Josh Sweat Has Turned Corner as a 'Premier Player'
It wouldn't be much of a surprise if Washington Football Team quarterback Taylor Heinicke had trouble sleeping after a 20-16 loss to the Eagles at FedExField Sunday.
The normal bumps and bruises of an NFL game can be difficult for any player but Heinicke could also add the vision of a lengthy, athletic 6-foot-5 praying mantis of a pass rusher when he closed his eyes.
Josh Sweat was everywhere Sunday, compiling five tackles, including one for loss, 1.5 sacks, two hurries, and two batted passes as he harrassed Heinicke throughout the contest.
In Jonathan Gannon's parlance, Sweat train-wrecked the game, a sentiment the Eagles' defensive coordinator agreed with when asked if that was the proper description of Sweat's performance against the WFT by SI.com's Eagle Maven on Monday.
"He doesn't know [yet] this but he is going to be the [defensive] player of the game," Gannon said. "... [Sweat was] one of the main reasons we won that game."
A lot was expected of Sweat after he signed a three-year, $40 million extension back in September and those expectations are starting to align with production in the form of a career-high 7.5 sacks for the former Florida State star.
VIDEO: Josh Sweat talks about Eagles win over Washington
“I mean, as far as the numbers, yes," Sweat said when asked if this is the best he's played. "But I've just been getting better every day. I think I've been playing at the same level kind of just, you know, the plays, I've been making them, but I wouldn't say it is any different from a couple of weeks ago.”
The understated Sweat also didn't notice much of a difference between the first half and the second against the WFT even though Heinicke was 14-for-17 for 170 yards over the first 30 minutes when Washington built a 16-7 advantage and was 13-for-19 for just 77 yards in the second when the WFT was whitewashed.
“I don't think we made any," Sweat said of any adjustments. "I know we just executed better. Everybody was just in the right spots. You know, everybody started playing better and I think that's all it boiled down to.”
The Eagles knew Heinicke would be trying to get the football out as quickly as possible with a depleted offensive line.
“Just execute better, cover better. That's pretty much the name of it," Sweat noted. "We know we're going to get quick passes to stop the pressure, but you just got to keep coming."
And keep coming the Eagles defense did, pulling the first lever and what ultimately turned out to be a formula that put the team in the playoffs by Sunday night.
The lessons, meanwhile, can be learned from moving forward.
"We had a rough start, but you know, we pretty much been building up to be able to handle these moments. Especially like, we had a rough start, and we got it taken care of.
"So that's all that matters.”
For Gannon, all that matters is the level his best pass rusher is playing at.
"He did a really good job. You look at the first two plays. He made two tackles, just very active, violent plays, the DC said. "... the things that we ask him to do, [he is] playing at a high level. He affected the run and pass game. He was hard to block. They had to pay certain attention to him as the game got going. Saw they chipped him a couple times, doubled him a few times.
"He's one of our premier players. He stepped up."
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
