Eagles ride monumental defensive performance to 6th straight win – NBC Sports Philadelphia

On November 16, 2024By Littum

In a showdown to determine the best team in the NFC East, the Eagles left no doubt about it.

After a sluggish start and three missed Jake Elliott kicks, the Eagles pulled away in the second half and rode a monumental defensive performance over rookie phenom Jayden Daniels and the Commanders to a 26-18 victory over their only division challenger at the Linc. The Eagles scored three points in the first half, 23 in the second.

Eagles 8-2.
Commanders 7-4.

Washington needed a Zach Ertz touchdown with half a minute left to make the score look respectable. But this was a blowout.

It’s six wins in a row since a 2-2 start. This team is HOT.

They will meet again on Dec. 22 in Landover, Md. It doesn’t matter.

1. For me, this game came down to three plays midway through the fourth quarter. Washington, trailing 12-10, had a 2nd-and-1 at the Eagles’ 25-yard line. At second, Jalen Carter and Nakobe Dean stopped Brian Robinson for no gain. Georgia combo tackle. On third down, BG and Zack Baun stopped Robinson again for a loss of one. Dan Quinn decides to go for it on 4th and 2 and once again Baun stalls as Reed Blankenship races across the field to back him up. Eagle’s ball. It’s one thing to play that kind of defense against the Browns or Giants or Jaguars or Cowboys. But doing it against Washington and their 4th ranked offense? Just huge.

2. It’s been such a consistently effective stretch for Jalen Hurts that it was certainly disheartening to see him struggle for most of the game. He was just leaving. Especially on big moments, big third-downs, key plays. The Commanders have a good secondary, but Hurts struggled to get into any sort of rhythm. And then…once again…he woke up. Hurts was 10-for-19 for 101 yards in the first half and then 8-for-9 for 120 yards in the second half. That’s the kind of rebound we’ve come to expect from Hurts. It wasn’t always pretty Thursday night, but when he had to make plays, Hurts made plays. We see it again and again. Whatever goes wrong early, Hurts fights through it and makes plays when he has to. Hurts’ final numbers weren’t special, but eventually he finds a way. And that’s all that matters.

3. I’ll tell you what, holding the Commanders to 18 points and 264 yards is more impressive than anything this defense did the last five weeks against second-division teams and low-octane offenses. This is the No. 4 offense in the NFL, averaging 29 points per game, and the defense came up huge. Gave up a touchdown on a 58-yard drive on Washington’s second possession, then held the Commanders to three points and 151 yards on their next eight drives. Once again the coverage was next level. The pressure was exceptional – the Eagles got guys from Nolan Smith, Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat. Aside from a couple of big plays that Austin Ekeler made in the passing game, they tackled well. The amazing Quinyon Mitchell held Terry McLaurin to a harmless catch. And Jalen Carter, my God, he’s a monster. I don’t care if it shows up in the stats, but his ability to disrupt on offense is scary. This defense has no clear weakness, and they just held one of the best offenses in the NFL to 209 yards and chased Jayden Daniels into his worst game as a pro – 13-for-21 for 146 yards, a passer rating of 62 .8 and just his third interception of the season — a Reed Blankenship exclamation point with five minutes left. This defense is scary good.

4. Saquon Barkley is a beast. My goodness. After three quarters I wrote down Barkley’s stats – 20-for-69. That’s a modest 3.5 yards per It just wasn’t his day. I was surprised the Eagles couldn’t get him going against a pretty weak Washington run defense — ranked No. 28. So what’s going on? Barkley is the best end-of-game running back I’ve ever seen. He just gets stronger and stronger as the game goes on and the Eagles offensive line just wears down defensive lines. Fourth quarter Barkley runs six times for 77 yards and two long touchdowns – 23 and 39 yards 20 seconds apart after Blankenship’s interception. He finished 26-for-146 and another monster game. Not to mention 52 receiving yards for 198 scrimmage yards. Absolute beast. Here’s what I love: Even when the run game isn’t working, Kellen Moore hangs on. Keeps hammering it. We’ve seen our share of coaches around these parts who just gave up on the run game if it didn’t pay off right away. Ultimately, with this back and this o-line, it’s just a matter of time. As a team, the Eagles finished with 39 carries for another 229 yards and three TDs. You can’t stop them.

