(Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
In the NFL, ugly wins count just the same as thirty point blowouts. It is not college football where a committee sits at the end of the season to see how much you beat Pitt and Kent State by. The Eagles won, they are 2-1 and you can’t take that away from them. How they got to 2-1? Well, it certainly wasn’t pretty.
The game certainly did not go as I had expected. The main reason being that it rained for the entirety of the game. The weather changed things up for both teams and it worked in favor of the Colts. Weather is the ultimate equalizer and I believe it helped the Colts stay in the game and ultimately come within a possession of winning. Although Doug Pederson said he wouldn’t call the game any different, I feel he held back a little bit due to the rain in Carson’s first game back.
Back to the game itself, the Eagles did exactly what they are expected to do. Championship teams win ugly, low scoring games like yesterday. The beauty of this Eagles team is that they can win in a shootout(when healthy) or a dogfight.
Yesterday wasn’t Wentz at his sharpest. Despite the opening touchdown drive, you could see the rust still there. The two turnovers on the Eagles side of the field were very un-Wentz like and a sign of rust from not playing in so long. Luckily, the Eagles defense was able to bail him out and hold the Colts to two field goals.
The defense must’ve taken to heart the criticism from last weeks performance. They played much better and so did Jalen Mills. I thought Mills played a good game despite his pass interference penalties. Any corner in the league can get called for pass interference when the ball is under thrown like that. I don’t recall Mills missing any tackles in open space. The defense will need to continue to play as they did yesterday until Wentz gets his legs completely under him.
Despite some struggles, Wentz went on to add another game winning drive to his resume. Granted, the Eagles were assisted by a few Colts penalties, but nonetheless Wentz got them down the field and they got it done. Whether it was Smallwood or Clement, they were able to wear down the Colts defense in that 17 play 11 minute drive.
Was this Wentz at his best? No. But did he show enough to not worry that he’s back? Absolutely. The last drive should put away any worries you may have had. The sherif is back in control, and that means a lot of wins for the Eagles.
