You could just see Nelson Agholor bristle as the question was asked.
It was a fair question. How sweet was that touchdown catch after a rough preseason?
“Rough preseason ... I don’t worry about that,” he said. “It feels great to win a football game and to see what preparation and hard work all week does for you. That’s what it shows you.
“I don’t think about preseason, I don’t think about last year. All I care about is Sept. 11, which is today and this game.”
Agholor, who did have a very disappointing rookie year and indeed a rough preseason, opened the 2016 regular season in encouraging fashion, with four catches for 57 yards in the Eagles’ 29-10 season-opening win over the Browns at the Linc (see Instant Replay).
His 35-yard touchdown catch from Carson Wentz late in the third quarter turned a five-point lead into a 12-point lead.
It was only the second touchdown catch of his career.
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“Preparation,” Agholor said. “Felt good to see what preparation does for you. Just know yourself. You never know what next week’s going to hold. But I ain’t going to change my approach to next week.
“Next week I might not get a touchdown. I don’t care. But I’m going to prepare as hard as I possibly can all week to be explosive and to help our football team win games. That’s my job and that’s where my mind’s at.”
The TD was a thing of beauty (see Roob's 10 observations). It came one snap after the Eagles converted a 4th and 4 on Wentz’s quick dart to Zach Ertz and it came on a perfectly thrown ball that Agholor sprinted under and caught along the right sideline at the 4-yard line before easily running into the end zone.
Most encouraging is that Agholor beat two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden on the play.
Agholor was asked how he beat Haden off the line.
“Same thing I do every day in practice going against corners like (practice squad cornerback) C.J. Smith and Nolan Carroll,” he said. “Just work my releases and train. The things I train I put into play.
“(Haden) was at the line of scrimmage man to man. And I worked my release like I have been trained to do and found a way to get separation. Carson gave me an opportunity. He threw a great ball so it helps you out.”
Jordan Matthews led the Eagles with seven catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, but Agholor — despite finishing with half as many yards — was the more surprising performance just because he hadn’t shown any sign of making this sort of play all summer.
Agholor caught just two passes for 30 yards in the preseason and was plagued by drops throughout.
“I feel like Nelson came out and played a great game,” Matthews said. “To make that play on that type of corner, then you have to have the mindset that he’s working on his craft. He’s not worried about the fact that that’s one of the best corners in the league against him. Nelson did his thing and then Carson put it where it had to be.
“I feel like that play was really big for us. I think it really gave us a lot of energy.”
It was a wow moment for Wentz but also a wow moment for Agholor, who hasn’t had many.
“That was huge,” Wentz said. “Obviously staying on the field was huge and then we took a shot right away. When coach called it, I was pretty excited. And Nelson right off the ball just killed his guy. He had a great release. I just put it out there for him and he was running. It was great.”
Agholor surpassed 50 yards only twice last year. He had 15 or fewer yards in more than half the games he played in (seven of 13).
With Dorial Green-Beckham adding a couple catches Sunday, the much-maligned wide receiver group finished with 13 catches for 185 yards.
“Yeah, it is a great performance by our receivers,” Doug Pederson said after his NFL head coaching debut. “They have worked hard. Listen, they have been beat up enough to know what they need to do. When I say ‘beat up,’ you guys have definitely let them know what's going on.
“I've got faith in them. I've got trust and confidence in them. I see them work every single day and it just goes to show that you put the hard work in, it's going to pay off on Sunday.”
Pederson didn’t mention anybody by name, but you know who he was talking about.
When the first-round pick doesn’t even reach 300 yards as a rookie, he’s going to come under a lot of scrutiny.
“Last season is last season,” Agholor said. “The only thing that matters to me is today. That’s where my mind is.”