Week 1 wasn’t supposed to go this way. After building a sizable 17-0 lead over Washington in the first half, the Philadelphia Eagles fell apart in every facet of the game.

 

Carson Wentz was awful. The offensive line was worse. The alarming lack of young talent exposed Howie Roseman’s recent drafts. Doug Pederson called a horrendous game. And even more players got hurt from a roster that already was strapped for health.

 

It was a complete team loss, one of the worst we’ve seen from the Wentz/Pederson era. Aside from the blown lead to Miami last year and the 48-7 debacle against New Orleans in 2018, this was as bad as it gets in Philadelphia.

 

Does it feel like the end of an era? Not necessarily. The Eagles could rebound. They play the Los Angeles Rams next week, a team Doug Pederson is 2-0 against since taking over as coach. Then they get rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, which could easily put the Eagles back at 2-1 heading into October.

 

But this also could be a similar loss to the 20-10 loss to Dallas in 2015, the Week 2 game in which we collectively realized Sam Bradford isn’t good enough, DeMarco Murray was a colossal bust, Byron Maxwell was overpaid and can’t cover anyone, and Chip Kelly is effectively ruining the organization.

 

Here are the biggest culprits for this loss below.

 

Sunday’s game was a shocking tale of two stories for Carson Wentz.

 

For close to the first half of the game, Wentz displayed vintage 2017 accuracy and poise in the pocket, completing 14 of 18 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns. He didn’t throw an interception and posted a near-perfect 145.8 passer rating. The Eagles cruised to a 17-0 team against a team fresh off a 3-13 season and on its third head coach in 10 months.

 

In the last 32 minutes, Wentz was frighteningly awful, on par with the worst we’ve ever seen the franchise quarterback play. He completed just 42 percent of his pass attempts, averaged a paltry 3.7 yards per attempt, fumbled again (his second of the day), threw multiple interceptions (and several more that could have been picked off), and most importantly – didn’t lead the Eagles to a single point on 10 straight offensive possessions.

 

The most alarming aspect was Wentz’s pocket awareness – of lack thereof. On multiple occasions, he seemingly held the ball for an eternity, staring down the pass rush until he was sacked. At least half the eight sacks are likely the direct result of Wentz. Wentz had one critical sack on a third down that pushed the Eagles out of field goal range, and that’s the kind of mistake that absolutely cannot happen from a veteran quarterback.

 

PFF credits Wentz with having been pressured on 20 of his 50 dropbacks in Week 1, the most of any quarterback in the league. The problem is that when Wentz wasn’t pressured, he had the third-lowest passer rating in the NFL at 73.7. Both his interceptions came when he was throwing from a clean pocket. When he was pressured, he didn’t throw the ball away a single time all game.

 

It’s always difficult to throw the ball when the protection is poor. And Wentz has typically been blessed with excellent offensive lines. But he also made some terrible mistakes Sunday, and for the Eagles to be contenders in the NFC East this season, they need Wentz to be better.

 

We as Eagles fans aren’t accustomed to seeing quite a porous offensive line like was on the field in Week 1. With Brandon Brooks and Lane Johnson out due to injuries, the team put together a makeshift line of Nate Herbig and Jack Driscoll in their places, and then Jordan Mailata when Driscoll left due to an injury. This was against a Washington pass rush consisting of five first-round picks: Chase Young, Montez Sweat, Ryan Kerrigan, Jonathan Allen, and Da’Ron Payne.

 

The result went about the way you’d expect. Even when the Eagles were moving the ball effectively in the first quarter, the offensive line’s struggles were obvious. At one point, Carson Wentz was sacked on consecutive plays but managed to overcome it with a 55-yard bomb to Jalen Reagor. For the game, the Eagles allowed eight sacks – the most the team has allowed in a game since the infamous Winston Justice vs. Osi Umenyiora game back in 2007 – and they let their quarterback get hit as he threw 14 times.

 

Even Jason Peters, who successfully swindled the Eagles for a pay raise to move back to his natural position of left tackle, was a shell of his former All-Pro self. He was beaten for a sack and allowed four quarterback hurries. Isaac Seumalo is what he is – a mediocre guard who can get by as a starter – but that means the team is strapped with four replacement-level players to go with All-Pro Kelce. And this is a unit that faces two-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald next.

