Season-changing results from Week 16’s Sunday games

1) Commanders beat Eagles, 36-33. The Commanders’ stunning comeback win over the Eagles — they had five giveaways in the game and scored the game-winning touchdown with six seconds left — rippled through the entire NFC field.

For starters, it eliminated the Cowboys from the playoffs.

That gave the Commanders, now 10-5, some breathing room in the NFC wild-card race and made the Falcons’ path to the playoffs more difficult. With the Falcons demolishing the Giants in Penix’s debut, had the Commanders lost, the Falcons-Commanders game next Sunday would have given the Falcons the chance to catch the Commanders in the conference standings. Now the Commanders have a two-game lead over the Falcons and Seahawks (who lost to the Vikings on Sunday) for the seventh seed. If the Packers lose to the Saints on Monday night, the Commanders would move up to the sixth seed. The Commanders play the Cowboys in the final weekend of the season, and the Falcons play the Carolina Panthers, who eliminated the Arizona Cardinals from playoff contention with their overtime win Sunday.

Finally, the loss is problematic for the Eagles, who failed to win the NFC East. They fell one game behind the Lions (who beat the Bears) for the NFC’s top seed and, most troubling, lost quarterback Jalen Hurts to a concussion and the offense mostly stalled with Kenny Pickett in his place. The Eagles have already clinched a playoff berth, but Hurts’ importance to the Eagles’ fortunes was evident in his absence. The Eagles face the Cowboys next Sunday, and Hurts’ availability will be one of the top stories of the week.