The Philadelphia Eagles[7-1] defeat the Washington Commanders[3-5] 38-31. Next week, the Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys while the Commanders travel to play the New England Patriots.
1st Quarter: Commanders Quarterback Sam Howell throws a 26-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Terry McLaurin. Eagles Kicker Jake Elliott kicks a 51-yard field goal.
2nd Quarter: Sam Howell throws a 21-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Jahan Dotson. Eagles Running Back Kenneth Gainwell fumbles the ball and the Commanders recover at their own 6-yard line. Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts throws a 16-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver A.J. Brown. Commanders Kicker Joey Slye kicks a 61-yard field goal. Commanders lead at halftime 17-10.
3rd Quarter: Jalen Hurts fumbles the ball at the Commanders 1-yard line and Washington recovers. Jalen Hurts throws a 25-yard touchdown to A.J. Brown.
4th Quarter: Sam Howell throws a 7-yard touchdown to Tight End Logan Thomas. Jalen Hurts throws a 38-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver DeVonta Smith. Sam Howell throws an interception to Safety Reed Blankenship who gives the Eagles the ball at the Washington 15-yard line but with a penalty on the Commanders, it gives the Eagles the ball at the Washington 7-yard line. Jalen Hurts throws an 8-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Julio Jones. Eagles Running Back D’Andre Swift runs in a 7-yard touchdown. Sam Howell throws a 26-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Jamison Crowder. The Eagles won 38-31.
Eagles Notes:
Pass Offense-Best game all year. If Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, and the rest of this offense, I have no idea if the game would have ended with an Eagles victory. Hurts’ injury forced him to throw from the pocket more and he thrived all game long. DeVonta Smith was more involved. Goedert got his share. Even Julio Jones caught his first touchdown as an Eagle. This is how great the pass offense can be and moving forward this is what all Eagles fans expect.
Run Offense-Completely absent and when it was there were turnovers. This was a game where they needed to rely on D’Andre Swift but chose to rely on Kenneth Gainwell. Jalen Hurts was the leading rusher at halftime and that was not good considering he has an injury that is taking him out of the run game. Again late in the game and there were not enough run plays. I think Gainwell can be a nice third option but not the second option in this offense. Hopefully, Rashaad Penny can get some action here soon.
Pass Defense-What happened? James Bradberry looked awful all game long. He could not tackle and he could not cover. Sydney Brown is not great at covering and this was his first game starting in the slot so I will give him a pass for this game. Kevin Byard was just added this week so I will give him a pass for now. Darius Slay was quiet all game. Luckily Reed Blankenship showed up and came away with a clutch turnover. This seemed like a testing game to see what works with everyone and what does not but that is no excuse for Bradberry. He needs to hit the reset button this week. Reevaluate what he is doing and fix the mistakes. Many times in this game the secondary and linebackers got caught looking in the backfield and it burned them. This secondary has to be better going forward in order to take this team to a higher level.
Run Defense-The run defense was surprisingly not that good. Jalen Carter seemed to have an injury that hurt him early on but that is not an excuse for as good of a defensive line as the Eagles. I am surprised the Commanders did not run the ball more when they averaged over 6 yards per carry from their running backs. By far the least efficient I have seen this run defense play in the last two seasons. Have to be better going forward.
Play Calling-Every week it seems Brian Johnson has the right plays but does not know when to call them. This week he had great pass plays but there was not enough running at all. On defense, this was Sean Desai’s worst game. He tried to replicate what other teams have done by getting to Sam Howell and that did not work which led to the rest of the defense being exposed. Later in the game, he adjusted and it proved well by getting a much-needed interception by Reed Blankenship. A bumpy game from the start but a lot of improvement was shown.
-Jordan Burden