LANDOVER, Md. – As Halapoulivaati Vaitai stood by his stall in the somber visitors’ locker room at FedEx Field, he put on a green T-shirt jersey with his No. 72 and the words “Quiet One” – his new nickname – on the back.
He probably wished he could have stayed that way.
Instead, the 23-year-old rookie had to answer for a less-than-stellar NFL debut during the Eagles’ 27-20 loss to Washington on Sunday afternoon (see Instant Replay).
“There’s a lot of things I need to work on,” Vaitai said. “I just have to learn what I did wrong.”
No, this wasn’t quite Winston Justice on Osi Umenyiora in 2007. But Vaitai against former Pro Bowl edge rusher Ryan Kerrigan wasn’t pretty. Kerrigan feasted early and picked up two sacks (see Roob's 10 observations from the Eagles' loss).
Vaitai is of course filling in for the suspended Lane Johnson, who was playing at an extremely high level before his suspension kicked in this week. Through the first four games, Johnson had given up just one sack. Vaitai gave up his first sack on the first series of the game. In all, Washington sacked Carson Wentz five times.
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The Eagles clearly missed their starting right tackle.
“Lane is a big part of what we were doing and he was playing well,” head coach Doug Pederson said. “It is disappointing from that standpoint, but at the same time, we’re handed these cards and we’re going to play, play with the best five up front. It is our job as coaches, it is what we are hired to do, to make our players better. We’re going to do that this week.”
Despite Vaitai’s early struggles, Pederson said he wasn’t close to replacing the fifth-round rookie during Sunday’s game because he has too much confidence in the unit and it would have sent the wrong message to the team.
Eventually, Pederson started giving Vaitai more help on his side with tight ends and chipping running backs and the rookie started to play at least a little better.
“First and foremost, Big V, one thing about him, he’s always going to fight, he’s never going to quit,” right guard Brandon Brooks said. “Good bad or indifferent. The thing I saw out of him is watching that fight in him and watching him grow throughout the game. Like I said, early on, some bumps and bruises. But as the game went on, settled in and did his job.”
Vaitai said he already knows the things he needs to correct. He listed them: stay more balanced, use his hands better, stay low, keep his hips loose and work on the timing of his punch.
“From now on, I’ll work on that,” he said.
Pederson first revealed the idea to start Vaitai two weeks ago. Before then, the plan for Johnson’s suspension was always to have Allen Barbre slide from left guard to right tackle and then replace him with either Stefen Wisniewski or Isaac Seumalo.
The Eagles eventually decided to plug Vaitai in at right tackle to avoid affecting two positions instead of one. That means that as the Eagles’ offensive line struggled to protect Wentz on Sunday, Wisniewski, who has 77 career starts just stood on the sideline and watched.
Wisniewski said he didn’t think he would get into Sunday’s game unless there was an injury. He was right.
“It’s frustrating for a lot of reasons,” Wisniewski said. “I’m just used to being a starter. I haven’t been a backup for 10 years, so that’s kind of tough to get used to. I definitely think I can help, but I’m going to help in any way I can and right now that’s being a backup. Hoping to get a shot eventually.”
During the week leading up to Sunday’s game, Pederson said he was “fully committed” to using Vaitai as his right tackle throughout the entire Johnson suspension. It looks like, Pederson is still looking to use Vaitai going forward.
Where is the rookie’s confidence level after a subpar debut?
“Right now, it’s high,” Vaitai said. “I feel pretty confident going into next week.”
Maybe next week he’ll get to be a little quieter.
