Quinyon Mitchell throws coming-out party as Eagles defense stifles Commanders

Quinyon Mitchell didn’t know how many times he faced Terry McLaurin.

But the rookie cornerback was aware of one number from his breakout performance in the Eagles’ 26-18 win over the Commanders.

“I knew,” Mitchell said, “that I wasn’t really being thrown.”

How about never? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels did not target McLaurin on the 20 routes his top wide receiver ran when he matched up against Mitchell on Sunday night, according to NextGen Stats.

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On paper, Mitchell’s night didn’t look like much. No passport violation. No turnover. Only one assisted tackle. But to those who watched him lock down his side at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles fans intently watching on television and the millions who got their first glimpse on the national broadcast, Mitchell was extraordinary.

He is no longer a local secret. The rest of the country knows it now, and so does the rest of the NFL: Mitchell is playing as well as any cornerback in the rookie class. He might play as well as any first-year defenseman.

“He’s a good corner,” McLaurin said. “I think he plays well. He’s not really playing like a rookie.”

Mitchell didn’t shut down McLaurin, who caught just one pass for 10 yards overall, on his own. It was a collective effort, as was keeping Daniels — another standout rookie — and the Washington offense in check for most of 60 minutes.

The Eagles’ defensive front sacked the quarterback three times and pressured him out of the pocket on multiple occasions. The off-ball linebackers helped prevent the mobile Daniels from scrambling for big gains. And Mitchell and the secondary kept McLaurin and Washington’s receivers from making explosive catches.

“This is a team effort defense here,” Eagles cornerback Darius Slay said. “In the time I’ve been here, it’s been a D-line-driven defense. But right now, I feel like we have a great front, great linebackers and a great quarterback, and we’re all playing as one.”

Vic Fangio’s defense just got better and better every week since the bye. There was often a “but” that came after praising the device.

But the offenses they pounded were weak. But the quarterbacks they suffocated — except for Joe Burrow — were inferior. But… but… but…

But what about the Eagles defense now? Washington came in with one of the league’s most efficient offenses. Daniels had played like a savvy veteran and not a rookie. McLaurin had 47 catches for 711 yards and six touchdowns through the first 10 games.

Surely, Fangio’s young group would wither?

It didn’t. Until the Commanders’ final possession, Daniels averaged just 5.9 yards per carry. pass attempt. His receivers had just two catches combined for 13 yards. He was baited into check-down after check-down as the defensive backs denied opportunities downfield.

“We knew he was good at doing it,” Slay said of Daniels. “He’s got a strong arm, very accurate, which you saw on film. So when a quarterback is good at doing that, you just try your best to take it away from it. And that’s why you saw him check it down.”

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It was a master class from Fangio and it was his much imitated scheme at its best. Limit explosives when necessary with two-high safety grenades. Accepts runs into easy boxes and short passes and trusts your off-ball linebackers to tackle.

There were some early mistakes. Linebacker Zack Baun was late to cover Austin Ekeler on a pair of catches out of the backfield. A pair of defenders struggled to bring down running back Brian Robinson.

But Fangio didn’t panic even as the Eagles offense kept stalling or Jake Elliott missed field goals. He stuck to his plan, which was mostly to keep Daniels in the pocket and force him to throw short and up the middle.

“Get him to play quarterback,” Eagles safety CJ Gardner-Johnson said, “and understand that when he becomes an athlete, he’s going to be very dangerous. And tonight, I think we did a great job of getting him to play quarterback.”

Daniels was essentially a non-factor on the ground. He ran for just 13 yards on six carries before Washington’s final pointless drive. Fangio did not dedicate a defender to spy on the quarterback, per Baun, but the linebackers kept their eyes fixed on him in their drops.

And yet, with the Eagles clinging to a 12-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Washington was just 1 yard shy of another set of downs at the Eagles 25. But defensive end Brandon Graham and Baun combined to drop Robinson for a loss on third down.

And when Commanders coach Dan Quinn missed a 44-yard field goal and went for it on fourth down, the Eagles got the stoppage. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter shot into the backfield as Daniels fumbled the snap, safety Reed Blankenship forced the quarterback to the sideline and Baun was there to clean up.

“We’re an athletic defense that flies around and hits,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “As that game got tense, you could see the effort for the football, and you could also see the athleticism of the football to play it.”

The Eagles scored on their ensuing drive when running back Saquon Barkley raced into the end zone from 23 yards out. And when Daniels finally threw downfield on his next pass, Blankenship made a diving interception to essentially seal the score.

It was only the second pass the quarterback threw that traveled more than 15 yards. Fangio favored his deep shells. He also mixed in some man coverage. But he kept going back to a certain zone.

“There was definitely a call that we leaned on more than most in zone,” Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean said before declining to elaborate. “We just tried to match their routes in our zones, where they were creating close windows underneath. And then there were a couple of drives in there where we mix in a good bit of man.”

Mitchell said the secondary only had a couple of times in their coverage on McLaurin. But for the most part, he played the opposing quarterback, who had four over 100 yards in 10 previous meetings against the Eagles, straight up. McLaurin’s lone catch came with DeJean in coverage, but the slot corner was almost Mitchell’s match.

The two rookies have been a revelation. The Eagles went years without spending high draft picks on cornerbacks. That could partly explain why they were most fired up in the last rounds. But they picked Mitchell and DeJean in the first two rounds in April, and the early returns suggest they hit on both.

“Their ceiling is so big,” Slay said.

Nor is basking in the limelight.

“My approach is to stay the same every single day, come to work, study on my own, study with the coaches,” Mitchell said. “I feel like everyone on the team is really hard on me. They expect better from me and I appreciate that.”

Mitchell is still awaiting his first hearing. He dropped a couple of potential picks earlier in the season. Before the game, he had a long conversation with future Hall of Fame cornerback Richard Sherman, who was part of the Prime Video broadcast team. What did he say?

“To catch the ball,” Mitchell said.

He didn’t get many chances tonight. And that was a good thing.