DeVonta Smith was the biggest playmaker on the Philadelphia Eagles in his rookie season. He was relegated to an afterthought in Sunday’s win.
The Eagles put up 31 points on offense, one of four teams to score 30-plus points in Week 1. The performance is even more impressive considering Smith was held without a catch for the first time in his career.
Four targets or not, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni will make sure Smith has the football in his hands going forward.
“We must. We have to because you never want to be one-dimensional and let them say, ‘Hey, we are taking this away or taking that away,'” Sirianni said Monday. “DeVonta Smith is not a good playmaker; [he’s] a great playmaker. I think everybody in this city saw that on hand last year.
“He has to touch the ball. There’s no doubt about it. He has to touch the ball, and it’s just the way the game went. When we looked at it, he did have the four targets, but there was a handful of other things that were called for him, and for whatever reason – there are so many different reasons of why it doesn’t go to him and for whatever reason, it didn’t here, and we had some other opportunities to get it to him.”
Smith caught a pass in every game last season, the driving force of an Eagles passing game that didn’t have many playmakers. That isn’t the case this year, as Philadelphia added A.J. Brown to be the No. 1 wide receiver and Zach Pascal for veteran depth. Pascal had just one catch in the opener, while Smith and Quez Watkins were held without a reception.
Brown finished with 10 catches for 155 yards, the difference maker in the passing game the Eagles traded for. Tight end Dallas Goedert finished with three catches for 60 yards.
Smith is going to get his opportunities this season as No. 1 cornerbacks try to contain Brown. Sirianni assured the second-year standout will get his opportunity.
“A lot of these plays (Sunday) were still run through him. It just, for whatever reason, it seemed to time up perfectly: [WR] A.J. [Brown] had this huge game and DeVonta didn’t touch the ball at all; oh, my goodness, they are never going to use DeVonta Smith again,” Sirianni said. “I can promise you that’s not the case.
“Him, A.J. and Dallas [Goedert] are who the offense will run through, who the pass offense will run through, and it just was the perfect storm with where he didn’t get any touches.
“And…
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