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Your In-Depth Eagles vs. Browns Week 1 Preview

Adrian Fedkiw|

Carson Wentz admitted during the week that he’s not going to be nervous or motivated to play against a team that proclaimed he wasn’t a Top 20 quarterback.

Yeah, right!

The No. 2 overall pick Wentz will make his regular season debut Sunday afternoon when the Philadelphia Eagles host the Cleveland Browns.

Oh, it’s also head coach Doug Pederson’s debut, too. That’s nearly been forgotten about following the hectic last few months.

Let’s break this game down.

 

Eagles Passing Game vs. Browns Pass Defense

2015 STATS
PHI- 85.6 Passer Rating (22/32), 255 YPG (12/32)
CLE- 101.8 Passer Rating allowed (30/32), 251 YPG allowed (22/32)

All eyes will obviously be on Wentz and how Pederson is going to utilize him.

Wentz couldn’t have picked a better team to debut against than the Browns. The defense is an abomination, especially when stopping the run. I’ll get to that later.

The Browns don’t have a scary pass rush and the front seven isn’t very talented, so you’d think Wentz should be able to handle himself. Their primary pass rushers are a pair of rookies, second-rounder Emmanuel Ogbah and fourth-rounder Joe Schobert. Defensive coordinator Ray Horton, however, is known to be an aggressive play-caller that likes to bring the heat and that’s where the chess match comes into play against a rookie who was in the FCS last season and appeared in just one preseason game. He likes to show multiple fronts and blitzes from all angles

How is Wentz going to handle the blitzes and the disguised coverages? As smart as Wentz is and as calm and composed as he appears to be, there will be rookie mistakes.

It’s all about limiting those mistakes.

From a play-calling perspective, you’d also think an already-conservative Pederson would be even more so. Sure, you can still take some shots down the field, but I’m expecting Pederson to keep Wentz’s progressions basic so he can easily get through them. Expect screens, quick slants, curls, crossing patterns and stop routes.

Coupled with just 23 starts and 612 pass attempts at the FCS level, Wentz appeared in only one preseason game after suffering a hairline fracture in his ribs in the opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was an up-and-down performance which showed flashes of why he was drafted No. 2 overall. Wentz completed 12-of-24 passes for 89 yards and an interception to go along with 15 yards rushing on three carries.

Although the numbers may indicate otherwise, I thought it was a solid debut for the North Dakota State product. His ball placement was good despite some errant ones which sailed on him. He played with calmness, poise and made smart decisions. Wentz’s accuracy and zip on the move was on full display.

There were two throws in particular which stood out to me.

Wentz’s first completion was a beauty. He stepped up in the pocket, kept his eyes downfield and flipped the pass to Zach Ertz along the right seam.

This was Wentz’s best throw of the night. He recognized the rusher immediately, escaped the pocket and delivered an accurate strike with plenty of velocity on it. People may not realize how difficult that throw was, but Wentz made it look routine.

Jordan Matthews will make his 2016 debut after missing the entire preseason due to a knee injury. While getting Matthews back is imperative, the x-factor is Dorial Green-Beckham. Cleveland’s two starting cornerbacks, Joe Haden and Jamar Taylor, are both under 6-feet tall and Green-Beckham is 6’5, 240 pounds. The Eagles need to utilize that to their advantage.

Remember this?

Let him go up and get it!

Another thing we might see. The three tight-end set was popular during the preseason and a way to limit the deficiencies the Eagles have with their depth at wide receiver. With only one wideout being trotted out when three tight ends are in the game, maybe we’ll see Green-Beckham run a couple go routes as the lone player out wide. Just let Wentz lob it up to the playmaker and see if he can come down with a few acrobatic catches using his physicality and pristine body control. A couple back-shoulder balls wouldn’t hurt either.

With Horton doing a lot of blitzes, he relies on his cornerbacks to play on an island, even more reason to let DGB do his thing.

 

Eagles Running Game vs. Browns Run Defense

2015 STATS
PHI- 3.9 YPC (21/32), 108.9 YPG (14/32),
CLE- 4.5 YPC allowed (27/32), 128.4 YPG allowed (30/32)

If the Eagles can dominate the line of scrimmage with their offensive line against that lackluster Cleveland front seven, this will only help take the pressure off of Wentz.

