Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

2025 Game Review – PHI 29, WAS 18

Posted December 24th, 2025 | 3 Comments »

The soft part of the schedule arrived and the Eagles took advantage of it. They beat the Raiders 31-0 and followed that up by winning at Washington, 29-18. The Commanders are a better team than the Raiders and made the game close for a half. The Eagles were sloppy in the first half and proved to be their own worst enemy. They played much cleaner in the second half and built up a 19-point lead. A garbage time TD made the final score look closer.

You would prefer not to start slow, but the ability to overcome that, take control of the game and win comfortably is something good teams have. The Eagles are a good team. The mystery is how good of a team. We really won’t find that out until the postseason. Saturday’s win clinched the NFC East for the Eagles so we know they’ll be back in the playoffs for a fifth straight year. That’s truly impressive.

It was great to see Saquon Barkley have a big game. His numbers have been trending up recently. Still, it was great to see him go 21-132-1 and have a couple of highlight runs as part of that. The offense just has a different feel when Barkley is at his best. Barkley coming alive benefits the whole offense. It takes pressure off Jalen Hurts and helps the passing game to be more efficient.

If not for the sloppy first half, the Eagles would have dominated the game for the second week in a row. Does that mean the team is peaking? Hard to say. They are playing complementary football and showing some good signs. But it is also against bad teams. Sunday’s game against Buffalo will give us a better idea of where this team is.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni had an odd game. The Eagles had 4th & 1 at their own 41 in the first quarter and he decided to punt. I don’t think that was a terrible decision, but it was interesting for someone who is normally aggressive. Sirianni didn’t handle the final drive of the first half very well. Jake Elliott had missed a FG on the previous drive. The Eagles weren’t aggressive before the 2-min warning. They ended up trying a 57-yd FG. It missed. A penalty on WAS gave Philly one more play. Jalen Hurts threw the ball out of bounds and they tried a 52-yd FG. It missed. Sirianni went for 2 late in the game. He was likely just going off the chart, but it bothered the Commanders.

Kevin Patullo had a good game. The Eagles used empty sets and threw the ball early to get WAS out of their base defense. Once they went nickel, the Eagles started running the ball more. They were 3 for 3 in the red zone. They started 0-4 on third downs and then went 4 for 5.

Vic Fangio’s defense limited the Commanders to 220 yards. They did score 18 points, but 3 came after the fumble to start the game and 8 came against the backup defense late in the game. The coverage was excellent for most of the game. They also played the run well. The defense limited WAS to 26-90 on the ground. That’s their lowest rushing total since October.

Michael Clay’s unit didn’t have their best day. Will Shipley fumbled on the opening KOR. Jake Elliott missed 3 FG attempts.

OFFENSE

Jalen Hurts went 22-30-185 with 2 TDs. He was 7-40 on the ground, and that proved to be a big help for the offense. Hurts made a good throw to DeVonta for what should have been a TD, but it was dropped. They did score a TD a few plays later. Hurts made a terrific throw to Goedert for a TD in the second half. There was some pressure so Hurts moved up in the pocket and put great touch on a pass up high where DG could go get it.

Hurts did fumble once, but was able to recover it.

Saquon was 21-132-1. He ran hard on plays up the middle and made the most of what was available. He had a pair of great runs. The highlight was his 48-yard run in the fourth quarter. A defender got into the backfield and was ready to make the play. Barkley spun and cut to the left. He then used his speed to go flying up the field. That’s the Barkley we saw last year.

Barkley had a 12-yd TD run that was a combination of skill and great effort. There was a big hole initially, but then several guys had a chance to make the tackle. Barkley fought his way in for the score.

Tank Bigsby went 4-37-1. His highlight was a 22-yd TD run.

AJ Brown had a strong game, going 9-95. He did a good job of adding RAC yards. The offense is so much better when he’s able to catch a short throw and then run. DeVonta was 6-42-1. He caught a short TD. He also dropped a TD. He later drew a PI call in the end zone and that set up a TD for someone else. Jahan Dotson was 3-13.

Dallas Goedert went 3-32-1. He didn’t catch a pass in the first half, but was good in the second half. His run blocking was erratic.

The OL was up and down. WAS had 2 sacks and was only credited with 1 QB hit. That’s good protection. The run blocking was good at times. Cam Jurgens had some really good moments. He also missed a handful of blocks. I did think you could see his athleticism and that’s encouraging. Fred Johnson wiped out a TD pass with a holding call. Jordan Mailata was up and down with his run blocking.

