DN Agenda: Besides Wentz, which Eagle had the most impressive Sunday?

I'm going to have to say it was me. I had a heckuva day Sunday, some of the best writing I've d . . . What? It has to be somebody with the Eagles?

OK, fine.

Doug Pederson.

For a guy whose only previous head coaching stint came at Calvary Baptist Academy in Shreveport, La., Pederson produced a smooth, strong debut.

Penalties and other mistakes were no more plentiful than you'd see in a midseason game. The quality of the opposition surely helped there, but in openers, I've seen guys line up wrong, or units have the wrong number of people on the field, regardless of the opponent.

Think back a year to the 2015 opener in Atlanta, which was absolute chaos for an entire half, the Eagles down 17 by the break.

Sunday, you never saw Carson Wentz frantically signaling to the sideline to hurry up with the call, as the play clock ran down. There was a two-minute drill just before halftime that moved crisply toward a field goal. No drama, no indecision.

It wasn't clear going in that this would be the case, given Pederson's Andy Reid pedigree. Though Pederson projects likability and confidence, he doesn't come off as a Belichickian deep thinker in interactions with the media. His remarks sometimes require a bit of editing. On Monday, for example, in discussing the decision to go for it on fourth down, Pederson said a punt into the end zone would've only resulted in a net gain of 15 yards from the Browns' 40. Actually, it's kickoffs that now come out to the 25, punts still just come out to the 20.

But I'm guessing fans care more that Pederson went for it and made it, and then dialed up a touchdown play on the next snap.

Pederson talked about the playcalling process Monday.

"I felt comfortable with what we were (doing), the information that I was receiving from the coaches upstairs, and what we were seeing on the sidelines, and just, the communication was good," he said. "And believe me, it's not all about just me calling the plays. I'm getting a lot of information from (offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland) on the run game and the runs he likes. We're just piecing that all together and trying to make this thing work."

After his first week as a head coach, Pederson is halfway to matching his win total as the Eagles' 1999 quarterback. And he's forging a much better impression.

There were a lot of impactful performances Sunday besides Carson Wentz's.

Safety Rodney McLeod, who had that diving interception and also came up and foiled a late-first-quarter end-around by Andrew Hawkins, had a nice game.

So did linebacker Nigel Bradham, who led the team in tackles and seemed to be in the middle of everything.

So did defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, who had a sack and two hurries, and defensive end Brandon Graham, who also had a sack and two hurries.

Then there was punter Donnie Jones, who helped give the Browns long fields to work with all day. He averaged nearly 50 yards per attempt on six punts, didn't allow a return and twice pinned the Browns inside the 10.

But my vote goes to wide receiver Jordan Matthews.

Yeah, he dropped a couple of passes. But he also had a team-high seven catches for 114 yards and a touchdown.

Six of those seven receptions went for first downs. He had three third-down catches, all of them for first downs.

Wentz targeted Matthews, who lined up both in the slot and on the outside, on 14 of his 37 pass attempts. That's 37.8 percent. No one else was targeted more than seven times.

Matthews gave the Eagles an early 7-0 lead when he beat Tramon Williams on a flag route and caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Wentz.

Then he caught a 28-yard pass on a crossing route early in the second quarter that set up the first of Caleb Sturgis' two field goals.

Converted a third-and-4 with an 8-yard catch near midfield that kept another scoring drive alive. Had a 22-yard reception on a third-and-9 in the third quarter, and a 12-yard catch for a first down on the drive that ended with Wentz's 35-yard touchdown throw to Nelson Agholor.

In the Eagles' last four games dating back to last season, Matthews has 28 catches for 431 yards and five touchdowns.

Not bad.

We will know once Carson Wentz runs up against more confusing and intimidating defenses, but the vote here for best game besides him goes to his first-year head coach.

To borrow a phrase from Doug Pederson's old boss and mentor, Andy Reid, the new Eagles coach was a master of putting his young quarterback in positions to succeed Sunday. That's not only in the plays called for the franchise quarterback, but in the ones he did not call.

The Eagles were just 5-for-15 on third down, a stat many who sought a dark cloud amid the silver linings pointed to in the hours and days after the game. I see that percentage, in an opening game for a 23-year-old quarterback lacking much of a preseason and named the starter just six days before Sunday, as an offshoot of strategy more than execution.

