By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia Eagles travelled to Las Vegas for the first time in franchise history to face the Raiders. They came into the game looking to rebound after being destroyed by the Buccaneers last week. Unfortunately for Philly even with a full week to prepare. Vegas used an offensive explosion to destroy them 30-14.

It started out well for the Eagles. They got the ball first and went right down the field. They stifled an extremely aggressive Raiders front-line by mixing in run plays. Miles Sanders was carving them up during this first scoring drive. That led to a Jalen Hurts touchdown pass to rookie running back Kenny Gainwell. That gave Philly there only lead of the game.

The Raiders would storm right down the field. Philly was able to stop them on the opening drive. However, a miscalculation on a penalty by Nick Sirianni gave the Raiders another chance. They would promptly make the rookie coach regret his decision to not make them punt the ball. As they converted a long third-down conversion. Derek Carr would connect with tight end Foster Moreau for the equalizer.

This would be a theme for Carr as he continued to find his receivers through out this game. The Eagles defense had no answers for him. They could not pressure him at all during this game. Once again Philly refused to bring the pressure. So, he continued to have time to find his receivers. At one-point in this game Carr completed 16 straight passes. Overall, he completed 31/34 passes for 323 yards and had two touchdown passes. The only thing that stopped him was untimely drops by his receivers.

Philly’s defensive game-plan seemed to be let’s hope and pray our secondary can hold-up against Carr because they refused to blitz him. They will need to find a way to get some pressure. Most quarterbacks will make you pay for blitzing. However, quarterbacks like Carr are too good to give them all day to throw. The Eagles invested too much money and draft picks into that secondary. Their Defensive Coordinator can help them out by at least sending some more people to hit the quarterback. The front seven of the Eagles defensive line is too good to not take advantage of blitz packages.

They will need to figure that out as they prepare to face the Detroit Lions next Sunday afternoon. They will face Jared Goff. A quarterback who is prone to mistakes if pressured. However, a plan like that would require a coordinator, who believes he has a talented enough defensive unit. To take advantage of Goff’s offensive weaknesses. Additionally, Philly’s offense will need to find a way to take advantage of Detroit’s beat-up secondary. If they can do that, they may be able to get back in the win-column.