With Lane Johnson not suspended as of yet, Philly needs to use tandem of right guard Brandon Brooks and the right tackle Johns0n to its advantage in the running game. While the offensive line did see some struggles in the passing game during the preseason, so much so that Pederson elected to have the quarterbacks take quick drops instead of deep ones, the run blocking wasn’t a problem.

And to take it even further, let’s go back to the three tight-end sets. You can line up Zach Ertz, Brent Celek and Trey Burton to the right of Brooks and Johnson and just let Ryan Mathews go to work of the right side of the line. He’s a patient and decisive one-cut runner that seems to fit the offense to a tee.

Ertz showed some major improvements in his run blocking during the preseason.

Here’s an example of him getting onto the second level and taking out linebacker Lavonte David.

On this play, Ertz got off his double team and found a defensive back on the second level, which paved a huge alley for Kenjon Barner to run the ball through.

Obviously, the more successful the running game is, the easier it is to incorporate the play-action game. All of a sudden those windows become larger and easier to hit your targets.

The Browns attempted to upgrade their putrid run defense last year by drafting Danny Shelton, but he needs to improve in year two. He’s only a two-down player as a nose tackle. Xavier Cooper and John Hughes are the other starters along the defensive line and they aren’t going to scare anybody either.

DeMario Davis and Christian Kirksey should help Cleveland at inside linebacker, but Ogbah and Schobert are more known as pass rushers than edge setters.

 

Browns Passing Game vs. Eagles Pass Defense

2015 STATS
PHI- 101.8 Passer Rating allowed (30/32), 267 YPG allowed (28/32)
CLE- 84.0 Passer Rating (26/32), 236 YPG (21/32)

Former No. 2 overall pick Robert Griffin III is head coach Hue Jackson’s latest project after his injury-riddled campaign with the Washington Redskins came to a close when they elected to go with Kirk Cousins. Despite the fallout in Washington, RGIII might be the most talented quarterback the franchise has had in years. That’s not saying much, check out some of the former first-round busts. Johnny Manziel picked partying over football, while Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy weren’t the answers.

Griffin still has great mobility and a big arm, it’ll be up to Jackson to get the most out of him. He helped Andy Dalton have the best year in his career last season in Cincinnati, there’s no reason he can’t do the same with RGIII. You can check out what he did in the preseason below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK90ZBs9BlY

You can still see how strong that arm is to go with some touch on a couple deeper routes, but the accuracy was also fairly erratic.

Josh Gordon will be suspended his first four games, so it will be up to rookie first-round pick Corey Coleman and Terrelle Pryor to pick up the slack. Both are deep threats.

This is where Nolan Carroll comes into play because playing the vertical routes along the sideline is his strength. He rode the hip of Darius Heyward-Bay beautifully before knocking the ball away.

And here’s another example. He rides the hip of Sammie Coates this time and steers him toward the sideline.

The defensive line lit it up for the Eagles during the preseason and will have a tough test against Joe Thomas and company. If there is a strong until on the Browns, it’s their defensive line, although they did lose a pair of key cogs in center Alex Mack and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz during the offseason. The interior of the Browns’ line remains solid with Joel Bitonio and John Greco manning both guard spots, with last year’s first-round pick Cam Erving making the move to center following a disappointing rookie campaign. Fletcher Cox, however, should still be able to cause a lot of havoc. Thomas will be seeing a lot of Brandon Graham, who might’ve had the best preseason out of all the Eagles’ defensive linemen. That’ll be fun to watch.

 

Browns Running Game vs. Eagles Run Defense

2015 STATS
PHI- 4.5 YPC allowed (28/32), 134.6 YPG allowed (32/32)
CLE- 4.0 YPC (16/32), 95.6 YPG (22/32)

Jackson likes to pound the rock, but the Browns lack an established running back. The 5’9 Duke Johnson is the starter, but he’s a better pass catcher than runner. Isaiah Crowell is more of the between-the-tackles runner.

Philadelphia’s run defense took a huge nosedive when Jordan Hicks went down for the second half of last season, but before then, it was fairly formidable. Hicks is obviously back and the tandem of Cox and Bennie Logan should make it tough for the Browns to run inside.

Graham and Connor Barwin are solid edge setters and are both disciplined, which will help the Eagles defend the zone-read runs of Griffin.

 

Prediction: 20-13 Philadelphia

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