The Eagles’ Sunday night trip to Washington was the kind of game that drains the life out of everybody watching it. Philadelphia fell 27-10 to the Commanders, dropped to 2-6, and spent most of the night looking like a team that had no real answers left.
Saquon Barkley’s presence told part of the story before the game even settled in. One of the early broadcast shots had him on the exercise bike, which felt fitting for a player who was only about 75% and still one of the few Eagles capable of changing anything on offense.
The first half had its share of strange swings, but not much clean football. Andrew Mukuba made a terrific catch that looked like something DeVonta Smith would pull off, only for it to come back because Jonathan Greenard jumped offside on third and 6.
By then, Mukuba and Moro Ojomo had already left the game. Washington then false started twice in a row before missing a 55-yard field goal.
Ugly football.
Tanner McKee’s night had a few moments that at least gave Philadelphia something to work with. He looked fine against Washington’s blitz on the second drive, going 2-for-3 for 31 yards with completions to Makai Lemon and Darius Cooper to move the chains. That possession stalled just outside the red zone, but the Eagles still turned the missed Commanders field goal into points.
Mukuba came back and forced a fumble, which set up one of the few sequences that felt like it might actually tilt the game. Then Barkley finally got involved in a way that mattered.
After Cris Collinsworth said, “They really haven’t gotten Saquon started just yet,” the Eagles answered with a wheel route to Barkley, a handoff to Barkley, and a wildcat run for a touchdown. On that drive, they made Collinsworth sound prophetic.
Dallas Goedert clearly knew that one was going in.
There were still too many empty possessions around it. Treylon Burks dropped a third-and-3 pass.
Elijah Mitchell had a solid run-heavy series on the fourth drive, but a second-and-5 sack wrecked it, and the protection looked busted with Landon Dickerson after the offense had trouble getting the play off. Then came a bootleg left with Grant Calcaterra trying to block, which didn’t make much sense with McKee’s lack of mobility.
Washington answered with an 11-play, 89-yard drive to tie the game, and the Eagles defense didn’t do much of anything on it. They didn’t stop the run, didn’t stop the pass, and didn’t generate pressure on Jayden Daniels. The Commanders hit three chunk plays on the drive, and the EDGE group stood out for all the wrong reasons.
There were a few individual plays that flashed, though not enough to change the bigger picture. Ojomo returned and delivered a tackle for loss, and Jalen Carter had a big play of his own later, with Ojomo helping on a good stunt that Collinsworth pointed out on the broadcast. It looked like the Jalen Carter people are used to seeing.
Still, the Eagles kept stepping on rakes. A weak call on K’Lavon Chaisson helped Washington, and Philadelphia immediately gave the yards back with a delay of game after a four-yard loss, setting up second-and-19. Then came the kind of sequence that makes a bad night feel even worse: a roughing the passer call to erase a terrible interception after Goedert reached out with one hand, banged the ball off his leg, and watched it pop straight up in the air.
The offense kept flirting with something and never quite landing on it. On one drive, the Eagles went seven plays for 27 yards only to run into pressure on third-and-3 for a loss.
McKee probably needed to audible out of that and get to a hot route, but instead the possession died. Another drive before halftime looked like it was going the same way, with the Eagles wasting chances and making the clock and game management look shaky.
There was also an Eli Stowers sighting, along with a few other odd little moments that made the game feel even more disjointed. One of them was a bizarre image that drew a reaction online, and another was the Geico croissant commercial, which was apparently annoying enough to deserve its own mention.
By the end, the Eagles were still doing what they’ve done too often this season: making the wrong mistake at the wrong time. Before Markel Bell false started, going for it on fourth-and-3 was the right call because the offense barely ever gets into the red zone anyway.
They might as well have tried to take the lead right there. Instead, they committed two penalties in a row and then clanked the second field goal attempt off the upright.
That was the game in miniature. A mess, then another mess, then one more mess to finish it off.
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