5. I also thought it was a great job by Kellen Moore switching up and giving Kenny Gainwell a bunch of carries on that 3rd quarter touchdown drive. Barkley hadn’t gotten going and averaged just 3.5 yards per carry. carry, but from a 1st and 10 at the Washington 38, Gainwell gained 14, 13 and 7 yards to set up the touchdown, a Hurts keeper. A talented back, Gainwell has backed up three Pro Bowl running backs in his four-year career, and he knows how to stay ready, and he gave the offense a dimension of speed and elusiveness that Washington lacked was prepared for. As a play-caller, you have to have the kind of flexibility that no matter how big a star someone is or how much they get paid, if a little change can help, you do it. Gainwell finished with 43 yards on just four carries, but they were four huge carries. And after Gainwell’s little run, Barkley came back in and took over.

6. One of my favorite plays was Nakobe Dean’s tackle on Jayden Daniels on a 3rd and 5 at the Washington 12-yard line late in the first quarter. Daniels is a big, fast, strong runner and hard to bring down on his own, but Dean wasn’t fooled by a couple of Daniels’ jukes and made a confident solo tackle, stopping Daniels three yards from the sticks. It was a situation where Washington was already up 7-0, and if they converted there after the Eagles had them pinned back at their own 4-yard line, who knows what would happen? But Dean made sure no one found out. It’s easy to overlook Dean’s play because fellow linebacker Zach Baun has been so good. And he was incredible again on Thursday. But Dean is paying off for the Eagles’ patience while he sat out as a rookie and was injured last year. In Year 3, Dean has been amazing.

7. Jayden Daniels is having a great rookie season and is going to be a fine quarterback. But this was a welcome-to-the-NFL game for the 23-year-old. The final stat was inflated by the late drive, but the Eagles didn’t give him anything. Their coverage was impeccable. Again. Austin Ekeler turned a few short passes into big gains, but Daniels didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver longer than 10 yards, averaged an anemic 5.9 yards per carry. pass attempts, managed just 18 rushing yards on seven carries and just never got anything going. goes. This Eagles secondary is playing at such a high level right now – all of them – that there are just no open receivers down the field. Mitchell absolutely shut McLaurin down and he is Daniels’ favorite target. When Daniels took time in the pocket, they fired him. And Blankenship became just the third player to pick him this year. The scary thing about this secondary is that they have only played six games together. Cooper DeJean replaced Avonte Maddox before the Browns game, so this is a young group that keeps getting better and it won’t stop.

8. Are you getting sick of me writing about Zack Baun? I don’t care, I won’t stop. The guy is playing at an insane level right now. I ran into Malcolm Jenkins before the game, and Jenkins and Baun were teammates in 2020 and 2021 with the Saints, and Jenkins said he could see Baun’s athleticism right away. “Demario Davis is one of the most athletic linebackers I’ve been around, and Baun reminded me a little bit of him just with how athletic he was. For Zack, it was just getting into the right system and being with coaches that know how to use him, and he definitely has that now, and it’s been fun to watch.” What this guy is doing right now is amazing. Play after play. He’s working his way into the NFL Defensive MVP conversation.

9. One game at a time and all that nonsense, but I don’t care – let’s look at the rest of the season. The Eagles are 8-2 and taking care of business against the Panthers, Cowboys and Giants will get them to 11 wins. Their other opponents: The Rams Sunday night in Inglewood, Ravens, Steelers and Washington again. Go 2-2 in the four and you’re at 13-4. Would that be enough for the No. 1 seed? The Lions are 8-1 and have some tough games coming up – Packers, Bills, 49ers, Vikings – along with the Jaguars, Colts and Bears twice. The Lions are very good and have won seven in a row since losing to the Bucs. But I really think the No. 1 seed is within reach. I know we’re not supposed to get this far ahead of ourselves, but if the Eagles can beat the teams they need to beat and the Lions let up somewhere along the line, the Eagles can certainly claim it top seed. The Lions are the favorites right now, but not by much. The Vikings at 7-2 are also in the mix, but I think the Lions are the team the Eagles need to get ahead of.

10. No idea what’s wrong with Jake Elliott, but he sure hasn’t looked like himself lately. Entering this season, he was the 9th most accurate kicker in NFL history at 87 percent (minimum 100 attempts) and had made 16 of his last 18 from 50 yards out dating back to 2020. But he just been bad this year. With misses Thursday night from 44 and 51 yards and a missed PAT — as well as makes of 21 and 33 — he is now 14-for-19 on the year and 0-for-4 from 50 yards and out after making 71 percent of his 50-yarders in his first seven seasons. His five misses this year equal his total from 2022 and 2023 combinedwhen he was 50-for-55. He now has as many misses in the last six games as he had in his previous 43 games. And with 73.7 percent, he is number 29 out of 31 kickers who have attempted at least 10 field goals this year. It’s the last place you’d expect to see him. He is one of the best in NFL history. But he’s human and it happens. It just never happened to him before. My gut feeling is that he will probably be fine. But this was ugly.