Winners and Losers from Philadelphia Eagles Week 4 Win
It was a battle of the young versus the old in Los Angeles as Philadelphia’s young gun, Carson Wentz, rode into town to take on the Chargers’ older head signal caller, Philip Rivers. While both quarterbacks had their moments, in the end, it was Wentz who came away with a 26-24 victory, as the Eagles picked up their second road win of the season.
With a Dallas loss, the Eagles now find themselves in first place in the NFC East. While it wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch, Philadelphia will take a road win any way that they can get it.
So, who were the winners and losers from Philadelphia’s third victory of the season?
Winner: LeGarrette Blount
After Philadelphia struggled in short yardage last season, most fans welcomed the news of the team signing LeGarrette Blount as a free agent. After all, he did lead the NFL with 18 rushing touchdowns, so he must be good.
Then during training camp and the preseason, the running back looked heavy and slow. Midway through camp, fans began clamoring for his release.
His early season struggles didn’t quell anyone’s fears and those fears seemed to be well founded when Blount didn’t even get a carry against Kansas City in Week 2.
His redemption started last week against the Giants when he rushed for 67 yards. That turned out to be just the warm-up. For the second week in a row, the Eagles got the running game going and Blount was the star.
His 68 yard run in the fourth quarter, breaking tackles as he rumbled down the field, was the team’s offensive highlight. It also set up the Eagles winning touchdown.
Blount finished with 136 yards on 16 carriers. For those keeping score at home, that comes out to an average of 8.5 yards per carry.
Loser: Rasul Douglas
OK, so “loser” is a little too harsh. If not for injuries, Rasul Douglas wouldn’t even be playing. The rookie cornerback was thrown into the deep end and has performed reasonably well.
The concern with the 3rd rounder from West Virginia was that he’s not especially fast. Putting him opposite second-year corner Jalen Mills, who suffers from the same affliction, becomes a problem against speedy wide receivers like the Chargers’ Tyrell Williams.
Even though it appeared he was expecting safety help, Douglas was burned by Williams badly for a 75-yard touchdown. The rookie recovered and managed to keep from being abused in quite the same way again.
Still, the Eagles need to hope that Ronald Darby fully heals from his dislocated ankle to get some speed back on the outside.
Winner: Beau Allen
Earlier this year, it seemed like Allen was the odds-on favorite to start alongside Fletcher Cox at defensive tackle. The Eagles were even talking to the former seventh-round pick about a contract extension.
Then Allen tore a pectoral muscle lifting in the off-season and the team traded for Tim Jernigan. Suddenly, the Wisconsin product was an afterthought.
Allen surprisingly made it back by the start of the season. With Cox down for the week with an injury, he found himself starting alongside Jernigan.
While there’s no replacing an All-Pro like Cox, Allen certainly did his part to hold the Chargers to just 58 yards rushing — 35 of which came on a touchdown run by the pride of Western State, Austin Ekeler.
Better still, Allen came up with the first solo sack of his career. The Eagles are a different team without Cox on the D-line, but Allen showed again that he’s a nice auxiliary piece to have around.
Loser: Eagles Pass Rush
Last season, the Philadelphia pass rush started out gangbusters and then trailed off badly. Well, welcome to deja vu.
The Eagles totaled 8 sacks in the first two weeks of the season, but then couldn’t get to Eli Manning despite the Giants porous offensive line. Los Angeles’ offensive line is almost as bad, and yet, the Eagles had trouble getting to Rivers.
Besides Allen’s sack, Philadelphia managed only one other sack, and we use the term loosely. First rounder Derek Barnett notched his first sack when he tackled Rivers on a rushing attempt and the quarterback happened to fall behind the line of scrimmage.
Sacks aren’t the be all and end all, but the Eagles can’t afford to go through another season where they can’t finish off their quarterback pressures by taking down opposing quarterbacks.
Winner: Health
To say that the Eagles have been ravaged by injuries might be an understatement. Their defense has had to be duct taped together on multiple occasions.
Well, for once this season, the team made it through a game without losing anyone. If they can make it through next week’s game similarly unscathed, then they should start getting back pieces that will make life easier for Jim Schwartz and the defense.
Loser: Discipline
Speaking of Schwartz, one thing that has typically not been a hallmark of his teams is discipline. His Detroit Lions teams were notorious for committing soul-crushing penalties at the wrong time.
In this game, both the Eagles and Chargers seemed to be taking turns trying to help each other out. The missed tackles all over the field were bad, but the penalties were plain stupid. The teams combined for 18 flags, nine each.
Los Angeles defensive end Darius Philon gave Philadelphia multiple do-overs on their game-winning drive, committing two penalties while the Eagles were in the red zone.
The Eagles did their part to keep the game tight by giving the Chargers penalty yards on both of their touchdown drives in the second half.
Philadelphia got away with it in Los Angeles, but they were going against a team that has shot itself in the foot in all four of its losses. If the Eagles have real hopes of getting into the playoffs, they can’t get away with playing stupid. They’re not talented enough to continuously overcome those mistakes.