Bowen: Eagles overwhelmed on both sides of the ball

LANDOVER, Md.

- So, who are the Eagles?

The version we saw Sunday at FedEx Field looked like the 5-11-type team many of us envisioned back in training camp, before the Wentz Wagon and bludgeoning the Steelers and a 3-0 record going into the bye happened.

But some of what fueled a 27-20 Washington Redskins victory - it wasn't anywhere near that close, really - was stuff nobody envisioned, even back when expectations were low.

Maybe it figured that rookie right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai, making his NFL debut in place of suspended Lane Johnson, might get off to a diasastrous start, giving up a pair of early sacks. And maybe it figured that in the tightest, most rickety pocket Carson Wentz has experienced, he finally would look like a rookie quarterback.

Wentz, 11-for-22 for 179 yards and a 77.7 passer rating, said: "I have to be better, especially late in the game," when somehow the Birds still had a chance to tie, thanks to Wendell Smallwood's 86-yard kickoff return TD and Malcolm Jenkins' 64-yard pick-six. The Eagles' offense generated six points, a pair of Caleb Sturgis field goals.

"We never got in a rhythm," Wentz said.

But the Eagles' strength is supposed to be their defensive front seven. Washington, which came into the game ranked 25th in rushing yards per game, ran for 230 yards on 33 carries - 7.0 yards per carry - and controlled the ball so effortlessly that the Eagles ran all of five plays in the second quarter, one of them a kneeldown.

For the second week in a row, the Eagles took so many penalties, had they pulled the game out, the win would have almost required an asterisk. It was 14 penalties for 111 yards in a one-point loss at Detroit last week, 13 penalties for 114 yards Sunday.

"I have no idea (why the penalties are happening). It's frustrating as heck, honestly," tight end Zach Ertz said. "It's killing us. It's killing us. It's killing us. You can't win having 13 penalties in this league."

"It's bad football," middle linebacker Jordan Hicks said. "A lot of them come on critical downs. It's third down after third down after third down on both sides of the ball."

How do you explain linebacker Nigel Bradham looking like the best player on the field three weeks ago against Pittsburgh, and one of the worst players on the field Sunday? Bradham couldn't make a one-on-one tackle against Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins on a crucial third down.

"Too nosy, not staying in our gaps," Bradham said when asked about the horrible run defense - he meant guys got eager to make plays, and started chasing, setting themselves up for cutbacks from Matt Jones (16 carries, 135 yards) and Robert Kelley (five carries for 59 yards). "The back was just real patient. We were in our gaps at first, (then) trying to make a play, rotate into somebody else's gap."

How do you explain Fletcher Cox, the Eagles' best player, setting up a touchdown with a third- down roughing-the-passer penalty for the second week in a row?

"I need to evaluate myself first. I need to look in the mirror and take my thumb and look at me," said Cox, who was named the NFC defensive player of the month for September but seems extremely unlikely to repeat. "It's the second week for me to do really dumb (bleep) like that. I can't do that. That's dumb on my part. Both of those penalties have cost us seven points, so I need to correct that on my own, and basically shy away from getting dumbass penalties like that."

How do you explain Ertz, Wentz's most dynamic weapon, back from the displaced rib for two games now, and having all of four catches for 59 yards to show for that, one catch for 22 yards on Sunday?

"That's kind of the way the last couple of weeks have gone, I've been helping (block) a lot," said Ertz, who couldn't bring down a Wentz third-and-9 TD throw from the 10, the QB's arc forced high by the pass rush. "At the end of the day, whatever the coaches want me to do, that's what I'll do, whether it's catch a lot of balls or catch no balls."

Doug Pederson wasn't up to explaining any of it, after a disaster of an NFC East opener, that makes the upcoming home game against unbeaten Minnesota look like a mismatch. The closest the first-year coach came to making any sense of the nosedive was when he was asked about the team regressing so badly the past two weeks, and he noted that opponents have a lot more film of the Eagles now.

"This goes back to, I have to make sure we're not doing too much offensively. I've got to talk to Frank (Reich, the offensive coordinator), and make sure we keep things nice and simple," Pederson said. "Just let our guys play fast on both sides of the ball."

Jenkins, whose pick-six was more or less negated by a coverage bust with Bradham that gave Washington an easy touchdown, said that the first three weeks, "we played very patient, very sound football, and just eventually broke our opponents. It's been the opposite of that the last two weeks. It's been our opponents that have sat back and studied, and we've beaten ourselves."

There was a lot of wisecracking about Vaitai in the press box, partly because the Eagles built him up so much, insisting he'd performed so well in practice, he would transition smoothly into replacing the team's most dominant offensive lineman, out 10 games after a second failed drug test. But really, it was hard to name an Eagles offensive or defensive lineman who played well. When that's the case, you don't win. There were plenty of problems, and Vaitai's debut wasn't a Winston Justice-sized disaster. Pederson indicated he will keep the job.

"Those d-ends are a little different from practice. Practice is practice, but games are different," Vaitai noted glumly in the crowded, somber visitors' locker room.

Just two days earlier, Vaitai explained to reporters how sub linebacker Bryan Braman had mimicked Redskins Pro Bowl pass rusher Ryan Kerrigan during practice. "I'm ready . . . Braman showed me everything Kerrigan would do," Vaitai said then.

Not quite, it would seem. If Bryan Braman could pass rush like Ryan Kerrigan, he'd be making a lot more money and he wouldn't be running downfield on kickoffs and punts.

First series of the game, second-and-12 from the Eagles' 36, Vaitai seemed to set back on his heels too much and Kerrigan powered inside him, sacking Wentz. The next series, Vaitai missed a stunt and Chris Baker came in alone on Wentz, who was fortunate to escape with a batted incompletion. Fourth series, second-and-3, Kerrigan manhandled Vaitai again, Wentz went down again; he would be sacked five times total, the last two late in the game, when he held the ball far too long, looking for a big play that wasn't there.

"There's a lot of things I need to work on," Vaitai said. "Stay balanced. Stay focused for four seconds. Using my hands, too - I punched him really late . . . working my hips, making my hips loose, and working on the timing of my punch.

"Second half, I got in feel of the game, was a little more calm," while also getting consistent chip-blocking help, something that probably should have been mandated from the beginning.

"Initially, he was just trying to get his legs. He had a couple of missed assignments early," Pederson said. "I felt like he settled into the game as the game wore on, and we used more help on his side as the game wore on as well. Really on both edges.

"He's a warrior. He's a battler. He stepped up and did a good job. He'll learn from it and get ready for next week."

At least Vaitai will be at home and won't have to worry about a silent count next week, but he does have to worry about the Vikings' lights-out defense. The week after that, there's a trip to 5-1 Dallas.

"We have to move forward. We have no other choice," Hicks said. "The schedule gets aggressive fast."