The opening to an eagerly awaited rivalry matchup has not been as exciting as many had hoped. The Birds’ are coming off a Bye and it’s arguably showing after a complete stagnation of offense in the opening two quarters. Dallas have eeked out a 9-1 lead. Here are some quick hits from the first half.
Wentz wobbles:
Carson Wentz has not looked like the leading MVP candidate through the first half of the game. Well, to start with he did. Wentz completed his opening 5 passes and led the Eagles to a touchdown on their opening drive, but since then he’s completed just 2/13. It hasn’t been pretty. Missed passes, sailed passes and a failure to see wide open receivers (at least twice with Nelson Agholor) have seen the Eagles punt more than they have all year.
Darby’s return:
We knew that Ronald Darby would feature in some vein, but as I predicted in our “Bold predictions” series, he came down with his first interception as an Eagle. A huge play against Dez Bryant to force a field goal early on was a sign of things to come for the former Bill, who has dropped straight back into action as if he never missed a day.
Offense struggles:
The Eagles need an injection of firepower. The Defense has been absolutely phenomenal and earned two key takeaways, intercepting Dak Prescott. But an inability to score ANY points off of these is alarming at the very least. The Offense has not been balanced and the play-calls have appeared questionable.
It all starts up front:
The Eagles have done a great job in getting pressure to Dak, but it hasn’t always worked out well. Prescott has thrown well on the run and the Cowboys have opted to get the ball out quick and run heavily. So far, so good. The Eagles can only do so much and right now, the pass-rush and secondary are the two lone bright spots of the team.
