Game #1: At Philadelphia

Eagles’ Fullback Ted Dean shoots a large gap in the Green Bay line during the 1960 Championship Game, December 26, 1960 at Franklin Field. Philadelphia would grab their third NFL Championship that day winning a tight one at 17-13. The losing Head Coach was Vince Lombardi. Sonny Jurgensen, all of 26-years old was on that team. But, he did not play a down. Norm Van Brocklin was the Quarterback. He had a decent enough day: 9 of 20 passes completed for 204-Yards with 1-Touchdown and 1-Interception. He fumbled twice, but recovered both. For Washington fans it turned out that Sonny on the bench was a good thing. Confidence is high that Sonny would have had a better day. It may have made the trade to Washington impossible. Sonny would come to Washington in 1964. This season will be our first without him since.

Finally real football is here. It’s not Reporters’ notes from “Offseason Training Activities” or Camp Practices. And, it is certainly not Pre-Season “Football.” (The product there is beyond bad.) It’s real football that really counts…but, odds are it won’t be great quality football. The approach to the lead up to the Regular Season is largely Installs and Rehearsals. Few to no teams are doing anything approximating a game with all the attendant demands. So September sees a lot of players hitting a wall of sorts part way through the game. It’s already manifested itself in the two pre-weekend games. Honest-to-goodness good football won’t start until a couple of weeks into October on a wide scale. Problem is that by then there are a few games on the ledger. This one today on the road against the Eagles is no exception.

No Sense Waiting

There’s not going to be any wait before the Burgundy and Gold get a stern test. It’s coming right out of the chute like a froth-mouthed Rodeo Bull sporting a particularly unpleasant Bucking Strap. Play the two-time Defending Division winners in their crib. Then there are two more gut-strainers to follow: Dallas in Dallas and Seattle here. The Schedule Office was getting payback for all those stand-alone Washington games last year that were not exactly shall we say, Acclaim Worthy. If it was revenge it was well-played.

These teams are somewhat enigmatic. All NFL teams are at this point. Football analysis often starts and stops with the production heretofore on paper. It would be a lopsided Philadelphia advantage were that the only criteria. There are unknowns on both sides of the field. As stated here numerous times the strength of that team in green is in the trenches. Strong support comes from the Defense as a whole beyond just the Line. There are four Coordinators calling plays and Defenses today. Only one of them is not doing this for the first time. That would be Vic Fangio. He’s good. The other strong point for them is All-World Running Back Saquon Barkley. He is Tiki Barber redux in his ability to inflict pain on the WFT.

Barkley has faced Washington only four times since joining Philadelphia. It seems like more, eh? 91-Carries for 542-yards (~6-yards per) with 8-touchdowns. He’s good for 135-yards and 2-Touchdowns per game against the good guys. Remember his first touch against the WFT in the 2024 Championship Game? A delayed handoff went through the left D-Gap. Bobby Wagner was closing to meet him in the hole when Dante Fowler inadvertently scraped him off. Saquon rolled through the gap, met two Defensive Backs who forgot every fundamental of tackling, then sailed into the End Zone for 60 of his 118-yards. That one carry got more than half of his yards. The other 14-carries netted only 58-yards. That’s Saquon Barkley. In old time parlance, “He’ll get loose on you.”

That 2024 year was all about Saquon until late. He carried that team when it’s passing attack was pitiful. That team was first in the League for rushing attempts, second in both yards gained and TDs. In the meantime the passing group was 29th in the League while having the 3rd fewest interceptions. That’s a window into Jalen Hurts: It’s ok to be ineffective as long as the ball is not put in harm’s way. That’s the M.O. But, just in time for the playoffs Hurts realized he had really good Receivers. He got hot. Philly won the Super Bowl. Hurts got the Super Bowl MVP. It really should have gone to their Defensive Line who suffocated Patrick Mahomes all night. But, Barkley got them there.

If Washington wants to win this game then start by containing Barkley. No “House Calls” from mid-field is an essential ingredient for the recipe.

Where’s AJ?

Philadelphia’s best Receiver and Hurts’ Security Blanket was A.J. Brown. If you watched the game on Wednesday night you saw him…in a New England uniform. For a fan base starved for good news here’s an item to grab: AJ is gone out of the Division. That’s worth more than a round of Golf Applause. That guy is a load. He’s also tall.

The replacement for Brown is 1st-Round Draft Pick Makai Lemon. He is not tall at 5’11”. Washington’s Corners are short. Mike Sainsristil is 5’10” and Amik Robinson is 5’9″. The former Z-Receiver is Dante Smith at 6′-flat. He may be running X-routes now. The height advantage from the Eagles’ Receiver room is no more.

Speaking of Eagles’ Receivers former 1st-Round pick Jahan Dotson is no longer employed in Philly. He’s ended up in Atlanta (3rd team in 5-years) along with old friend Brian Robinson. (Also on his third team.) While we’re here it was a brutal year for Ron Rivera Draft Picks. Jamin Davis was cut from Pittsburgh (his 4th team) and has not landed. Old Ron sure could pick’em.

Things to Watch

David Blough is the new Offensive Coordinator. There has been a lot of speculation about his unknown Offense. It is safe to say that it will be different from the Kliff Kingsbury “Air Raid” inspired approach. That’s for certain. Supposedly it will include more huddles and direct exchanges from Center. There’s also a zone blocking bent to it per reports. That’s all second-hand stuff. Today the veil comes off and we all get to see what the young OC has in mind.

Hopefully Blough watched San Francisco the other night. Expecting a ferocious Rams’ pass rush Kyle Shanahan was running a Baskins Robbins array of Screen passes. That’s how you neutralize a big pass rush, Screen ’em to death. Split Screens, Tight End Screens, even traditional Running Back screens are all designed to give those big uglies on the other side reason to pause. Given the apparent mismatch between the Eagles’ stout Front and Washington’s maligned O-Line the Shanahan Screen approach has a lot of appeal.

Look for personnel groupings. Given this O-line/D-Line dynamic it would not surprise to see a lot of 12-personnel (One Running Back with 2 Tight Ends.) Washington’s Tight End Room is a stealthy strength. Some smattering of 13-personnel is possible. The problem there is that it leaves only one Wide Receiver out there. One would think having Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs on the field together would be a bit of a priority.

Unlike about half of the League, including three of the four Playoff Finalists last year Washington does not carry a Fullback. Neither did Joe Gibbs’ teams in the Glory Years. Instead he used an “H-Back” which is a Tight End used occasionally as a lead blocker. The twist here is that he’s rarely lined up in the backfield. The typical usage is for him to be in motion then pop into the D-Line with a “Wham Block.” In theory the H-Back is on the D-Lineman faster than the Fullback would be. It worked well for Gibbs. The thinking here is that will be quite a bit of that in this offensive scheme.

Of course, all eyes will be on Jayden Daniels. He’s had a super camp by all reports. Camp is over. Money time is now. Soon we’ll talk about this very important year for young Mr. Daniels. His career trajectory is going to be sharply defined by this campaign. Job#1 is to stay upright and on the field. Everything else should sort itself out from there.

Crystal Ball Time

Predictions are unavoidable. If you’ve made a spreadsheet to track the pundits’ predictions for win totals please get professional help. Predictions are meaningless, yet still are a bit of fun. So, what’s your crystal ball telling you?