Two different teams showed up in the first and second half. The Eagles in the first 30 minutes were sloppy, dropping passes, giving up the football. Fortunately, thanks to help from some good friends (Miles Sanders, Fletcher Cox, Dallas Goedert, Devonta Smith, etc), Philadelphia was able to keep itself alive in the playoff hunt. (P.S. yes, I know this is very late). Here are the top plays from the Week 15 matchup between the Washington Football Team and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
Almost Play
Fletcher Cox Sack Fumble
People were calling this Cox’s (PHI DT, #91) best game in a long time, arguably since the Seattle 2019-20 Wild Card. On top of the sack he had earlier, he had a strip fumble that caused the meme on Eagles Twitter where Garret Gilbert (WAS QB, #19) looked like he was being eaten alive. Technically, I guess he was in a way. Sadly the fumble was recovered by the offense, but it was still a big play (almost).
Group Plays
Milton Williams TFL
I didn’t see this at first, but good job on Genard Avery (PHI DE, #58) for bending around the Charles Leno Jr. (WAS LT, #52) and tripping up Antonio Gibson (WAS RB, #24). Avery circling around gave Milton Williams (PHI DT, #93) time to get through and fight for a tackle for loss. Williams has been drawing praise for his improvement over the season, going all the way back to last month, and it showed it in week 16. Considering Howie and the head of scouting visibly disagreed over this picl, I think this might be a player you can categorize as a win for Howie.
Devonta Smith Catch
We’ve all seen this play on Twitter. The catch of the week easily belongs to Devonta Smith (PHI WR, #6). His only competition is the Dallas Goedert (PHI TE, #88) that I’ll talk more about later. Smith had a mostly meh day, three catches for 40 yards and 0 touchdowns. Fortunately, though this was more of a Dallas Goedert game, Smith was there when he needed to be, especially on this pass where Smith made a circus catch on the sideline.
Dallas Goedert Catch
Goedert had an unfortunate drop that somehow turned into a heel interception. Given that he had seven receptions for 135 yards, however, I think I’ll let the one drop slide, especially since Hurts made a big throw where Goedert boxed out and mossed two defenders to put the Eagles in scoring position! In fact, this was arguably an even more impressive throw than it was a catch since Hurts forced this throw into double coverage.
Miles Sanders Run
This is honestly quite similar to a run that Sanders had earlier in the second half. The main difference being that this run was on third down and was potentially the difference between three points and seven. This was the play that Darius Slay (PHI CB, #2) went into motion on offense. Slay motioning right took a defender out of the box and caused the Washington defense to bite on play action. It’s quite nice, seeing motion properly used for the first time in what feels like years. P.S. Sanders had three more big runs, but I decided to pick one as a microcosm of the big runs he had on Tuesday.
Jalen Reagor Screen
Take from this what you will, but Reagor (PHI WR, #18) arguably had the best game of his career this week. Heck, he even had more yards than Terry McLaurin (WAS WR, #17)! In a week where I was losing faith in Reagor and felt he was running out of time, he has three catches for 57 yard, including a big third down conversion late that set up 1st and Goal. Reagor had a good game, let’s see if he can keep pace with other solid receivers for the rest of the yea and beyond.
Fletcher Cox Sack
A two-sack day isn’t bad work for a player that’s supposedly washed. Cox’s role to this point was more attracting double teams to free up production on other parts of the line. If Cox is washed, he didn’t seem like it tonight, closing out the first half with a timely sack to prevent three points or more. Whatever hopes Washington had of scoring on this drive was erased with a 15-yard sack that pushed them out of their own territory. It also doesn’t help that the Football Team was out of timeouts, letting the clock tick down to zero.
Hurts Rushing TD #1
In real time, this was a good first step in a game that had been forgettable, apart from a couple of splash plays. Momentum is a critical part of each victory/season, and so going into the half with a touchdown to make it a three-point game would have been huge for getting the Eagles back into the game. Fortunately, Hurts is surprisingly tough for a QB, Hurts squats 500 pounds, and it showed in this QB sneak (one thing Hurts is undeniably good at).
Hurts Rushing TD #2
The Eagles came out of the half swinging. Holding onto the momentum they built in the last two minutes of the first half, Philadelphia was put into position to score thanks to a long run from Miles Sanders and a tough catch from Dallas Goedert. Hurts has arguably bailed out of the pocket and struggled to trust his protection during the season, but it’s fortunately hard to go too far when you’re knocking on the other team’s end zone. Just like with his first rushing TD, all Hurts had to do was push forwards really hard.
Greg Ward TD
Dots by Hurts. Jalen has drawn criticism as a passer this year, but I couldn’t tell on this play. In fact, this throw reminded some people of Wentz’s dime against Washington in 2019. Greg Ward is also a name that Washington fans know very well, as he tortured them a couple seasons ago. Hurts rolled out to his right and threw a ball similar to Wentz’s Washington throw in 2019. Any time you hear someone comparing an Eagles QB to 2017 or 2019 Wentz, that QB is probably in a good spot.
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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.
