Eagles vs. Commanders: 23 winners, 3 losers, and 4 IDKs

The Philadelphia Eagles are through to the Super Bowl after beating the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game!

This was domination.

The Birds set a new NFL record for points scored in a conference title game with 55.

With a failed two-point conversion and a missed field goal, the Eagles weren’t too far off from dropping a 60-burger on a division rival.

Before we fully turn our attention to the Eagles’ rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s time to hand out some winners, losers, and IDKs from a special night at Lincoln Financial Field.

For even more analysis, check out my appearance onThe Ringer’s Philly Special postgame podcast with Sheil Kapadia:

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WINNERS

JALEN HURTS

Hurts saved his best game of the season for his biggest game of the season to this point.

The numbers: 20/28 (71.4% completion), 246 yards (8.8 yards per attempt), 1 TD, 0 INT, 110.1 passer rating … 10 carries, 16 rushing yards, 3 TD.

Hurts largely excelled as a pocket passer; he completed 18 of 20 pocket passes for 216 yards and his sole passing touchdown.

He was accurate. He was decisive. He was clutch.

On that last point, Hurts excelled in high-leverage situations. 4th-and-5 go ball to A.J. Brown, right on the money. 3rd-and-13 scramble with pressure bearing down on him, he got the ball to DeVonta Smith for a touchdown that was dropped but the Commanders got flagged for defensive pass interference in the end zone anyway.

During his postgame press conference, Hurts talked about how Nick Sirianni “let me out of my straitjacket a little bit today.” It was pretty refreshing to see such an effective passing game. The results in this regard underscore why it’s been such a big talking point this season. Because when the Eagles can finally get their aerial attack clicking, the offense looks incredibly dominant! Totally raises their ceiling.

Considering how he shined in his last Super Bowl start, there’s every reason to believe Hurts is capable of another big-time performance. The moment clearly isn’t too big for him.

With Sunday’s win, Hurts joined Hall of Fame company.

SAQUON BARKLEY

Barkley had the perfect answer for Washington’s 18-play, 54-yard opening field goal drive.

He simply took it 60 yards to the house on the Eagles’ first offensive play.

Talk about a tone-setter.

All told, Barkley’s 15 carries went for 118 yards (7.9 average) and three touchdowns. He had a fourth rushing touchdown get vultured by the Brotherly Shove.

With one game left to play, Barkley is just 30 yards away from the most productive rushing season in NFL history.

He won’t win regular season MVP but Super Bowl MVP is very much on the table.

That result would be pretty fitting since he’s been the main character of the 2024 NFL season.

NICK SIRIANNI

The Eagles’ head coach played a huge role in this game’s inflection point.

Facing a 4th-and-5 from the plus 45-yard line with his team up 14 to 12, Sirianni was NOT a coward. He did not merely try to get the defense to jump offside (like I admittedly thought was the case in the moment).

Instead, Sirianni decided to try to give his team an edge by being aggressive. And the mission was accomplished by Hurts hitting A.J. Brown down the left sideline for a 31-yard gain. Several plays later, the Eagles scored a touchdown to take a 20 to 12 lead. And then Will Shipley forcing a kick return fumble set up another Eagles touchdown for a 27 to 12 lead. Massive sequence.

I promise I’m not just crediting Sirianni because the decision worked. I would’ve respected the call even if it failed. I said prior to the game that Sirianni needed to be more aggressive. Especially in a matchup against Dan Quinn, who clearly wasn’t afraid to go for it on fourth down (except strangely on the Commanders’ first drive when Washington settled for a field goal for some reason).

Sirianni’s aggression in this spot inspires hope that he might not be so conservative in this year’s Super Bowl. That’s an exciting thought since 1) he wasn’t aggressive enough in his last Super Bowl and 2) the Eagles won their only Super Bowl with their head coach being aggressive.

Of course, Sirianni deserves credit beyond a single fourth down call. The Eagles only continue to win under his guidance. The vibes are immaculate. The culture seems to be really good.

KELLEN MOORE

The Eagles’ offensive coordinator was cooking.

Drive results recap:

1st – TD

2nd – TD

3rd – Missed FG

4th – TD

5th – TD

6th – Punt

7th – TD

8th – Punt (from plus 40-yard line)

9th – TD

10th – TD

11 – End of game (victory formation)

That’s pretty good stuff.

Probably didn’t hurt his chances of landing the New Orleans Saints’ head coaching job.

LANDON DICKERSON

Dickerson got the start at center with Cam Jurgens injured. He clearly got banged up but he gutted it out to finish the first half. That was big.

