The Philadelphia Eagles are 8-2 after beating the Washington Commanders on Thursday night. Six wins in a row!
Kind of crazy that they were down 10 to 6 entering the fourth quarter … only to quickly go up 26 to 10.
Regardless of how they got it done,this was a very important victory for the Birds. They’re on a good track to win the NFC East. Even better, they’re very much in contention for the No. 1 seed.
Time to hand out some winners, losers, and IDKs.
WINNERS
VIC FANGIO
If it wasn’t already clear, the Eagles have their new Jim Johnson.
Vic Fangio’s defense has been excellent.
The Eagles have allowed just six offensive touchdowns over their last six games.
And whereas they previously played some bad offenses/quarterbacks, that was not the case in this one.
The Commanders entered this matchup ranked third in offensive points per game and fourth in yards per game.
Fangio won his battle with Kliff Kingsbury:
Eight of those points and 70 of those yards came with the Eagles playing a form of prevent defense late in the game.
Fangio might be overseeing the best defense in the NFL?
Or at least one of the very best that’s worth believing in.
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SAQUON BARKLEY
Saquon’s unreal.
He’s simply unstoppable.
Where would the Eagles be without him this year?
Against the Commanders: 26 carries for 146 yards (5.6 average) and two touchdowns. Two catches for 52 yards.
Barkley’s logging 134.7 yards from scrimmage per game. The next closest player this season is Derrick Henry, who’s at 121.6 yards from scrimmage per game.
THE EAGLES’ OFFENSIVE LINE
Barkley doesn’t even need great blocking to be great but it certainly helps! The Eagles’ offensive line paved the way for rushing success on Thursday night.
All told, the Eagles ran the ball 40 times for 228 yards (5.7 average) and three touchdowns.
Cam Jurgens deserves a special shoutout for how he was bullying defenders.
The Eagles’ ground game has been their offensive identity coming out of the Week 5 bye.
It’s an historically good unit.
QUINYON MITCHELL
The most highly-anticipated matchup entering this game was Mitchell vs. Terry McLaurin, who has a track record of doing damage against the Eagles despite largely working with lackluster quarterbacks.
Mitchell answered the bell in a big way:
Incredible.
Mitchell continues to look like an absolute lockdown corner.
One would think a performance like this should strengthen his case for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Based on what I’ve seen/read, Mitchell hasn’t been getting enough love in that conversation. Some national media members have suggested it’s a foregone conclusion that Jared Verse, who has 4.5 sacks in nine games, is the DROY.
The Mitchell erasure must stop. He deserves more credit than he’s gotten outside of Philly.
ZACK BAUN
Another great outing from Baun, who led the Eagles in total tackles with 15 and nine solo. The reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week was once again flying around the field, making his impact felt early (see: third down pass breakup on the Commanders’ first drive) and often.
Baun was responsible for arguably the biggest momentum play of the game when he decked a scrambling Daniels for no gain to force a turnover on downs midway through the fourth quarter. The Eagles’ offense took advantage of that big stop by going on a touchdown drive to go up two possessions with 4:58 remaining.
Baun is such a stud. He continues to play at an All-Pro level.
ED REED BLANKENSHIP
Blankenship logged his third interception of the season in his 10th game this season, tying his previous single-season career high of three in 15 games last year.
Blankenship has been a closer for the Eagles this season:
- He picked off Jordan Love in Week 1 to seal an Eagles win.
- He picked off Derek Carr in Week 3 to seal an Eagles win.
- He picked off Jayden Daniels in Week 11 to seal an Eagles win.
In addition to his interception, Blankenship tied for the second-most total tackles with 10. Along with Baun, he helped to get Daniels down on that fourth down stop to force a turnover on downs in the fourth quarter.
JALEN CARTER
Carter was a beast in this game.
The box score doesn’t really do him justice, though it is worth noting he set a new career high in total tackles with seven (previously: four).
Carter was consistently disruptive.
He played a role in the Eagles’ fourth down stop by immediately pressuring Daniels, nearly tackling him and forcing him to take a wider angle to the edge where he got stopped short of the marker. And that was two plays after he had a tackle for no gain on 2nd-and-1.
Carter helped create Josh Sweat’s sack by forcing Daniels to drop his eyes and move off his spot.
More highlights here:
BRANDON GRAHAM
Brandon Lee Graham rules.
The 36-year-old had a team-high two TFLs and one sack.
One of Graham’s TFLs turned 2nd-and-2 into a 3rd-and-4 where the Commanders failed to convert and had to ultimately settle for a 45-yard field goal make.
The other turned 3rd-and-1 into the 4th-and-2 that the Commanders failed to convert for a turnover on downs.
Again, he’s a very clutch player.
BLG is now one sack away from taking over sole possession of third place among the franchise’s all-time sack leaders.
Second place might be attainable if he has second thoughts about retiring after this season …
JOSH SWEAT
Sweat’s sack turned 2nd-and-14 into 3rd-and-22. He also had a TFL in this game.
Sweat leads the Eagles in sacks this season with six. He’s tied with two others (Carter and Nakobe Dean) for the team lead in TFLs with seven.
After going ice cold in the second half of last season and getting off to a slow start this year, Sweat has seemingly found his groove. The Eagles might want to pay him to make sure he doesn’t leave in free agency after this season.
NOLAN SMITH
Smith’s rookie season: one sack in 17 games.
Smith’s sophomore season: 3.5 sacks in 10 games so far.
The 2023 first-round pick has taken advantage of increased playing time in Year 2.