Tyler Steen’s highlight was probably taking on half the WAS defense in a slap-fight scrum. Give him credit for sticking up for himself, but he did get ejected. If the game was still in question, that would have been bad.

DEFENSE

The pass rush wasn’t as good as I expected, but they did limit QB runs. Mariota and Johnson combined for 2 carries for -1 yards (kneel down at the end of the half). Jaelan Phillips had 1 tackle. He did get pressure on a couple of plays. One of them was Coop’s INT. Jalyx Hunt had 2 tackles and a QB hit. Nolan Smith had a QB hit.

Jordan Davis had a terrific game. He finished with 6 tackles and 2 TFLs. Davis used strength, quickness and agility to clog the middle of the line and limit running room. He was dominant at times, shedding blocks and just engulfing runners.

Moro Ojomo had 3 tackles. He was disruptive. Byron Young had a solid showing. He had 3 tackles and a sack. He’s gotten steadily better this season. Old man Brandon Graham had a sack and was disruptive in his limited snaps.

Zack Baun led the team with 9 tackles. He didn’t make any big plays, but had a good game. Nakobe Dean got hurt after making a couple of early tackles. Jihaad Campbell took over for him and played well. He had 5 tackles and a TFL. I thought he did a good job of getting to the ball and putting people down. I didn’t see much rust.

Reed Blankenship was in on 3 tackles. On one of the plays he flew upfield and made the stop at the LOS. Marcus Epps had 2 tackles. Both guys were solid in coverage.

Cooper DeJean won NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance. He had 4 tackles, 4 PDs and a key INT.

Quinyon Mitchell was outstanding as usual. He broke up 2 passes and had 1 tackle. He broke on a pass and tried to pick it off. He showed good instincts on that play. Adoree Jackson had 4 tackles and was mostly good in coverage. He got burned by Terry McLaurin on a deep ball. The coverage wasn’t bad. Jackson just missed the ball. Kelee Ringo played late. He was called for PI, setting up the late TD. Ringo panicked and grabbed the receiver.

ST

Jake Elliott missed all 3 FG attempts. He pulled all 3. He did hit all 3 of his extra points. The last couple were down the middle. Sirianni can say he’s got confidence in Elliott, but I don’t see how all those misses don’t have some kind of effect on you.

Will Shipley had a rough day as KOR. He fumbled the ball on the opening KO. He later caught the ball just in the end zone and wasn’t sure if he should come out or not. He did and only got out to the 19. He did have a good tackle in coverage. Shipley’s long KOR was 26 yards.

Sydney Brown was very good in coverage. He had 2 tackles, including a great one on punt coverage.

Britain Covey had 1 punt return for 11 yards.

_

3 Comments on “2025 Game Review – PHI 29, WAS 18”

  1. 1 Eagles News: Saquon Barkley primed for big game against the Bills - SportSourcio said at 2:01 PM on December 26th, 2025:

    […] 2025 Game Review – PHI 29, WAS 18 – Iggles Blitz […]

  2. 2 Eagles News: Saquon Barkley primed for big game against the Bills – Over View – Your Daily News Source said at 3:31 PM on December 26th, 2025:

    […] 2025 Game Review – PHI 29, WAS 18 – Iggles BlitzIt was great to see Saquon Barkley have a big game. His numbers have been trending up recently. Still, it was great to see him go 21-132-1 and have a couple of highlight runs as part of that. The offense just has a different feel when Barkley is at his best. Barkley coming alive benefits the whole offense. It takes pressure off Jalen Hurts and helps the passing game to be more efficient. If not for the sloppy first half, the Eagles would have dominated the game for the second week in a row. Does that mean the team is peaking? Hard to say. They are playing complementary football and showing some good signs. But it is also against bad teams. Sunday’s game against Buffalo will give us a better idea of where this team is. […]

  3. 3 Eagles News: Saquon Barkley primed for big game against the Bills - Philly Fan Radio said at 10:06 PM on December 26th, 2025:

    […] 2025 Game Review – PHI 29, WAS 18 – Iggles BlitzIt was great to see Saquon Barkley have a big game. His numbers have been trending up recently. Still, it was great to see him go 21-132-1 and have a couple of highlight runs as part of that. The offense just has a different feel when Barkley is at his best. Barkley coming alive benefits the whole offense. It takes pressure off Jalen Hurts and helps the passing game to be more efficient. If not for the sloppy first half, the Eagles would have dominated the game for the second week in a row. Does that mean the team is peaking? Hard to say. They are playing complementary football and showing some good signs. But it is also against bad teams. Sunday’s game against Buffalo will give us a better idea of where this team is. […]