Extra caution with early season injuries is common, but one decision suggests the Eagles took Washington lightly on Sunday.
One of the biggest upsets on the first Sunday of the NFL season came in Washington. The Philadelphia Eagles jumped out to a 17-0 lead, before allowing 27 straight points to go home with a loss as a 5.5-point favorite.
Eagles running back Miles Sanders had been limited by a hamstring injury during camp and in the practice week heading into Sunday. So if he was going to play in Week 1, it was surely going to be with limited snaps as Boston Scott stepped into the lead role and Corey Clement also in the mix.
Sanders wound up not even traveling with the team for Sunday’s game, which showed the Eagles’ cards after he was listed as questionable in Friday’s injury report. There would be no facade of a potential game-time decision to try to throw Washington off.
Then there’s this from Eagles’ insider John McMullen. Apparently Sanders, for what it’s worth, looked fine during the week and possibly could have played.
It isn’t surprising that the Eagles probably figured they could beat Washington without their best running back, and risking further injury for Sanders wasn’t worth it in the big picture. The bigger issue on Sunday was a injury-depleted offensive line, made notably worse by right tackle Lane Johnson being declared inactive. Carson Wentz was sacked eight times and hit 15 times by a Washington pass rush that’s enviably deep with legit threats.
“Any Given Sunday” is not just a movie, it’s an idea that has to professed by NFL teams everyone else expects to lose in a given week. The Eagles might have lost even with Sanders on the field Sunday, but they seem to have gotten bit by some competitive arrogance.