This was nothing short of utter dominance. If I had to compare it to a game from years past, it would be Chicago vs. Philadelphia 2019: defensive dominance before the opposing team turns out the jets to make it closer than it was.
Group Plays
Sack City
“Sack City” might be putting it lightly. The Eagles ended up with the most sacks they’ve had in thirty years. This was partially because Wentz held onto the ball too long, but also because the Eagles were devouring the Washington offensive line. So, to make things simple, I’ll put all the Eagles’ sacks for the day right here.
- #1: Josh Sweat/Fletcher Cox
- #2: Fletcher Cox
- #3: Javon Hargrave
- #4: Brandon Graham/Hassan Reddick
- #5: Brandon Graham
- #6: Haason Reddick
- #7: Brandon Graham
- #8: Brandon Graham
- #9: Jordan Davis
Individual Plays
1-14:30 Jordan Davis PBU
Not often do you see a defensive lineman not named JJ Watt getting pass breakups at the line of scrimmage, but Davis managed to make his presence felt in the first couple of snaps, getting his hands on a Carson Wentz pass to create a second and long situation.
2-10:07 AJ Brown Catch
Somewhere between interceptions and touchdowns, there’s room to just appreciate a really good catch. Of the three aforementioned plays, I expect Brown to have lots of two of them. Today alone, he fulfilled both of these criteria. And let’s not neglect that the pass was perfectly placed.
1- 0:36 Devonta Smith catch
This was one of the plays that helped us take command (see what I did there?) and never look back for the rest of the game. To this point, neither team was really able to generate any momentum on offense, so whoever woke up first was likely to be the one to pull ahead in this race between the rabbit and the turtle.
3-0:11 Josh Sweat TFL
The Eagles defense suffocates Washington, again! Washington failing to capitalize on good positioning is kinda the story of the day, whether it be a good play by the Eagles defense or a self-inflicted injury on the part of the Commanders offense. Either way, a stop is a stop, and I’ll take it 11 times out of 10.
4-15:00 4th down stop
Keep in mind, Commanders scored a garbage time TD, so if this goes differently, this might have looked like a game by the time the clock hit zero, and we can’t have that, can we? Fortunately, the Eagles are a tough team to beat both on the ground and in the air. Howie Roseman might have made mistakes in the past, but one thing he’s always done right is build in the trenches, and his commitment to reinforcing the line paid dividends here
2- 2:56 AJ Brown TD
It’s always good to go into the last half with 7 points (let alone 14). This play is also significant because it was A.J. Brown’s first touchdown as an Eagle. Naturally, he did what he does best on this play: bully his way into the end zone.
2-0:20 Smith TD
Pictured: the last points of the day for the Eagles. It might be because we’re blowing out teams and feel we can coast, but we’ve had trouble scoring in the second half the past couple of weeks. So, every point in the first half is imperative. Apart from the TD that gave us our early ten-point lead, this was the most important one because it was what sealed the deal.
2- 13:30 Goedert TD
You could tell the Washington defense was gassed at this point. That’ll happen when the offense can’t do a thing. Not that I’m complaining, though. The sooner Washington keels over, the better day I’ll have. At the very least on this play, it looked like the CBs, how shall we say, made a business decision.
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Dylan Patrowicz is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Dylan, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
