Eagles Week 1 PFF Grades: Reed Blankenship leads the way defensively; Jalen Hurts posts worst marks of his career

The Philadelphia Eagles bested the Green Bay Packers down in Brazil or their season opener, winning 34-29. It was a sloppy game from start to finish, but a win is a win, and it’s better to start the season 1-0 then 0-1.

With that, let’s get into the Pro Football Focus grades from this Week 1 contest.

Lane Johnson, AJ Brown, and DeVonta Smith lead the way offensively

Future Hall of Fame tackle Lane Johnson looked like his normal, dominant self Friday night. He finished the game with the best grade on the Eagles offense, posting an overall grade of 84.6, along with an 84.6 pass blocking grade and 89.6 run blocking grade.

The rest of the offensive line had solid marks as well. Jordan Mailata came in right behind Johnson with an overall grade of 80.0, with Landon Dickerson (75.5), Mekhi Becton (73.8), and Cam Jurgens (68.7) coming in behind him.

Philly’s dynamic WR duo of AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith dominated the Packers secondary all night, both finishing with elite PFF grades. Brown hauled in 5 receptions for 119 yards and touchdown while posting an 83.4 grade. Smitty finished just ahead of Brown on the grade sheet, posting an 84.6 grade while hauling in 7 catches for 84 yards.

On the flip side, Jalen Hurts posted the worst single game grade of his career Friday night, finishing with a 29.8 mark. Was he actually that bad… I don’t think so. He was far from great, but I wouldn’t say that was the worst game Hurts has ever played — far from it. He was clearly rusty and trying a little too hard to make plays, which resulted in two ugly interceptions. Nevertheless, he played well enough to win the ball game and made key plays throughout the game to secure the victory.

Saquon Barkley was the story of the night for the Eagles, scoring three touchdowns and recording 132 yards from scrimmage. His PFF grade wasn’t great, finishing the game with a 58 overall mark. Again, not sure how he finished with such low marks when he had such a positive impact on the game.

Eagles offensive PFF grades from Week 1:

Reed Blankenship, Brandon Graham, and Zack Baun lead the way defensively

Reed Blankenship posted the best grade of any player on the Eagles orster Friday night, finishing the game with an overall mark of 89.7. He was stout in coverage all night, picking off Jordan Love and posting a coverage grade of 84.8.

Reed Blankenship just caught one of those “no way that’s possible EA Sports College Football 25” ints in real life. WHAT A PLAY. I guess it is realistic. pic.twitter.com/Z33sM1NrTr

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) September 7, 2024

Ol reliable Brandon Graham came in right behind Blankenship on the grade sheet, finishing the game with a 76.9 grade while playing 32 defensive snaps. Zack Baun stole the show, however, leading the team in tackles — 15 combined and 11 solo. He finished the game with just a 76.2 grade, but his impact was felt all night and appears to be the most underrated signing the Eagles made this past offseason.

At the bottom of the grade sheet we have Jalen Carter (30.0) and Nakobe Dean (29.3). Don’t agree with these grades at all and I’m just not sure what film PFF was watching. Dean looked like a much improved player and nearly had a game changing pick-six at the beginning of the second half. Carter was a game wrecker as well, controlling the line of scrimmage all night long.

Eagles defensive PFF grades from Week 1: