Eagles-Redskins: Key stats for the Week 1 matchup

Some useful numbers to help you get ready for the Eagles season-opener against the Redskins:

-- During their Super Bowl season two years ago, the Eagles had one of the league’s fastest starting offenses. They finished third in first-quarter scoring with 106 points. Last year, not so much. They were dead last in first-quarter scoring with just 41 points. Carson Wentz’s first-quarter passer rating nose-dived from 118.3 in ’17 to 77.6 last year. He averaged 8.7 yards per attempt in the first quarter in ’17, but only 6.5 last year.

-- It wasn’t just Wentz and the passing game that struggled early last year. So did the ground game. The Eagles averaged just 3.76 yards per carry in the first quarter. In 2017, they averaged 4.46.

-- The Eagles scored on their first possession in just five of 16 regular-season games. They scored on their second possession only once – on a Jake Elliott field goal against the Rams in Week 15.

-- Wentz was 20th in third-down passing last year (90.2) after finishing first the previous season (123.6). His third-down completion rate dropped from 65.3 percent to 57.0, and his yards per attempt average plummeted from 9.5 to 6.3. In 2017, 50 percent of his third-down pass attempts (62 of 124) resulted in first downs. Last year: 42.5 percent (40 of 94).

-- Wentz’s red-zone passing numbers also dropped off last season. His red-zone passer rating fell from 116.0 in 2017 to 101.7 last year. In 2017, Wentz had no interceptions and wasn’t sacked a single time in the red zone. Last year, he had one interception and was sacked four times in 59 pass plays in the red zone.

-- Wentz has a 33.7 career completion percentage on throws of 20 yards or longer. He’s completed 60 of 178 attempts from 20-plus yards, with 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He had a career-high 37.0 completion rate on deep balls last year. The Eagles quarterback has a 57.4 career completion percentage on throws of 11 to 19 yards, 72.5 percent on throws of 0 to 10 yards and 85 percent on throws behind the line of scrimmage.

-- More than half of Wentz’s career attempts – 51.8 percent – have been throws of 0 to 10 yards. A breakdown of the rest of his throws: 11-19 yards (19.8%), behind the line of scrimmage (15.4%), 20-plus yards (12.8%).

-- As a rookie, Wentz averaged an interception every 43.3 pass attempts. Over the last two seasons, he’s averaged one every 60.1 attempts.

-- Wentz averaged just 3.1 rushing attempts per game last season. The year before, he averaged 4.9. He had 27 rushing first downs in 2017 but only eight last year.

-- The Eagles had the third-lowest rush average in the league last season (3.94 yards per carry). It was the second-lowest rushing average by an Eagles offense in the last 13 years.

-- The Eagles averaged nearly five fewer rushing attempts per game last season (24.9) than in 2017 (29.6). They ran the ball on just 35.5 percent of their offensive plays last year, compared to 44.1 in ’17.

-- The Eagles had just 45 runs of 10-plus yards last year. That was the 11th fewest in the league.

--Jordan Howard, who was acquired in a trade with the Bears, has the third-most rushing yards in the league over the last three years (3,370). But his rushing totals have gone down each year, from 1,313 as a rookie, to 1,122 in ’17, to 935 last year. His first-down rushing average also has dropped each year. He led the league in first-down rush average in ’16 (5.7 yards per carry), but that number slipped to 4.3 in ’17 and 3.7 last year. The Eagles, who finished second in first-down rush average in 2017 (4.7), slipped to 25th last year (4.1).

-- The Eagles finished sixth in third-down defense last season. Opponents converted just 35.6 percent of their third-down opportunities. The year before, they converted just 32.2.

-- In their nine regular-season wins, the Eagles allowed opponents to convert just 27.8 percent of their third downs. In their seven losses: 44.7.

-- Opposing quarterbacks had a 91.2 passer rating against the Eagles on third down last year. But just 56 of 159 third-down pass attempts against them, or 35.2 percent, resulted in first downs.

-- The defense had just one interception on third down. The year before they had nine.

-- No team in the league had fewer rushing attempts against them last year than the Eagles (20.7 per game). That’s the main reason they finished seventh in the league in run defense (96.9 yards per game).

-- Overall, they were inconsistent against the run. They finished 21st in yards allowed per carry (4.7). In their first five games, they held opponents to 3.35 yards per carry. In their last 11 games: 5.42.

-- In their two games against the Eagles last season, the Redskins averaged 4.8 yards per carry (26-125). But 90 of those 125 carries came on one carry by Adrian Pederson. On their other 25 carries in the two losses to the Eagles, the Redskins averaged just 1.4 yards per carry.

-- The defense finished 22nd in first-down rush average, allowing 4.8 yards per carry. They allowed just 3.4 on first down the year before.

-- The Eagles allowed just 22 touchdown passes last season, which was the eighth fewest in the NFL. Eight of those 22 came in two games. They gave up four apiece in losses Tampa Bay and New Orleans. In 10 of their 16 games, they held opposing QBs to zero or one TD pass.

-- The Eagles had a 97.9 opponent passer rating in their first 10 games last season. They gave up 16 touchdown passes, had just four interceptions and allowed 7.6 yards per attempt. In the final six games following the 48-7 debacle in the Superdome against the Saints, they had an 86.3 opponent passer rating, gave up just 6 TDs and had 6 interceptions and allowed 7.1 yards per attempt.

-- The Eagles finished tied for eighth with 44 sacks last year. Those sacks were pretty evenly split down-wise. They had 13 on first down, 13 on second down, 15 on third down and three on fourth down. Eight of their 15 third-down sacks came in the Eagles’ final five games.

-- The Eagles’ blitz percentage last season was just 15.8, down from 21.8 the previous year. Just eight of the Eagles’ 44 sacks came on blitzes, including just two of their last 22.

-- DeSean Jackson has led the NFL in yards per catch in three of the last five seasons, including last year, when he averaged 18.9. Yet he’s finished in the top 15 in receptions of 20-plus yards just once in those five years. That was in 2016, his last year with the Redskins, when he finished tied for sixth with 19.

-- Jackson had 48 catches of 40 yards or more in his first seven seasons. He has just 15 in the last four years.

-- Wentz and Nick Foles threw a combined 22 touchdown passes in the red zone last season. Tight end Zach Ertz caught seven of them, and Alshon Jeffery had six. Breakdown of the other nine; Dallas Goedert with three; Nelson Agholor with two; and Wendell Smallwood, Golden Tate, Jordan Matthews and Darren Sproles with one apiece.

-- Ertz’s 116 receptions last season were the most ever by an NFL tight end. A breakdown of his 116 catches by personnel grouping: 11 (1RB, 1TE, 3WR): 53-532, 12 (1RB, 2TE, 2WR): 53-509, and 13 (1RB, 3TE, 1WR): 10-122.