#DeVonta #Smith #contact #ball #Eagles
Broad receiver A.J. Brown had a giant debut with Philadelphia, catching 10 passes for 155 yards within the Eagles’ season-opening 38-35 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
However DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia’s main receiver final season, didn’t have a reception within the recreation.
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“AJ had this huge game, and DeVonta didn’t touch the ball at all,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni mentioned, projecting what Philadelphia followers could be pondering. “’Oh my goodness, they’re never going to use DeVonta Smith again.’
“I can promise you that’s not the case. Him, A.J. and (tight end) Dallas (Goedert) are who the offense will run through, who the pass offense will run through, and it just was the perfect storm where he didn’t get any touches, and that’s my job to make sure that he gets the touches. We’ll fix that.”
Smith did have an 11-yard reception within the first quarter, however the play was nullified by a holding penalty in opposition to Philadelphia.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw to Smith 4 extra instances with out making a connection.
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Smith and Baltimore Ravens broad receiver Isaiah Possible have been the one gamers within the NFL focused no less than 4 instances who didn’t have a reception throughout Week 1 of the 2022 season. Smith turned the first Philadelphia participant since broad receiver Dorial Inexperienced-Beckham on Nov. 6, 2016, in a 28-23 loss to the New York Giants to be thrown to no less than 4 instances with out coming away with any catches.
“You come away from that game and you felt good,” Sirianni mentioned. “There’s things that, I told the offense, we did so many good things. We did so many good things, but yet again we have a lot to clean up. And a lot of it in my mind was communication issues, so I came out of that game thinking, ‘OK, we got communication issues to clean up.’ But, man, we ran the ball well, we were pretty efficient passing the ball, we were great on third down, we were really good in the red zone. We had a really good two-minute drive to get points at the end of the half. Like when you end with the ball in your hand and a four-minute drive, that is huge, huge, huge, huge.
“So there were so many good things we did, but coming away you’re like, ‘DeVonta Smith didn’t get any catches.’ Sometimes you don’t feel that in a game. He’s got to touch the ball. There’s no doubt about it. He’s got to touch the ball. And it’s just the way the game went. We looked at it, and he did have the four targets, but there was a handful of other things that were called for him, and for whatever reason, there’s so many different reasons of why it doesn’t go to him.”
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After profitable the Heisman Trophy in 2020 for Alabama’s undefeated nationwide championship group, Smith joined the Eagles because the tenth decide in final yr’s draft. Smith set a franchise rookie report with 916 receiving yards as he caught 64 passes and scored 5 touchdowns in 2021.
Smith caught no less than one go in all 17 regular-season video games and Philadelphia’s playoff recreation as a rookie.
“DeVonta Smith is a great playmaker. Not a good playmaker – a great playmaker,” Sirianni mentioned. “I think everybody in this city saw that last year.”
Smith will get his subsequent likelihood to catch passes when the Eagles conclude Week 2 of the NFL season in opposition to the Minnesota Vikings at 7:30 p.m. CDT Monday at Lincoln Monetary Subject in Philadelphia. ABC will televise the sport.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports activities reporter for Alabama Media Group. Observe him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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