h the College Football regular season over, the NFL can finally reclaim Saturdays. And this week, two NFC East rivals faced off on Saturday night. The 9-5 defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles traveled to Northwest Stadium in Landover, MD to face off against the 4-10 Washington Commanders, and the matchup did not disappoint. Former Eagles QB2 Marcus Mariota would start against his former team, as the Commanders’ QB1 Jayden Daniels is ruled out for the rest of the season.
The game started off with a stark reminder of the Eagles’ struggles before shutting out the Raiders last week, with an opening kickoff fumble by Eagles KR Will Shipley, recovered by the Commanders. The Eagles defense held the Commanders to a field goal, and after that the teams traded punts, until Jalen Hurts connected with DaVonta Smith for a 5-yard touchdown pass.
The second quarter started off sluggish, with a Washington punt, a missed field goal by Philadelphia K Jake Elliott, followed by a Washington touchdown, a 1-yd run by Commanders RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt. On the following drive, Jake Elliott missed his second field goal of the quarter alone, however it technically was his third miss, as he had two tries, as the first attempt was blown dead due to a penalty on Washington. Commanders QB Marcus Mariota knelt to take us to halftime.
After the half, Washington received the ball, and they punted less than a minute into the quarter. With the ball back, the Eagles had a 17-play drive to score a touchdown, Hurts connected to TE Dallas Goedert for a 15-yard touchdown pass. In the closing seconds of the third quarter, Eagles DB Cooper DeJean scored his second interception of the season, and took it 11 yards until being tackled.
To start the fourth quarter, the Eagles had the ball. After a medium-sized drive, Hurts handed the ball off to RB Saquon Barkley, who ran for an 11-yard rushing touchdown. After both teams traded punts again, the Eagles had the ball, and to relieve Barkley, Eagles RB2 Tank Bigsby entered the game. After Hurts hands the ball to Bigsby, he runs into the endzone for his first touchdown since joining the Eagles, a 22-yard rushing touchdown.
With Jake Elliott’s kicking snafus, the Eagles elected to go for a 2-pt conversion, despite being up 21-10. The attempt was successful, however the Commanders players did not take kindly to this. Washington DT Javon Kinlaw and S Quan Martin started fighting, throwing punches at Eagles G Tyler Steen, and a good-old-fashioned brawl broke out, and the football equivalent of a benches-clearing fight in baseball occurred. Both aforementioned Commanders players were ejected, and so was Steen. Suspensions and fines likely are coming shortly, but none have been announced as of writing.
Commanders QB2 Marcus Mariota suffered a hand injury shortly after, which sprung journeyman quarterback QB3 Josh Johnson to the starter role. He didn’t do much in the short time he had in the game, but he did hand off the ball to RB Chris Rodriguez, Jr. for a 3-yard rushing touchdown, with a successful 2-pt conversion by RB Jeremy McNichols, to throw some shade back at the Philadelphia sideline.
The game ended with a 29-18 triumph for Philadelphia, and they not only clinched their playoff spot, but they also became the first repeat NFC East Champions since themselves from 2001-2004.
Next week, the Eagles travel to Buffalo to take on the Buffalo Bills next Sunday at 4:25 PM.
