The Eagles absolutely took it to the Commanders in Washington, D.C. on Sunday afternoon. Philadelphia finished the day with nine sacks as the Birds cruised to an easy 24-8 win.
Jalen Hurts had a tremendous game offensively, but it was the defense that set the tone. The Eagles sacked Carson Wentz nine times, with six different players getting in on the fun. One of those players with multiple sacks was Haason Reddick.
Reddick joined the Audacy Original Podcast “Go Birds” and talked about how the Eagles knew from the get-go that it would be a great defensive game in D.C.
“I knew it was gonna come. Each week we’ve been rushing, we’ve been getting better, and better, and better. Monday Night Football, I thought we rushed great, even though we didn’t get to Kirk as many times as we wanted to. I just saw it. When you watched the film, I could feel the energy. You could see the violence in the rushes from everybody,” Reddick said (8:25 in player above). “When this week was coming up, especially with it being a division game, division games mean so much more. They mean so much more. And I could just tell that this was gonna be one of those games where the d-line just snapped, and our coverage guys did good and allow for more time and the d-line, we did what we do.”
The Eagles got things going early on. The Commanders went three and out on their first drive, which included the Birds’ first sack of Wentz. Reddick and the rest of the Eagles knew right then that it would be a special game.
“It was just so early in the game that – I think, who started off, it was (Fletcher Cox) and (Josh Sweat). Then Hargrave came back with one. Then it just started rolling.”
Brandon Graham led the way for the Eagles defense with 2.5 sacks on the day. Reddick, Cox, and Sweat all finished with 1.5, while Hargrave and T.J. Edwards rounded it out with one each.
Both of Reddick’s sacks came on third downs. He praised second-year defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon for putting the defensive line in position to do their thing.
“It’s lovely. Even during the game, he asks me certain calls, I’m like, man, just get us in the rush front on rush downs, when we know they’re gonna pass, and just let us eat,” Reddick said. “We don’t got to do nothing fancy. We don’t got to do too much. We’re on the road, we’re getting pressure off the four-man rush, just let us go, and that’s exactly what he did.”
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram