Three takeaways from Washington Football Team’s Week 1 win vs. Eagles

1. Ron Rivera and Scott Turner’s in-game adjustments worked

Washington was down 17-0 to the Eagles. They were allowing a ton of yardage every play. The defense wasn’t getting third-down stops. Nor were they playing disciplined.

But then, something happened that hasn’t been a staple of Washington’s gameday action for quite some time. They were able to make some adjustments. And they worked.

Rivera was able to tighten things up on defense. The corners figured out how to read Carson Wentz’s eyes and jump his throws to the outside. That created two key turnovers that the team scored 14 points off and got back into the game.

On offense, after Dwayne Haskins struggled early going 3-of-12 for 32 yards, but Scott Turner was able to get him comfortable after that. Turner created more options for Haskins. He moved around in the pocket and converted on some nice bootlegs while reading the field better. He hit Terry McLaurin and Steven Sims for some gains while utilizing Antonio Gibson in motion more.

All of that was a function of Rivera and Turner’s adjustments. They were able to get Washington back into the game and flip the script on an Eagles team that came back from 17-0 down last year to beat the Eagles in Week 1.

Hopefully, this will continue to be a trend for Washington. If they get good coaching, they should stay competitive. But at the very least, the ability to adjust in-game is great news and should afford them a chance to avoid being blown out early in many games this year.