The Eagles are now 0-2 following their 37-19 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, a game that saw the entire team — including their franchise quarterback — struggle.
Here are some initial takeaways from the game:
Defense: The Eagles' defense did their best to make sure this game was over from the jump.
Early on the Eagles had no answers for anything the Rams were doing on offense. The Rams went right down the field for a touchdown to start the game, taking advantage of another short field on a five play, 41-yard drive for a touchdown. The drive included a way-to-easy 24-yard gain on 3rd-and-3 to extend the drive. The Rams next drive looked just as easy as they went 10 plays, 75-yards and another scored touchdown. The Rams hit the trifecta on their next drive, taking a 21-3 lead on a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Higbee.
The Rams ended the first half with 228 yards, 16 first downs and just one failed third-down attempt.
The defense did get things under control for a stretch in the third quarter, but gave up a back-breaking touchdown drive at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Linebacker Nate Gerry was beat deep by Higbee, who ran right by him and pulled in a 28-yard touchdown pass to give the Rams a 31-19 lead with just over 10 minutes to play.
The defense had all kind of issues against the Rams, but the main one seemed to be Rams head coach Sean McVay just out-coaching them early on. To their credit, the defense still improve as the game went on, but the initial onslaught by the Rams' offense was a huge blow to the Eagles to start the game.
Carson Wentz: The defense will catch plenty of the blame for the loss, and rightfully so — but that shouldn't overshadow how bad quarterback Carson Wentz was.
As the Rams were moving up-and-down the field against the Eagles' defense, Wentz and the offense didn't do much early on to help out. Wentz had his usual accuracy issues in the fist half, as his passes were all over the place. On one sequence towards the end of the first half Wentz had a pass tipped, put a pass ahead of running back Miles Sanders and then sailed a pass over the head of tight end Zach Ertz.
The accuracy issues are nothing new for Wentz, and they were on very much on display throughout the game. Wentz made so many easy throws look hard, consistently throwing off-target passes and missing plays that were there to be made.
Wentz killed the first real momentum the Eagles' had at the beginning of the third quarter, when down just five and on the move with the ball on the Rams' 21-yard line, he forced it into double coverage in the end zone and it was picked off by safety Darius Williams in the end zone. It was a terrible play by Wentz, who had a clean pocket and plenty of time to make a better throw and decision.
This Eagles team has a ton of issues and are not 0-2 by accident. But at the top of their list of issues right now is the quarterback, who is now 14-15 in his last 29 starts, and 6-16 against teams other than Washington and New York Giants since the start of 2018.
Miles Sanders: The second-year running back ended up being really the only bright spot on the offense Sunday, but even he didn't turn in a flawless game.
The Eagles' offense clearly had some big expectations for the return of running back Miles Sanders, as they gave it to him on three-straight plays to start the game. The lack of preseason and training camp seemed to impact Sanders, who fumbled the ball away on the opening drive of the game, giving the Rams a short-field and (eventually) a 7-0 lead.
Sanders improved as the game went on, and got his first touchdown of the season on a five-yard run right up the middle of the Rams defense in the final minute of the first quarter.
He ended up with over 100 total yards, and going forward, there is little doubt he is the only positive right now on the offensive side of the ball.
Kupp's Fumble: Linebacker TJ Edwards stripped the ball away from receiver Cooper Kupp at the end of a punt return with just under one minute to play in first half, giving a lifeless Eagles' offense a golden opportunity — which they took advantage off. A five-yard touchdown run by Miles Sanders pulled the Eagles to within five, 21-16, entering the half.
If Edwards doesn't force that fumble, the game ends up being even more of a blowout.
J.J. Arcega-Whiteside: After not getting a target last week, receiver Arcega-Whiteside this first target of the season when he let a pass on 3rd-and-2 at the end of the first quarter bounce off his hands. The pass was behind him, which caused him to reach back for it as he was going down, but it was still a pass he should have caught.
Doug Pederson: Pederson shouldn't escape blame here. Yes, the player's didn't execute even simple plays on offense. That being said, there was a noticeable difference between the Rams offense and the Eagles offense. The Rams offense looked creative, different and unpredictable. The Eagles offense, to say the least, did not. A unit that is supposed to be lead by a top-five head coach and quarterback duo have now been held under 20 points in back-to-back games, and have looked nothing like the fast-paced, big-play offense they were supposed to be.
Jalen Hurts: Rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts was active for the first time on Sunday, and the Eagles gave us a look at how they plan to use him this season.
Hurts came into the game for the first time on a 1st-and-10 play midway through the second quarter. Hurts lined up in the back field, went out into the flat, which seemed to grab the attention of the defense, allowing tight end Dallas Goedert to get wide open over the middle of the field for a gain of 10 yards. Hurts was on the field for two more plays after that, being used as a decoy both times.
Getting Hurts involved just two weeks in is a clear sign of how desperate the Eagles are right now to get something going on offense — and how big they know their problems are.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
