FanPost

Redskins 2017 Opponents to Watch: Eagles, Week 1

Hello, My name is Tyler and Ken asked me to post in the FanPost this week. I look forward to writing for HogsHavens this upcoming year.

In week 1 the Redskins open up with a very familiar foe, the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s always tough to open with a division rival but both teams have made a tremendous upgrade to both sides of the ball via the draft and free agency. Carson Wentz has to be happy coming into this season with the Eagles making a strong statement in getting Wentz one of the best overall free agents this year in WR Alshon Jefferies. To me, this game is about the new surge of the Eagles high-powered offense and the revamped Redskins defense.

One player most likely to not be stopped one-on-one and therefore will require additional attention:

When thinking about the Eagles offseason one can pinpoint just how they got better by the addition of WR Alshon Jeffries. The 6’3 216 pound pass catcher is going to demand double coverage. This means that the Skins will want to keep one safety over top the coverage to help Josh Norman, to ensure that they limit the catches and damage he can cause being left in one-on-one coverage. By the Skins moving to a single high cover one D, it still allows you to cover 3 or 4 WR sets in which the Eagles will tend to move to this upcoming season. With the addition of Jefferies and Torrey Smith, this is what indicates they are going to run even more 3 and 4 sets. Keeping one safety up top allows the Skins to keep both CBs on a designated side of the field so they do not have to play match up, but will provide flexibility allowing Josh Norman to shadow if the deem that is the best match. Limiting Jeffries to less big plays and keeping him in front of the D will be a huge key to the Skins to win the game.

One player that the Redskins MUST win against on as many plays as possible and likely will:

As I stated in the opening, this is going to be a battle of a new offense and a revamped Defense, so the person the Redskins need to win against is Carson Wentz. Wentz has a lot of things you would like in a QB, but most QBs are not nearly as successfully after having one full year of tape for Defensive coordinators to break down. The Redskins do not need to have sacks in this game to be effective but will need to push the pocket and get after the QB. Making Wentz have to make adjustments and take his concentration off downfield routes, this will force for him to look at quicker shorter routes, which will then take Jefferies out of a lot of opportunities. The pass rush will be the biggest overall factor in achieving this. Rookie first round pick Allen Johnson, DL out of Alabama has a great opportunity to hit the ground running and make a big impact by pushing the pocket around on statically one of the best OL in the NFL