For example, facing a third-and-16 in the third quarter after the Eagles' lead had been cut to 13-10, Wentz threw a quick short to Zach Ertz crossing the middle of the field for a 6-yard gain. The chance of Ertz converting that play to a first down was slim, but the risk of a turnover, sack or most of all, big hit on a kid playing his first game, was just as small.

Both sacks of Wentz came on third-down plays.

"One or two times he missed a couple of hot throws and got hit," said left tackle Jason Peters. "But besides that, he was on all day."

One key goal coming in was not to supply the Browns with points via turnovers.

Wentz didn't turn it over once. He came close once, when he mishandled a shotgun snap, picked it up, and attempted a panic throw to a well-covered Jordan Matthews down the right sideline.

The ball was deflected away.

Pederson's game plan did more than bolster his rookie quarterback's confidence. Nelson Agholor, with four catches - including that highlight-reel, third-quarter touchdown - was feeling much better about himself afterward. As was Dorial Green-Beckham, discarded by the team that drafted him late in the preseason.

Again, we will have a better idea in the weeks ahead whether Sunday was more an offshoot of how they played rather than who they played. But for now, Wentz is not the only young player we should be cautiously excited about.

Given the final score and the memorable moments from the rookie quarterback, it is easy to forget that there was a long stretch when the outcome of the Eagles' 29-10 win over the Browns was very much in doubt. From 9:50 remaining in the first quarter until 3:43 before halftime, the Eagles gained just 57 yards on 17 plays over four possessions. Over the same stretch, Cleveland gained 133 yards on 24 plays. After the Eagles' opening nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, their possessions ended with a punt, missed field goal, field goal, and punt, the longest of those drives covering 31 yards.

I remember turning to a fellow writer in the press box at Lincoln Financial Field and saying, "At some point, Dougie P's gonna have to open up the playbook a little bit."

That's exactly what he did. Against a better team, Pederson might not have had the luxury of prioritizing Carson Wentz's comfort early in the game. Against the Browns, though, it proved to be a smart play. Pederson got his quarterback into the flow of the game with a series of zone-read runs that seemed to have the affect of getting Wentz's lower half feeling a bit less like jelly. When he did throw the ball, the calls were relatively safe, paint-by-numbers throws, including a couple of fade passes to Zach Ertz and Jordan Matthews.

When the Eagles regained the ball with 3:43 remaining in the second quarter, Wentz was just 6-of-12 for 89 yards. From that point on, he went 16-for-25 for 189 yards with a number of throws in the second level of the defense and beyond.

This quote from Jordan Matthews stood out to me:

"The best thing about Coach Pederson is just his authenticity," the wide receiver said. "He's played the game and not only has he played the game, but he's been in our shoes. And when I say 'our shoes,' he's played in the city of Philadelphia. Playing in the city of Philadelphia - it's not like any other sports state. When they're playing football in here, it maximizes that much more. So he's been in those trenches before. When I see him, it's not even as much as I see a coach, it's like, 'Yo Pops, I got you.' That's a blood brother right there, no different from those guys in the locker room. Sometimes Coach Pederson doesn't even have to say much. We already feel that family vibe from him so we just really want to go out there and win for him. I feel like that's his best asset."

In his first game as a coach, Pederson showed a keen feel for how to introduce a rookie quarterback to the NFL. It was a tremendous debut for a coach whose lack of game-day experience raised some eyebrows when he was hired.

Ed Barkowitz...Donnie Jones

Les Bowen...Doug Pederson

Bob Cooney...Doug Pederson

Doug Darroch...Zach Ertz

Jim DeStefano...Donnie Jones

Paul Domowitch...Jordan Matthews

Sam Donnellon...Doug Pederson

Marcus Hayes...Fletcher Cox

Rich Hofmann...Jordan Matthews

Dick Jerardi...Donnie Jones

Mike Kern...Brandon Graham

Drew McQuade...Donnie Jones

David Murphy...Doug Pederson

John Smallwood...Jordan Matthews

Bob Vetrone Jr....Donnie Jones

Deb Woodell...Doug Pederson