PHILADELPHIA — Throughout the season, the Philadelphia Eagles have been one of the healthiest rosters in the league. It has been a key reason the team boasts the NFL’s best record at 10-1.
However, over the last few weeks, the Eagles have finally faced some adversity in the injury department.
Both the offense and defense have suffered long term injuries to starters such as slot cornerback Avonte Maddox, and tight end Dallas Goedert. Then, on Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers, safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson went down with a rib injury that kept him out of the final three quarters.
Although the impact of these injuries has been felt, the next men on the depth chart stepped up in a big way to help the Eagles get a 40-33 victory over the Packers.
Three young role players stood out, filling the holes left by these key pieces: Wide receiver Quez Watkins, cornerback Josiah Scott, and safety Reed Blankenship.
Although the play calling in the passing game has felt out of sync and conservative at times the last two weeks without Goedert, Watkins has made some crucial plays as the new third option behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
Last week against the Indianapolis Colts, Watkins caught an important touchdown in the fourth quarter to pull the Eagles within one possession of the Colts. This week against Green Bay, Watkins hauled in yet another touchdown right before halftime to give Philadelphia the 27-20 lead in a shootout.
Before the season started, head coach Nick Sirianni told Watkins face-to-face, in front of the entire team, that the passing game was going to run through Smith, Brown, and Goedert. Sirianni said Watkins would need to make timely plays when his number was called, and that is exactly what he is doing.
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It’s been impressive to see Watkins not only step up for Goedert, but also rebound from a crucial mistake of his own when three weeks ago against Washington. It was then that Watkins fumbled in the fourth quarter after a 50-yard completion that would have set Philadelphia up in Commanders territory trailing by one score.
On defense, Scott and Blankenship came up with two timely plays of their own against Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Scott intercepted the back-to-back MVP on Green Bay’s opening drive, setting the Eagles up deep in Packers territory to eventually score and take an early 14-0 lead.
Scott has filled in for Maddox well this season, especially the last two weeks. Against the Colts last week, the slot defender made two crucial pass deflections, both of which were on third down.
Unlike Watkins and Scott, Blankenship hasn’t gotten many in-game reps on defense this year to be ready for a primetime matchup against one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. Yet, the undrafted rookie looked more like a 10-year veteran, making open-field tackles and an interception with Green Bay driving, only down a touchdown in the first half.
Blankenship read Rodgers perfectly, and was able to jump in front of TE Robert Tonyan’s route to get his first career interception.
The Eagles will need Goedert, Gardner-Johnson, and Maddox back to fully maximize the potential of this 2022 run.
For now, their young reserves have stepped up admirably as Philadelphia continues one of their best seasons in franchise history.