What we learned from Philadelphia’s 26-18 win

On By Littum

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  1. Saquon wore down the Commanders after a slow start. Jake Elliott missed his first two field-goal attempts – both wide left – and later missed an extra-point attempt that kept the score at 12-10 after the Eagles took the lead for the first time early in the fourth quarter. That’s seven points the Eagles left on the field. It felt like they had dominated the game after a Commanders’ TD drive, but the game was in doubt until late. So Saquon Barkley delivered the second of three haymakers in the second half, a 23-yard TD, with just under five minutes remaining to finally give the Eagles a two-score edge. Twenty seconds later – after one Jayden Daniels pick – Barkley broke a 39-yard TD to give him 146 yards and two scores. The NFL’s leader in rushing yards and scrimmage yards blew past the 1,000-yard mark for the season in the first half and tore apart the Commanders in the final few minutes. Barkley’s 43-yard catch-and-run is also set up Regret hurts‘ TD sneak earlier in the fourth quarter. It was another slow start for the Eagles’ offense – with some special teams gaffes mixed in – but they finally got it going, thanks in large part to Barkley. What a great addition he has been to this Eagles offense.
  2. Daniels struggled, but his broadbands were invisible. Jayden Daniels has been the overwhelming favorite for AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year since the first few weeks of the 2024 season. He has undoubtedly been fantastic. But might he hit the rookie wall? That’s two straight subpar performances in two games – Sunday’s loss to the Steelers and Thursday night’s loss to the Eagles. They are also two very good teams, so the level of competition must be taken into account. Daniels appeared slow on some throws, was confused at times when his first read wasn’t open, and again found few scrambling lanes. Most of Daniels’ throws were short; there were just no downfield windows available most of the night. His late interception was just a forced pass, and it was costly. But blame can also be handed out to his wide receivers, who combined for four receptions and 28 yards. Terry McLaurin didn’t see a goal until the 11:11 mark in the third quarter, the second time in his career he’s had a scoreless first half. His first catch came 10 minutes into the fourth. Austin Ekeler also had a third-down drop with a chance for a conversion. Daniels rallied the Commanders with a late score and two-point conversion, but the Eagles fell on the ensuing onside kick to end it.
  3. Hurts settled down after rough first quarter. Stop the presses: Regret hurts and the Eagles got off to a slow start. But staying in touch with their latest offensive flourish, they each found their way as the game wore on. Hurts struggled in the first quarter, completing 4 of 10 passes for 42 yards and a drive-killing sack. Despite being evaluated for a concussion before halftime, Hurts began to control the game before Saquon Barkley’s massive fourth quarter, hitting on 14 of his last 18 passes for 174 yards over the final three quarters, along with TD- the race. His scrambling and designed running seemed to wear down the Commanders’ rushers in the second half as the Eagles had two scoring drives longer than five minutes. The Eagles’ offensive line also struggled to gain a foothold early Landon Dickerson leaves the game briefly and Lane Johnson give up some pressure and a sack. But eventually that unit, Hurts and Barkley took over. It was a good last three quarters that gradually got better throughout the game.
  4. The Commanders’ defense is faltering late in their first losing streak. For the second time in four days, Washington’s defense has struggled after the break. On Sunday against Pittsburgh, the Commanders gave up a 10-point lead and started strong defensively, but allowed two long TD drives in a tough home loss. On Thursday night, the Commanders took a stunning lead into the fourth quarter, again playing well early before softening significantly. The Eagles racked up 426 yards and just outmuscled Washington up front; they should have scored over 30 points, with all the missed kicks. There was some poor gap integrity late against Barkley that appeared to be the function of a struggling, tired defense. Granted, the offense didn’t do its job, with five possessions lasting less than two minutes. They’ll have some time to work things out with a 10-day layoff until the Cowboys come to town, and perhaps newly acquired Marshon Lattimore will be ready by then. They missed him Thursday night. But the Chiefs know they’ll have to put in a better 60-minute effort defensively, with or without Lattimore.
  5. The Eagles corners led a great defensive effort. When the Commanders streaked down the field for a quick TD drive in the first quarter, it was a brief look back at some of the pre-bye struggles the Eagles’ defense experienced. That feeling was fleeting. The Eagles came back with a stifling defensive performance most of the night, led by their outstanding cornerbacks Darius Slay and Quinyon Mitchell. It says something about the Eagles’ confidence in rookie Mitchell that they would task him with covering a Pro Bowl receiver like McLaurin, but Mitchell rewarded them with a nice effort that helped hold McLaurin to a 10-yard catch. Slay was great against Noah Brownalso. We should also point to some other major efforts, such as Zack Baunwho had a nice pass defensed and 14 tackles, including a nice stop on Jayden Daniels on a fourth-down scramble. Jalen Carter and Brandon Graham also had big nights ahead. But those Eagles corners were on fire Thursday.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Commanders-Eagles (via NFL Pro): Jalen Hurts completed all of his last eight passes against the blitz for 109 yards after starting the game by going 0-for-2 with two sacks. When facing four or fewer pass rushers, he completed just 10 of 18 passes for 112 yards. In the second half, Hurts was not pressured on any of his 11 dropbacks and completed 8 of 9 passes for 120 yards (+7.5% CPOE).

NFL Research: Saquon Barkley has six games of more than 100 rushing yards this season, most in the NFL. Barkley had six such games combined from 2020-2023 with the New York Giants.