NFL News & Analysis

PHI-CHI grades: Carson Wentz is PFF's No. 1 QB through two weeks

Philadelphia Eagles 29, Chicago Bears 14

Here are the highest-graded players and top takeaways from the Eagles' 29-14 win over the Bears on Monday night:

Philadelphia Eagles

Quarterback grade: Carson Wentz 87.0

Rookie Wentz puts together another lights-out performance

It has only been two games, but Carson Wentz has played as well as any quarterback in the league so far this year, and is PFF's top-graded quarterback through Week 2. He got into a rhythm early with short, quick passes, and slowly worked his way downfield as the game progressed. He missed on a few short throws at times, but overall he still had an adjusted completion percentage of 74.2 percent. Wentz finished with 190 yards passing, although it should have been considerably more, with two deep passes dropped by his receivers that totaled another 76 yards to the target point. It is still early, and he hasn’t had to deal with too much pressure in the first two games, but he has definitely shown promise thus far.

Top offensive grades:

T Lane Johnson, 82.3

G Allen Barbre, 80.5

TE Trey Burton, 79.1

G Brandon Brooks, 76.3

TE Brent Celek, 72.4

Tight end Burton has impact in Ertz’s absence

Trey Burton caught Wentz’s only touchdown pass of the game, and hauled in four other targets to finish as the highest-graded skill-position player on the Eagles’ offense outside of Wentz. The offensive line performed fairly well in pass protection, allowing Wentz to be pressured on just seven of 39 dropbacks. Run blocking was more of a mix, with Barbre and Johnson grading well, but Jason Peters having one of his worst games as a run-blocker we've seen from him in a while. Philadelphia running backs gained just 17 yards before contact on 25 carries, with 73 yards coming after contact. Ryan Mathews was hit behind the line of scrimmage on multiple occasions and actually finished with more yards after contact (40) than he did from scrimmage (32).

Top defensive grades:

DE Brandon Graham, 86.5

OLB Nigel Bradham, 82.7

OLB Mychal Kendricks, 79.4

MLB Jordan Hicks, 74.6

CB Ron Brooks, 73.6

Graham is very productive as a pass-rusher

For the Eagles, it was quite a solid team defensive effort, with really only two outlier performances in either direction. On the good side there was edge rusher Brandon Graham, who had a sack and three hurries to go along with two run stops, as he basically had his way with the Bears tackles. On the bad side, however, was rookie cornerback Jalen Mills, who bit on a stutter-go move from Bears WR Alshon Jeffrey so hard that it took an extremely underthrown ball to keep it from not being a touchdown.

Chicago Bears

Quarterback grade: Jay Cutler, 33.0

Cutler performs very poorly before leaving due to injury

Before exiting in the third quarter with an injury, Jay Cutler put together a fairly vintage Cutler performance. He led a few scoring drives early and completed a deep bomb to Alshon Jeffrey, but he also fumbled in Philadelphia territory on a crucial drive right after halftime and then followed that up two drives later with an atrocious interception that led to an Eagles touchdown. When all was said and done, Cutler would only complete two passes targeted 10-plus yards down the field, and he struggled under the frequent pressure (on eight of his 20 dropbacks) of the Philadelphia pass rush.

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Top offensive grades:

G Josh Sitton, 81.2

WR Alshon Jeffery, 77.0

C Cody Whitehair, 75.2

WR Eddie Royal, 74.8

G Kyle Long, 74.7

Ground game stalls due to ineffective running backs

At the end of the first half it didn't appear that the Bears' offensive line had been overmatched in the ground game at all. That’s why it was surprising to see that Chicago had accumulated all of 10 rushing yards through 30 minutes. The fact is that Jeremy Langford is not the kind of dynamic rushing threat who can create yards on his own with average blocking. No play sums that up better than the very first play from scrimmage. The Bears ran a stretch play and left guard Josh Sitton executed his reach on Bennie Logan perfectly, creating a crease off his outside shoulder. Instead of hitting that hole like designed, Langford cut it back right into the arms of the unblocked Brandon Graham for no gain. There is little doubt that on only three carries, rookie Jordan Howard looks the much more explosive runner.

Top defensive grades:

CB Tracy Porter, 83.3

OLB Willie Young, 81.5

NT Eddie Goldman, 78.5

S Adrian Amos, 78.3

DE Akiem Hicks, 75.9

Bears’ defense misses 10 tackles, as they fail to slow Eagles’ offense

Tracy Porter was targeted the most out of the Bears’ defenders, allowing six receptions on nine targets. However, he allowed 40 total yards, and zero catches that went for more than nine yards, gave up only one first down and had a pass defensed. Second-year defensive lineman Eddie Goldman had a run stop, a batted pass, and a hurry before leaving the game with an injury. Rookie OLB Leonard Floyd had the second-most pass rushes of the Bears’ defenders, yet did not register a single pressure on the night.

PFF Game-Ball Winner: Eagles Quarterback Carson Wentz

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