Posted October 31st, 2026 | No Comments »I saw a commercial that referred to this game as a critical NFC East showdown. To be fair, they didn’t specify if that was for first place or last place. Washington is a lowly 1-4-1, while the Eagles are all the way up at 2-5. A win for the Birds keep their hopes alive. A loss would put another nail into the coffin.
Washington comes into the game with a mediocre offense and a bad defense. They had a bye last week so we’ll have to wait and see what schematic changes they made. We do know that Steve Wilks has joined the team to help coach the defense and will be on the field Sunday night. Moves like this can be really helpful or make things even worse. There usually isn’t a lot of middle ground. We’ll see how this goes.
This has been a crazy season for the Eagles and things aren’t exactly normal in Washington.
Yikes. I’ll focus on the game itself.
The Eagles have their best OL combo starting again this week.
Mailata – Dickerson – Kendall – Steen – Bell
That group played pretty well last week and helped the Eagles run for 121 yards. The OL could have another good day since the Commanders will be without DTs Daron Payne and Javon Kinlaw. If the OL can create running room, that will help the Eagles to build off last week’s showing. Saquon Barkley is dealing with back and hamstring injuries, but practiced on Friday and will play. We don’t know how much he’ll be able to play. Getting him out there even on a pitch count is worth it because of the juice he brings to the offense. Barkley will be backed up by Elijah Mitchell and Jaydon Blue.
WRs DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks are out. We saw good things from Makai Lemon, Darius Cooper, and Hollywood Brown last week. They will need to make plays for the passing game to have success. Obviously QB Tanner McKee must do his part. He made a good leap from his first start to last week. He still must get better. There were too many plays that he left on the field due to bad reads or bad throws.
Washington loves to blitz. Handling the blitz has been a problem for the Eagles all year long. You can bet they will get tested in this game. The backup RBs will need to do their part in pass protection. McKee isn’t a guy who is going to win with his legs. He needs a pocket and some time to throw. I do think Sean Mannion and the offensive coaches made some good adjustments last week. Having a solid OL and good running game both helped in a big way.
Rookie LB Sonny Styles is Washington’s best defender. He leads the team in tackles and has a sack, an INT, and 3 TFLs. Not too shabby. Will he be as effective with backup DTs playing in front of him? Washington will be facing a very different version of Landon Dickerson in this game than what they saw in the opener. He and the other OL will hope to pound on the DL and limit their ability to blitz.
The Eagles defense is coming off their worst showing in the Vic Fangio era. This is a pride game for them. I expect we’ll see a much better performance. Watching the film of the Dallas game had to be an unpleasant experience for everyone on that side of the ball.
The Commanders don’t have a good OL, aside from RG Sam Cosmi. He neutralized Jalen Carter for much of the season opener. Carter should have a chip on his shoulder this week so maybe he’ll be more productive. Jordan Davis and Moro Ojomo should be able to win their share of battles. Can the edge rushers do their part? Arnold Ebiketie has flashed at times. Jalyx Hunt and Jonathan Greeneard are both dealing with injuries. We’ll see if they are moving any better this week.
Jihaad Campbell is out so Jeremiah Trotter Jr will get to start and play a whole game. He is a better run defender than Campbell so it will be interesting to see how the run defense looks. RB Bill Croskey-Merritt is out so that will make running the ball all the more challenging.
Jayden Daniels struggled in the first game against the Birds. He struggled for part of the last game (at SFO), but then played well in the second half. He finished with 300 yards and 2 TDs, nearly leading his team to a big upset. But Daniels is an odd player. He hasn’t won a start since October 5 of last year. He is 0-7-1 since then. Poor situational awareness has hurt him in a couple of those games.
I’ll be curious to see how the Eagles handle their trio of WRs with Terry McLaurin done for the year. Stefon Diggs, Antonio Williams, and Treylon Burks aren’t dynamic, but do have talent. Williams and Diggs are at their best in the slot.
STs has been an issue in recent weeks. The Eagles need to play better there if they are going to win this game. They can’t afford to make mistakes in the kicking game. Britain Covey is out so we’ll see if the PR is Lemon or Elijah Moore.
If last week’s offense and the previous week’s defense show up, the Eagles will win this game. But that’s the problem. We don’t know which version of the offense, defense, or STs is going to show up on a given week. I tend to think the Eagles will bounce back and win this game, but I sure don’t say that with much confidence.
