Recapping the plays that keyed Washington Football Team’s 27-17 win vs. Eagles

First Half

After two Antonio Gibson runs lost one yard, Dwayne Haskins dropped back for his first pass of the 2020 season. He missed J.D. McKissic, though it didn’t matter. McKissic would have come up short of the first down. Haskins was forced to throw early by pressure right up the middle from Malik Jackson, who overpowered left guard Wes Martin. It was an embarrassing effort from Martin and it suggested this revamped offensive line simply was not physically up to the task of handling the Eagles front four.

Later, WFT showed the first hint of pressure when blitzing Jon Bostic almost sacked Wentz. Wentz was able to duck and muscle his way out of a sack, but the resulting incompletion left Philly with its first first-down.

Then, the first play prized rookie Chase Young made was to jump offsides, lured by Wentz’s cadence. It gave Philly and first down, and soon, they would get into the end zone. This would not be the first time one of the WFT aggressive pass rushers would jump early. It looked bad at the time.

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Philly’s first score was too easy. A weak pass rush gave Zach Ertz time to cleanly beat new linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis in the back of the end zone. Pierre-Louis would be beaten several more times before settling down. Kind of like the rest of the defense.

Another third and long, another defensive end jumps offsides. This time it was Montez Sweat. Third-and-7 becomes Third-and-2, allowing Ertz to beat Landon Collins for a first down on the next play.

On the same drive, a hint of life. It comes from the veteran Ryan Kerrigan. He sacks Wentz, and then busts up a planned screen pass which leads to a Matt Ioannidis sack. Philly would eventually get a field goal on the drive, but the pass rush was starting to show signs of life.

After a three-and-out, Philly was at it again, converting another third-an- long, until Montez Sweat did not let Wentz escape another sack. Boston Scott would come up short on a third-and- 20, getting the ball back for Dwayne Haskins.

WFT’s offense finally shows some life, with Haskins scrambling and some nice misdirection helping move into field goal range. But Dustin Hopkins’ 48-yard field goal was heading left from the time it left his foot. It looked like it just wasn’t going to be WFT’s day.

And it looked even worse when Dallas Goedert ran right past Pierre-Louis, and safety Troy Apke was late to help. Touchdown, Philly. They were up 17-0, and a lot of the new defensive players were looking helpless.

And then … and then … it happened. After a couple of punt exchanges, Moreau made a great read on an out pattern, stepped in front of speedster Jalen Reagor, and turned WFT’s season around. His pick turned what could have easily been a 24-0 or 20-0 halftime deficit a ballgame.

Capitalizing on the interception, two passes to Terry McLaurin and one to Dontrelle Inman got WFT into the red zone. Haskins sealed the deal with a pretty TD pass to Logan Thomas. The current QB and the former QB (now TE) showed good chemistry throughout the game.