PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles opened the season the hard way and came away with a 24-22 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday evening, the kind of game that left bruises, welts and plenty to sort through afterward.
Zack Baun had red welts streaking across the back of one ear and down his neck. Saquon Barkley sat shirtless at his locker with blooming bruises on his back. That was the scene after a game that looked and felt like a football war, not a tune-up.
It also looked a lot like what the Eagles should have expected after bringing in several new coaches and not getting meaningful summer snaps together. A blowout was never the safe assumption. Getting out with the win was.
“Most importantly, we came out with the win,” Barkley said after rushing for 83 yards on 15 carries, a 5.5-yard average. “Last year, I know everyone tried to make something of we won by two points and we're not getting on that this year.
That's the beautiful thing - we came out with a win. We're gonna be happy, we're gonna celebrate and we're gonna flush it and move on and get ready for the next game.”
Barkley wasn’t the only Eagle who left a mark. Baun turned in the kind of opener that can change the way people talk about a player.
The linebacker was on the field for all 70 defensive snaps and played with the urgency of someone eager to show what he could do after four years with the Saints. He finished with 12 tackles, three shy of his career high, along with two passes defensed and an interception that didn’t count because he was just out of bounds.
“The first game comes with a lot of unknowns, especially with a new coordinator (for the Commanders’ offense); don't necessarily know what they're gonna run, and it comes down to fundamentals and technique," he said. "There were good things and bad things, and I'm excited to watch the film.”
Dallas Goedert made his presence felt in the passing game, hauling in two touchdowns of 17 and 43 yards. The 43-yard score came after a run after catch that covered about 29 yards. He led all receivers with 77 yards on four catches.
Jalen Hurts was sharp enough to keep the Eagles in control and dangerous enough to tilt the game when it mattered. In his first game in about eight months, he posted a 122.2 passer rating, completed 203 passing yards, added 46 on the ground and totaled 249 yards overall. He threw touchdowns covering 17, 9 and 43 yards and did not throw an interception.
“He came up big for us,” said Barkley. “He made the throws that need to be made.
We all know how great of a passer he is, especially deep passes. You could see that he worked himself into shape to get back to how we know he can run the ball, and his legs came up big for us.”
There were rough spots, too. Landon Dickerson’s body clearly wasn’t where his mind wanted it to be, even if the hope is that Sunday was just a one-off and he’ll settle in as the season goes on.
Cooper DeJean drew some postgame concern, with some suggesting he may have bulked up too much this offseason and wasn’t moving as well as he did last year. DeJean kept it simple.
“I just gotta clean it up, my footwork, things like that,” said DeJean. “...Everybody's good, so you're gonna win some of those one-on-one battles and you're gonna lose some of those one-on-one battles, but it's a team game and we came out with a win in the end.”
Makai Lemon had a tough debut, and the rookie’s name landed on the disappointment side of the ledger. That’s part of the burden that comes with being a first-round pick. The offensive coaches can take some of the blame for not finding better ways to get him the ball, but three catches for -3 yards is not the kind of opening anyone wanted.
Still, the Eagles found answers when the game tightened. Hurts’ 22-yard scramble on third-and-18 was a huge one, especially after Washington had cut it to 17-16 and would have gone for the tie with a two-point try if not for Stefon Digg’s unsportsmanlike penalty after he scored a touchdown. Hurts needed help downfield on the run, and rookie Makai Lemon delivered a key block.
Moro Ojomo also came through at a critical moment, stuffing Washington’s PAT try on a shovel with 61 seconds left.
And Tay Wicks gave the offense a pair of important plays, first with a 64-yard catch that jolted the unit awake and then with a 9-yard touchdown catch on a route that left Mike Sainristil in the dust. The 64-yarder set up Goedert’s 17-yard touchdown, and the second score helped put the Eagles in position to finish the job.
The Eagles are 1-0, bruised and imperfect, but they got exactly what mattered most on Sunday night.
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