8 winners and 3 losers from the Eagles’ blowout of the Broncos

The Eagles broke the Broncos 51-23 in a game that wasn’t even that close. It might just be easier to list who wasn’t a winner on the Eagles. Such as the fireworks company.

WINNERS

Carson Wentz

That’s our baby boy. Four touchdowns in three quarters of play against a very good defense. Another “how many QBs can do that” sack evasion. And he did it without Zach Ertz, who has been his best receiver this season, so you can check that box off along with all the other ones this year. This kid is ridiculous.

Alshon Jeffery

With Zach Ertz a late scratch, someone was going to have to step up, and preferably Jeffery. He did, with two beautiful touchdowns. He had a few passes he should have caught, but of the 6 he did, 5 went for first down or touchdown.

Brent Celek and Trey Burton

Jeffery wasn’t the only one to step up in the absence of Ertz. Celek and Burton combined for an Ertz-like 5 catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Celek had a pair of 15 yard gains that turned back the clock, and Burton’s touchdown catch was a great play. It looked like the game plan was to always get those two going, not that they were suddenly pressed into action.

Jay Ajayi

He knows like maybe a dozen plays, and that’s all he needed as he got his first touchdown of the season. His 77 yards were his third best of the year, on only 8 carries. This is just the beginning.

Corey Clement

Three touchdowns. Look out Jay Ajayi.

Offensive line

Von Miller’s biggest contributions until the game was out of hand were penalties.

Vinny Curry

Curry has been strong against the run all season long, and now he has a great highlight play to show for it with his violent take down of CJ Anderson. And he picked up a sack.

Doug Pederson

The Eagles were always expected to improve their record from last year, but before the bye? Doug Pederson deserves all the accolades that come his way. Especially after this game, which was both extremely well coached and incredibly fun.

He went for it on 4th and 1 up 31-9 and then again up 44-23. He ran up the score in the 3rd quarter. The third quarter. This is what Chip Kelly was supposed to do.

This was Pederson’s best game. It’s not just that the Eagles blew out the Broncos, it was how they did it. The offensive line played great against a talented pass rush. Carson Wentz and the game plan were excellent against a great group of cornerbacks. Backups stepped up when called on with Brent Celek, Trey Burton and Corey Clement having good games. I bet the All-22 will show that Nelson Agholor was a great decoy all game long, as the Eagles offense had no issues and never forced the ball to him (great catch by Agholor on the deep pass by Foles). Alshon Jeffery’s touchdowns were excellent play calls. Jeffery’s fake screen route created huge separation for his first touchdown. On the second, the use of Ajayi as a decoy had the Broncos defense biting.

And we got a glimpse at how Pederson can spread the playing time for his running backs that shouldn’t cause any issues. With Jay Ajayi looking really good in his debut, I don’t think it was a coincidence that Pederson gave Blount both carries in the red zone following Rodney McLeod’s interception. There has been and will continue to be a lot of opportunity to spread around this year.

LOSERS

Vance Joseph

-Called time out :30 into the game. Just take the delay of game.

-Didn’t challenge Emmanuel Sanders’s “dropped” pass on 3rd down.

-Finally gets into the red zone and kicks a field goal on 4th and goal down 24-6.

-Started Brock Osweiler.

Brock Osweiler

LMAO.

Zach Ertz

Some incredibly sad news to report as Ertz was apparently euthanized prior to the game.

BGN mourns his passing.