By: Kylan Watson
For the first time in a while the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders renewed their rivalry with a lot on the line. Whichever team won this contest, they would take over the sole possession of first place in the NFC East and secure a top two seed in the loaded NFC. The Eagles were able to use a second-half scoring explosion to beat Washington 26-18.
Both teams played sloppy football throughout the first half of this game. They looked like two teams who played with a short week to prepare for their opponent. Jake Elliott missed two makeable field goals and an extra point to leave at least 7 points on the board. He is usually a reliable kicker who is in a funk right now, and the Eagles might need to either develop a back-up plan or help him get out of it before it cost them a game. It was not just him in a funk though as the offense missed an early touchdown opportunity thanks to a holding call and they just could not get out of their own way in the first half.
However, the Eagles defensive unit continued to dominate this game and were able to hold Washington’s explosive offense to only 7 points by half-time. The defensive unit kept the pressure on Jayden Daniels and sacked him three times. They made him play faster than he wanted to and that stifled Washington’s offense. Giving the offense enough time to finally find their rhythm.
They were finally able to put a drive together that was saved multiple times by the legs of Jalen Hurts who got another rushing touchdown, along with two rushing touchdowns from Saquon Barkley and the Eagles were able to keep the Commanders at bay in this game.
This was by far a bad offensive game for the Eagles, but they made the plays that they needed to make to win this game. Philly’s offense continues to show up but is not dominating in all four quarters of a game just yet. In this game you can blame that on the missed field goals, but they must put points on the board when necessary.
They cannot continue to rely on their defense to impose their will and give them enough time to find themselves. It is working right now, but the offense has to find their rhythm early in games. They finally are calling the right game script and plays it is just a matter of execution and closing the deal. Once that happens the Eagles will be back to the dominant team that they should be on paper.
For the Commanders this is yet another game where they just did not have it against another highly rated defense. The Eagles defensive scheme confused Daniels at times and forced him into a bad throw which was picked off by Reed Blankenship. In addition, Dan Quinn outsmarted himself and went for it on fourth down, when he should have settled for the field goal and went up by one-point in the contest. Especially because at that point in the game the Eagles only had a two-point lead and had not fully found their rhythm yet. The Commanders fail to convert, and Saquon Barkley finds the end zone on the Eagles next drive. Washington is a team that will definitely be in the playoffs, but if they want to make a deep playoff run, they have to execute better and not play aggressively because it can cost you games. This Commanders team is coming and has nothing to be ashamed of in this contest tonight, they were just outexecuted by a veteran team.
The Eagles will now prepare for a matchup with the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday night. The offense will definitely need to cash in on their opportunities early in the game and take advantage of a weakened Rams defensive unit. The Rams play an aggressive style of defense which can be stopped by using the screen game and the rushing attack. Doing that should give Philly opportunities to open the game wide open through the big play.
On the defensive side the Eagles will need to continue to rely on Quinyon Mitchell and Darius Slay to shutdown the Rams explosive receiving tandem of Cooper Cupp and Puka Nacua, if they are able to slowdown the explosive duo the Eagles should be in great shape to win their ninth game of the season.