Smith’s sack in this game turned 3rd-and-5 into a 4th-and-13 punt. He also had a TFL, bringing him up to four TFLs in his last five games.
Also, here’s a good example of how Smith’s relentless motor makes him an asset:
NAKOBE DEAN
Dean tied for second in total tackles with 10 and was just one shy of Baun’s lead for solo tackles.
Dean made a really impressive open field tackle on a scrambling Daniels to force a punt on the Commanders’ third drive. I had thought for sure Daniels was getting a first down and perhaps a lot more when he started to take off running … but Dean made the play.
Dean also got credit for a pass defensed when he tipped a Daniels throw that led to Austin Ekeler dropping a wobbly ball.
GRANT CALCATERRA
Recovering Dallas Goedert’s fumble was HUUUUUUUUUGE. Great hustle play by the No. 2 tight end.
Had the Commanders recovered that ball, who knows how the game goes differently. The Eagles were only up 12 to 10 at that point. Calcaterra retaining possession for the Eagles allowed them to take a 19 to 10 lead.
Goedert owes Calcaterra a nice dinner or something.
KENNY GAINWELL
An unsung hero from this game, Gainwell’s four carries went for 43 yards! He helped the Birds on the way to their first touchdown.
Gainwell also had a nice block on Jalen Hurts’ 3rd-and-8 scramble for a first down late in the second quarter.
ZACH ERTZ
Fun fact: Ertz is the only player to ever catch the game-winning touchdown pass in an Eagles Super Bowl victory. He’ll always be a winner for that.
As an added bonus, Ertz scored a touchdown in his return to Philly and also made a pretty sick toe-tapping catch for a successful two-point try. And it didn’t hurt the Eagles since it was in garbage time! Nice.
LOSERS
TERRY MCLAURIN
Two targets, one reception, 10 yards.
He got clamped!
JAKE ELLIOTT
This was obviously the worst game of Elliott’s career with field goal misses from 44 and 51 and then an extra point miss.
Elliott is already up to five field goal misses in 10 games this season after only missing five in 33 games from 2022 and 2023.
What’s the deal here? Does Elliott suddenly have the yips?
One would hope not. Certainly something to monitor.
JAYDEN DANIELS
I still think Daniels is very much the real deal and could be a real nuisance for the Eagles in years to come if he’s able to stay healthy.
That said, Daniels stunk in this one. The Eagles’ defense did well to make life hard on the rookie quarterback. But he also missed some throws that were there to be made.
Some of the Daniels hype should probably cool off after laying two stinkers in a row.
THE REFS
I’m not going to belabor the point here but we all saw there were some real bad calls. The DeVonta Smith face mask penalty that got picked up and the Cooper DeJean pass interference especially stood out.
I DON’T KNOWS
JALEN HURTS
Hurts got off to another slow start. It sure seemed like he was struggling to see the field well as he held onto the ball for an eternity.
And even when he was seeing open targets, he was still getting the ball out late.
This isn’t a brand new issue for Hurts; he’s just not the best anticipatory thrower. People were dunking on this Greg Cosell clip recently but, I mean, he’s not completely off-base.
It’s not that he can’t do it at all. Hurts actually ripped a real good ball in a tight window to DeVonta Smith at one point. But it doesn’t always happen frequently enough.
It’s disappointing that the passing attack can look so out of sorts given the talent involved. There are going to be questions about the team’s ceiling when the quarterback can’t be totally trusted:
To be fair, Hurts did enough to help the Eagles win. He didn’t turn the ball over, which is obviously big. And he did play better in the second half. Hurts has a knack for overcoming slow starts, which is good. But it’d be even better to see him start faster!
NICK SIRIANNI
The Eagles continue to win. All they do under Sirianni is win.
And at a very impressive rate:
The question is: how much credit does Sirianni deserve?
I don’t know. It’s certainly some. He seems to be helping foster good vibes once again.
But I also think the overall talent is a big driver of their success, which is a testament to Howie Roseman.
It’s easy to look at Sirianni’s record and say he wins.
It’s harder to pinpoint exactly how Sirianni gives the Eagles an edge.
I don’t think he was great against the Commanders.
Some questionable decisions included:
- A coward’s draw on 3rd-and-22 on the Eagles’ first drive. I get that moving the chains there isn’t easy. But why not try? The quarterback is making one quarter of a billion dollars. You have A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Even if you don’t complete a pass for a first down, there’s an opportunity for a defensive holding/illegal contact/pass interference penalty with a throw.
- Not going for it on 4th-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Elliott had just missed two kicks, so, a field goal make wasn’t even a guarantee. And if he’s going to be aggressive, like he was in Week 9, why are you abandoning that approach in this spot? Again, the decision-making process seems haphazard and not guided by a big picture ethos.
- Not going for a two-point conversion to try to make it a three-possession game when Barkley’s second touchdown put the Eagles up by 15 points. At this point, Elliott missed two field goals and an extra point kick, so it’s not like he was a lock to make this! And going up three possessions is a big deal. Had the Commanders recovered their onside kick attempt, they could’ve had a chance to tie the game at the end.
I promise I’m not trying to be a Sirianni hater. I just don’t know that I really trust him with key decisions.
I also don’t know if correlation is always linked to causation when it comes to the success he’s had.
DALLAS GOEDERT
Five catches on five targets for 61 yards is certainly good! As is securing an onside kick recovery to seal the game!
But, man, that fumble was almost a disaster! Do the Eagles definitely win if Calcaterra doesn’t recover that? I don’t know.
It’s easy for me to say — and I typically admire Goedert’s effort to fight through contact — but it felt like cutting back upfield like he did was needlessly risky.
