It has been forever since the Eagles had a star cornerback that offenses feared. In the past decade, the team tried to find stars in free agency with the signings of Nnamdi Asomugha and Byron Maxwell, but both of those experiments burned to the ground.
However, the Birds might have finally found their shutdown corner in Darius Slay, who they acquire via trade this past offseason."Big Play" Slay was tasked with shadowing Washington's speedy receiver Terry McLaurin. McLaurin finished the game with five receptions for 61 yards, which is much better than the 127 yards he was averaging against Philly last year.
Most importantly, Slay shut down McLaurin in man coverage, allowing just one catch for 21 yards.
Slay's shutdown play in man coverage should have led to more sacks from the defensive line, but the Eagles pass rushers didn't have a strong game against Washington. The corners did their job Sunday, but the lack of QB pressure is what contributed to them giving up 27 points to a weak offense. If the Eagles want to start winning ball games, they'll need to continue their shutdown play at corner but with better pass rushing.
Since he followed McLaurin all around the field on Sunday, we should expect Slay to shadow every team's #1 receiver each week. As long as he plays similar to the way he did in Week 1, the defense should be burnt a lot less than they did in previous years with Rasul Douglas and Sidney Jones in man coverage.
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