CAM JURGENS

Jurgens wouldn’t have played if it weren’t for an emergency. But that exact situation arose with Dickerson getting banged up. Kudos to Jurgens for toughing it out and being able to play most of the second half.

TYLER STEEN

Just how good is Steen? That much remains to be seen.

But here’s a fact: two of the Eagles’ three highest scoring outputs this season (55 in this game and 37 against the Cincinnati Bengals) came with Steen in the starting lineup.

At the very least, he’s clearly not a hindrance to major offensive success.

A.J. BROWN

We all knew Brown was too good to be kept quiet for too long.

After having two bad drops last weekend, Brown redeemed himself by catching six of his eight targets for a team-high 96 receiving yards and one touchdown.

DALLAS GOEDERT

Goedert caught seven of his eight targets for 85 yards and also had two jet sweep carries for 13 rushing yards.

Eagles fans have been understandably frustrated with Goedert struggling to stay healthy. Some have called for the team to move on from him after this season.

But Goedert’s been pretty great in the playoffs. All told, his 18 postseason targets have resulted in 15 catches for 188 receiving yards and one touchdown.

DEVONTA SMITH

Smitty didn’t post the flashiest numbers but he was pretty efficient by catching all four of his targets for 45 yards and two first downs. One of those grabs included a toe-tapping effort along the sideline.

He also drew a 16-yard defensive pass interference penalty in the end zone to turn 3rd-and-13 into a Brotherly Shove touchdown from the 1-yard line.

WILL SHIPLEY

How about Will Shipley?!

What a game for the rookie running back.

It started with a 35-yard kick return to set up the Eagles’ offense at their own 40. That was right before Barkley’s 60-yard TD run.

Shipley then forced a fumble on a Commanders kick return to give the Eagles the ball at the plus 24-yard line. Seven plays later, the Birds were able to score a touchdown to take a 15-point lead.

With Kenny Gainwell ruled out due to a concussion, Shipley stepped up as RB2 and broke off big runs on the Eagles’ penultimate drive. He then found the end zone for the first time in his NFL career to finish with four carries for 77 yards and one TD.

For perspective, Shipley had 82 rushing yards on 30 carries in 16 regular season games.

VIC FANGIO

The Commanders were averaging 373.3 yards per game and 28.8 points per game.

The Eagles’ defense kept them below those marks with 350 yards gained and 23 points scored.

72.8 was the third-worst passer rating of Jayden Daniels’ career.

Fangio had some tricks up his sleeve to stump the rookie quarterback:

Now for some nit-picking!

Sure didn’t like how the Commanders were able to score three points late in the second quarter when they started at their own 30-yard line with 0:39 on the clock and zero timeouts to work with. It was way too easy for them to get a 42-yard field goal. Part of that drive involved Fangio blitzing Daniels, which was weird to see since Daniels had a lot of success against the Eagles’ blitz back in Week 16.

JALEN CARTER

Carter generated a team-high eight pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. No other Eagles defender had more than four. He was disruptive from the first play.

This type of power is insane:

NOLAN SMITH

Smith was credited with four stops (second highest on the team) and four pressures, including his fourth down sack to force a turnover on downs that allowed the Eagles to take over at the plus 31-yard line and make it a four-possession lead with 7:48 left in the fourth quarter.

Smith is up to 10.5 sacks in his last 15 games.

The Eagles’ top 10 all-time playoff sack leaders:

1) Brandon Graham: 5.5

2) Nolan Smith: 4.5

3) Reggie White: 4.0

4) Hugh Douglas: 4.0

5) Derrick Burgess: 4.0

6) Haason Reddick: 3.5

7) Darin Walker: 3.0

8) Josh Sweat: 2.5

9) Fletcher Cox: 2.5

10) Trent Cole: 2.5

ZACK BAUN

He just makes impact defensive plays every single week.

Baun notched his SIXTH forced fumble this season by punching Cooper DeJean’s hand into the ball to strip Dyami Brown for a Reed Blankenship recovery.

Later, Baun jumped on an Oren Burks’ forced fumble for an Eagles recovery.

The guy is a ball magnet.

Baun led the Eagles with 12 total tackles and eight solo.

OREN BURKS

Burks logged a team-high seven stops, which are defined as tackles that constitute a failure for the offense.

He had a sack, a TFL, and a forced fumble to halt a potential Commanders scoring drive that could’ve made it a one-possession game.

Burks did also miss a team-high three tackles, so, he’s not perfect. But he’s been really good as far as expectations for a backup linebacker go.

QUINYON MITCHELL

Quinyon Mitchell had zero interceptions in 16 regular season games.

Quinyon Mitchell has two interceptions in three playoff games.

