a 21-3 deficit in the first half to pull within five points. That would be as close as they would come.
Feeding off a steady diet of jet motion sweeps and play-action passing, the Rams were a deceptively uncomplicated magical mystery tour. Jared Goff outdueled Wentz, too.
Wentz went 26-of-43 for 242 yards and two interceptions in another dismal performance. He missed horrendously on multiple throws, including severely under-throwing Zach Ertz late in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. Both picks were tight-window throws, including an end-zone toss intended for J.J. Arcega-Whiteside late in the third quarter.
Darius Williams with a @RamsNFL interception in the end zone! #RamsHouse
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That ball should have never been thrown. Wentz was inaccurate all day, mainly throwing the ball over his receiver’s heads, and he almost got rookie Jalen Reagor killed on a miss in traffic. Luckily, the struggling Wentz believes he knows how to clean it up. The Eagles are “right there” in terms of being an “elite offense.”
“We know we’re right there. At the end of the day, we had two turnovers, excuse me two interceptions and the fumble,” Wentz told reporters. “Turning the ball over is really killing us the last two weeks — those are things we know we can clean up. But other than that, we truly feel we’re right there.”
Wentz continued: “We’re just missing some things, the timing of some things, so we’re not panicking, we know what we need to clean up and we will. We know once we get these things cleaned up, we have the potential with the pieces that we have on offense to be great, to be elite on offense and now we’re excited to get those things fixed and start showing we are elite.”
Wentz added the “sky isn’t falling” despite reports to the contrary outside the locker room. Defensive end Brandon Graham said everything was “self-inflicted” against Los Angeles, with safety Rodney McLeod revealing the defense had practiced everything the Rams’ offense threw at them, all the motion and movement.
Unfortunately, the Eagles couldn’t stop it in real-time and were running around “chasing plays” and not living in the “present.”
“The sky isn’t falling,” Wentz said. “There is no panic. We still are trying to figure out 100-percent who we are. We are hungry.”
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Miles Sanders Had ‘Conditioning’ Issues
Miles Sanders fumbled on the third play of the game and it set the tone for the afternoon. He rebounded in a big way from the early miscue and Sanders’ 131 all-scrimmage yards (95 on the ground, with one touchdown) was arguably the lone bright spot.
The second-year back didn’t want to make any excuses, but he did pin his personal troubles on missing training camp. Sanders was back at practice last week for the first time since Aug. 19.
“I felt pretty fresh but it also hurt me, my conditioning wasn’t there,” Sanders said about missing camp. “I’m not making excuses, I didn’t have a whole camp. This was my first full week of practicing.”
It was an interesting comment coming from Sanders. A handful of Eagles players missed large stretches of camp with lingering injuries. The team kept saying they were being extra cautious but missing those summer reps “on the grass” has certainly put them behind the eight-ball. In addition to Sanders, Lane Johnson and Derek Barnett and Javon Hargrave all made their 2020 debuts. So did second-round pick Jalen Hurts who ran two gadget-style trick plays in the first half.
Jalen Hurts in for the first time. Lined up in backfield. #Eagles with double fake, the second to Hurts, Carson Wentz hits wide open Dallas Goedert over the middle for 10 yards.
“It’s not about one player or one unit,” Pederson told reporters on Sunday. “The offense has to do their part obviously, and not turn the football over, and we got to put points on the board when we have opportunities.”
Sanders, like Wentz, doesn’t believe the season is over. Pederson has been pounding the message of bouncing back and being resilient.
“It’s a long season, it’s pretty simple,” Sanders said. “It’s not the end of the world.”
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Rams Rout Eagles in Week 2, Carson Wentz Feels Offense Can Be ‘Elite’