 

The Super Bowl win was the best we’ve ever seen Doug Pederson perform. He hit all the right buttons for 60 minutes, went for fourth down masterfully, and dialed up the greatest trick play we’ve ever seen.

 

None of that was present in Sunday’s loss to Washington. After taking a 17-0 lead and getting past his scripted 15 plays to start, it was as if Pederson had never coached this team before. The offensive line couldn’t pass protect and yet Pederson called for Carson Wentz to throw deep repeatedly. In fact, the Eagles allowed more pressures than any other team (20) and had the highest average depth of target (12.4) of any quarterback.

 

He reportedly rested DeSean Jackson during the game to keep him healthy for all 16 games, a bizarre event in itself that seems equivalent to what the Philadelphia 76ers would do with Joel Embiid. Both fourth down opportunities failed, one of which was a questionable decision to go for in the first place. And his decision to remain aggressive right before halftime gifted Washington an interception and then a touchdown, making a 17-0 game a 17-7 score.

 

Good head coaches don’t blow 17-point Week 1 leads to Dwayne Haskins.

 

How much of a pass does a general manager get for winning the Super Bowl? Whatever the answer is, the blissful feeling of the Eagles’ 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots almost three years ago is starting to wear off.

 

Howie Roseman has always been a financial wizard who manipulates the salary cap better than any other GM in the league, and this has allowed him to compensate for sometimes questionable draft day decisions. But we’re starting to see the errors of his recent player evaluations, and they’re glaring, to say the least.

 

Do we blame Roseman for not extending Zach Ertz before the season? Maybe not, but the problem is that after his first quarter touchdown grab, Ertz played distracted and then dropped a pivotal fourth down pass with the game on the line. Do we blame Roseman for Fletcher Cox’s poor performance? Not necessarily, but seeing a $20 million dollar-per-year defensive tackle register two solo tackles, no sacks, and no quarterback pressures against a weak interior line just isn’t good enough.

 

There’s a disconcerting low number of young talented players to be found. Before tearing his biceps, Andre Dillard (2019 first-round pick) showed a scary lack of progress. Derek Barnett (2017 first-round pick) was injured and missed today’s game, and has also been underwhelming for three seasons. Sidney Jones (2017 second-round pick) and Rasul Douglas (2017 third-round pick) didn’t make the 53-man roster this year.

 

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (2019 second-round pick) wasn’t targeted at all in the passing game, ceding snaps to fifth-round rookie John Hightower. Constant misses in the middle rounds of recent drafts (Clayton Thorson, Donnel Pumphrey, Shareef Miller, Mack Hollins) have led to an overall lack of depth on the roster.

 

Dallas Goedert and Miles Sanders (who missed Sunday’s game with an injury) are building blocks for the future. A case could be made for cornerback Avonte Maddox. And first-round rookie receiver Jalen Reagor looks like a game-breaking talent. But with the Eagles being strapped for cap space, that’s not enough for the future.

 

And Roseman’s curious decision not to add any depth to the offensive line cost the team dearly in Week 1. Driscoll/Herbig/Mailata had almost no playing experience and were thrust into serious roles. It’s understandable that the Eagles didn’t retain Big V, given that he landed a near-$50 million contract to play in Detroit, but it does show the value of a swing tackle that can play all over the offensive line. The Eagles have nothing of the like.

 

The Eagles played their Week 1 game without the following starters: Miles Sanders, Alshon Jeffery, Andre Dillard, Brandon Brooks, Lane Johnson, Derek Barnett, and Javon Hargrave. During the game, Jack Driscoll left early due to cramping, but appears to be fine. Vinny Curry suffered a hamstring injury and could be out for close to a month, and Craig James is dealing with a ‘significant’ injury and will be out for awhile.

 

The team leads the NFL in players on injured reserve and out for Week 1 (13). And what’s worse is that the timetable for the players that are injured is unreliable. Take Lane Johnson as an example. He was day-to-day with an injury on August 23. It’s three weeks later and he’s still day-to-day, and wasn’t able to suit up for the Week 1 contest. A similar thing could be said of Miles Sanders, who didn’t play last week.

 

COVID limits the Eagles’ reporters’ access to the coaching staff, which in turn, gives Pederson an opportunity to provide as little information as possible. It’s a vicious cycle that doesn’t appear to be changing, and if it continues, it’s going to be a difficult season.

 

 

 

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