Go figure.

Q once again shut down Terry McLaurin.

Numbers from NFL Next Gen Stats:

Quinyon Mitchell lined up against Terry McLaurin on 36 of his 48 routes (75%), aligning in press coverage on half of those matchups. Mitchell allowed just one reception for 7 yards on 4 targets against McLaurin, including a fourth quarter interception. The rookie cornerback did not have to shadow McLaurin based on both player’s alignment tendencies. McLaurin ran 40 of 48 routes on left side of the formation, while Mitchell played right cornerback (against the offense’s left) on 69 of 72 defensive snaps.

Underrated play: Mitchell was in position to stop Ekeler short of the goal line on a two-point conversion try that failed.

COOPER DEJEAN

DeJean helped to force the fumble on Dyami Brown. He also broke up two passes, including a downfield shot to Austin Ekeler.

The rookie also picked up Jamison Crowder like he was a little kid at one point.

JORDAN DAVIS

Davis doesn’t often fill up the stat sheet but he had a sack and a TFL in this game!

Just the second sack of his season (last one came in Week 3) to give him 4.5 in his career.

It was a big one, too. Davis beat his blocker clean to get to Daniels for a 12-yard loss to bring up 3rd-and-20 at Washington’s own 16-yard line. That sack prompted the Commanders’ only punt of the entire game. And just their second punt in the entire playoffs.

HOWIE ROSEMAN

A win of this magnitude is a testament to the talent disparity between these two teams.

Roseman has built a juggernaut.

JEFFREY LURIE

Hard to take good ownership for granted.

Dallas Cowboys fans would kill for Lurie to own their favorite team instead of Jerry Jones.

THE REFS

Am I the only nerd who was actually familiar with the rule that the refs can award a touchdown?

Obviously it didn’t come to that in this game but it was funny to hear the refs warn the Commanders that it could happen.

ZACH ERTZ

Ertz was a tough cover for the Eagles; the veteran tight end caught 11 of his team-high 16 targets for 104 yards.

This was a pretty good season for Ertz after dealing with injury issues as a member of the Arizona Cardinals. He’s still got some gas left in the tank. Will be interested to see what his market looks like. Would be nice to see the guy who caught the game-winning touchdown pass for the Eagles in Super Bowl LII not playing for a division rival again.

I don’t think he ends up back in Philly. But we’ll see.

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LOSERS

I refuse to put any members of the Eagles in the losers sections after a win like that.

MARSHON LATTIMORE

AKA A.J. Brown’s son.

Lattimore was targeted six times and allowed four catches for 88 yards. He also committed a 16-yard DPI penalty in the end zone to set up an Eagles touchdown.

Despite being a much-heralded acquisition, Lattimore really struggled in his two games against the Eagles.

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS FANS

On one hand, they were totally dominated by a division rival in the NFC Championship Game.

On the other hand, they’ll always have that time they took over the Hard Rock Cafe on Market Street.

Commanders fans will cope by saying they believe the future is bright. And they might be right. Jayden Daniels certainly looks legit.

But Daniels could be subject to a sophomore slump similar to the one we saw from C.J. Stroud this season.

The Commanders might have staying power. But they’ve still yet to prove that much.

DALLAS COWBOYS FANS

Cowboys fans are talking themselves into Brian Schottenheimer (or they eventually will be if they aren’t yet) as the Eagles are going to another Super Bowl.

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I DON’T KNOWS

BRANDON GRAHAM

Will BG be able to suit up in the Super Bowl?!

He hasn’t ruled it out. But we still don’t know for sure.

JAKE ELLIOTT

Elliott is now 1/8 from 50+ this season after missing a 54-yard field goal in this game.

Elliott was 7/8 from 50+ in 2023.

He’s missed 13 kicks this season after missing 11 over the last three years combined.

On the bright side, he did go 7/7 from extra point range.

MICHAEL CLAY

The Eagles allowing the Commanders to convert that fake punt was pretty annoying.

It just felt like an incredibly obvious spot for something tricky. I literally said “it’s a fake” aloud in the press box before the ball was snapped.

How could the Eagles be caught off guard by the league’s most aggressive head coach on fourth down going for it in a situation where a punt would’ve given the Eagles the ability to make it a 21 to 3 game? C’mon.

The Eagles’ special teams coordinator didn’t have his players properly prepared for that situation.

KELEE RINGO

Bad job by Ringo to lose track of where he was on the field and wipe out Sydney Brown’s effort to help pin the Commanders deep.

Ringo’s mistake cost the Eagles about 16 yards of field position on a drive where Washington had a chance to make it a one-score game.