DeVonta Smith is drawing the kind of defensive attention that changes everything for the Eagles’ passing game, and on Sunday afternoon that opened the door for Dontayvion Wicks.
Smith made it clear after the game what that means for the rest of the room: “Like I told Tay,” Smith said, “‘If people gonna sit out there and cloud me all game, you gotta take over.’ Today, he made some big plays. Look forward to more of that.”
Wicks answered with two of the biggest grabs in the Eagles’ 24-22 win over the Commanders. He stretched the field for a 64-yard catch in the first quarter, then came back in the second quarter with a 9-yard touchdown. Those were his only two receptions, but they accounted for 73 yards in a game where the offense was out of sync for much of the afternoon.
The Eagles clearly see Wicks as more than a one-game flash. They drafted Makai Lemon in the first round, but Wicks is the WR2 right now, and Sunday offered a glimpse of why the team traded for him this offseason and moved quickly to extend him.
“Smitty’s that guy, so teams are going to start to move towards his side,” Wicks said. “That opens up for me on the other side.
… My biggest thing is never let one man beat you. I’m just going to win my 1-on-1s and do my 1/11 for the team.
That’s what’s going to help us win.”
The 64-yard catch was the longest of Wicks’ NFL career by a wide margin. Before Sunday, his longest reception through three seasons in Green Bay had been 36 yards.
That mattered because his time with the Packers never really gave him this kind of runway. Wicks said Green Bay’s receiver group was too crowded for him to get these chances, with Christian Watson and Matthew Golden among the players viewed as deep threats.
“I didn’t have that [opportunity],” Wicks said. “In Green Bay, we had so many guys.
Over here, I’m able to get those looks. Able to put it on film and go do it.
Like I said, over there, I didn’t really have the opp. They had the guys for it.
We had some guys that could really do it and they didn’t really need me in that role. I just played my role.”
The big play itself had been in the Eagles’ practice script, but Wicks said the ball had never actually come his way when they worked it. He was just running a clear-out route. Still, he had learned enough about Jalen Hurts by training camp to know the play might not unfold exactly as drawn.
“You never know with 1, he might put it up there and you gotta go get it,” Wicks said. “He’s building that trust.
Getting to know him, we know what he’s going to do. He might throw it up.
You never think our routes are for the love (of the game). We always think we can get the ball.”
The only thing missing from the 64-yarder was the finish. Wicks got all the way to the 6-yard line, and teammates gave him some heat for not taking it to the house. He made up for it a little later.
On the touchdown, Wicks said he noticed the defender had inside leverage and broke outside. Hurts, throwing off his back foot, still got the ball to him in the end zone.
For a player making his Eagles debut, it was a strong start. His teammates weren’t exactly shocked.
“I tried to tell y’all,” Saquon Barkley said.
“He had a route in practice and he just broke off a DB and I was just like, ‘Wow, he’s good at football.’ Happy for him.
I got him a little bit on the big one. I said, ‘You have to find a way to get in the end zone.’
That’s the level I think he can take it to. And he found a way to get into the end zone a drive or two later.
It’s going to be really good.”
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