Despite the 495 yards of offense and 24 points, two missed field goals, 102 penalty yards, and two ill-timed turnovers cost Philadelphia the win and maybe their playoff chances along with it. The Eagles let a win slip through their hands yesterday and it couldn’t have come at a worse possible time.
The loss drops the Eagles to 9-6 and they could be eliminated from playoff contention with a Cowboys win later today at home against the Colts. The win moves the Redskins to 4-11 and as it stands now they would own the sixth overall pick in the draft.
Philadelphia Eagles – Performances of Note
Bradley Fletcher, CB: -3.8
Breakdown: After a solid 2013 campaign, Fletcher has been the weak link in the Eagles' secondary all season and Saturday may very well be the low point. The Eagles corner gave up 164 yards on 8-10 passing to go along with two missed tackles. After allowing his second big completion of the day to DeSean Jackson late in the third quarter, Fletcher watched the fourth quarter from the bench.
Signature Stat: Fletcher is now one of only eight corners since 2007 to be responsible for over 1,000 yards in a season and his 1,072 yards allowed this year are the most we’ve ever seen.
Zach Ertz, TE: +1.9
Breakdown: Ertz put up one of the more ludicrous stat line you will ever Saturday with 15 catches for 115 yards. The tight end was the definition of a security blanket, reeling in every catchable target and picking up eight first downs in the process. Ertz success though speaks to how poorly the Eagles struggled to do much after the catch. The Eagles receivers and tight ends had just 79 YAC and one broken tackle on 28 catches for 299 yards.
Signature Stat: Ertz 15 receptions match his combined total from the previous six games.
Brandon Graham, OLB: +3.7
Breakdown: Color us unsurprised here at PFF that Graham had a big showing in his first full-time chance this season. The outside linebacker has been the most dominant situational pass rusher in the league the past two seasons and that was no different on Saturday when he played all 60 defensive snaps. He tallied three hits and four hurries against the likes of Trent Williams and Tom Compton.
Signature Stat: Graham’s 18.6 Pass Rushing Productivity is the highest of any lineman this season.
Washington Redskins – Performances of Note
DeSean Jackson, WR: +3.0
Breakdown: These are the games the Redskins brass had in mind when they signed Jackson last offseason. Just four catches, but they went for 126 yards and set up multiple scores. With the offense struggling to put together consistent drives most of the day, Jackson’s contributions proved to be the difference in the end.
Signature Play: In the NFL today you almost never see as much separation on a pure go route against off coverage as Jackson got on his 55-yard catch with 1:46 left in the third quarter. Fletcher had nowhere near enough speed to match Jackson step for step and even though Fletcher had a 3-yard cushion when he exited his pedal, Jackson turned it into a 3-yard advantage in a matter of 10 strides.
Ryan Kerrigan, OLB: +0.3
Breakdown: It was quite the dichotomous game for Kerrigan whose run defense (-4.1) and pass rushing (+4.9) grades suggest two separate players entirely. Rushing the passer, the outside linebacker was excellent. He notched a ridiculous 10 pressures, the majority coming against right tackle Lane Johnson. In the run game, though, his matchup with Johnson went the exact opposite way. Kerrigan set a weak edge on multiple outside runs and missed two tackles when unblocked against the Eagles split zone run play.
Signature Play: Kerrigan ended the Eagles' first drive of the game in its tracks when he used a rip move around right tackle and blindsided Mark Sanchez, knocking the ball loose and recovering it in one fell swoop.
Robert Griffin III, QB: -0.6
Breakdown: It was a solid overall performance for RG3, having success on short, intermediate, and deep targets alike. Two interception-worthy throws, one pick-six worthy at the goal line, brought his grade down considerably, though. That said, Griffin made some beautiful throws including the two deep balls to Jackson and the on perfectly thrown deep out on a 3rd-and-19 early in the second quarter that was dropped by Andre Roberts.
Signature Stat: Despite all the criticism of his ability to read defenses, Grififin’s arm still works well when given the chance. His accuracy percentage of 79.0% is third best in the NFL.
PFF Game Ball
DeSean Jackson may have only made a few plays all day, but they were all game changing and for that he earns this game ball.
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