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Posted October 30th, 2026 | No Comments »Monday night was a good news/bad news kind of game. The good news is that the offense finally figured some things out and showed some real signs of life. They had three TD drives and gave us a sense of hope for that unit. The offense had been dreadful for much of the season so it was encouraging to see real progress. At the very least, it made the game more entertaining.
The bad news is that the defense was awful.
This was a bad night to be sure, but the defense has been disappointing on the overall season. I don’t think there is a simple answer. They have the talent on paper. We know Vic Fangio is one of the greatest defensive minds in league history. The guys should know the system.
Something is just off. In a big way.
I’ll be interested to see how the group responds to this performance. They should be embarrassed when they watch the film. It won’t be pretty. And they can’t blame things on one position. It was a group effort.
The players on defense have the rest of the year to show who needs to be here. You can forgive a bad game or part of a bad season, especially if injuries are a factor. But this is business and guys get paid to perform. Players need to step up and get this figured out if they want to keep their jobs.
COACHING
Nick Sirianni didn’t have any real strategic decisions to make. The game was back and forth until Dallas went up 28-21 and dominated the rest of the way.
Sean Mannion did some good things with the offense. He still mixed in under center stuff, but also used plenty of shotgun (where McKee seems more comfortable). The offense mixed in some empty sets. The run-pass balance was much better than last week. And that was with more RB injuries to deal with. Most shockingly, the Eagles managed to have a successful WR screen.
Vic Fangio said on Wednesday that he did a poor job of coaching. He won’t find many people to argue against him. Dallas decided to focus on the run (for really the first time all year). The Eagles had no answers. Dallas was 38-204-1 on the ground. There was also a lack of a pass rush. Fangio called blitzes, but they were not executed well. No sacks or QB hits, at all. That is shocking and unacceptable. Dallas was 8 of 13 on third downs. There were multiple chances to get Dallas off the field and help the offense, but the defense failed over and over.
Michael Clay’s unit had another down performance. The Cowboys had a KOR for a TD wiped out by a penalty. The Eagles kickoff returners struggled with dirty kicks. They have given the Eagles problems in multiple games. The Eagles also had a penalty on a Dallas FG. It ended up being declined, but wasn’t smart football.
OFFENSE
QB
Tanner McKee played better than his first start. He went 23-35-211 with a TD and an INT. He still isn’t good, but seeing improvement is encouraging after a rough summer and poor first start.
McKee seemed more confident and aggressive. The coaches had a better gameplan for him and it gave McKee a better chance of being successful. He should continue to improve as he gets more experience. If he plays the rest of the season we should have a good idea of whether he’s worth bringing back to be the backup QB. I know the current version of him isn’t a guy you’d want, but I do think he’ll get better. As far as him ever developing into a future starter, I think that ship has sailed.
My biggest frustration with him on Monday night was decision-making and accuracy. There were times when he had good opportunities available and went elsewhere. Worse was him missing some open guys. McKee must get better with his footwork and mechanics to improve his accuracy. He also needs to be smarter about situational football. McKee did draw defenders offside on two plays.
RB
It was great to have Saquon Barkley back, even though back/hamstring injuries limited his snaps. He was 7-67-1. He had a 29-yard run on the opening drive. He just brings so much juice to the offense. The TD was an 8-yard run with a beautiful comeback. He has the vision and footwork to make plays like that. He’s still special. Dameon Pierce went 14-47-1 before he got hurt. Pierce can look good when he has obvious holes. He runs hard and will; break some tackles. He does not have good vision and sometimes makes poor choices. Elijah Mitchell was 3-11 on the ground and 3-23 as a receiver. He showed some promise. There is a good chance he’ll be starting this week.
WR
DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks were out. Makai Lemon took advantage of the opportunity and went 7-67. He scored his first NFL TD. Lemon did a good job of getting open and showed good RAC ability. The TD was a tough grab in traffic.
Lemon and Darius Cooper both blocked well. They give good effort and also are tough, physical players. Cooper only caught one pass, but it was a catch and run for 17 yards. Hollywood Brown was 2-30 and I thought he showed some juice. Elijah Moore was 2-16.
TE
Dallas Goedert went 5-48. He had a couple of receptions that moved the chains. Grant Calcaterra made his season debut, but only played 8 snaps. He was okay on a couple of blocks. Eli Stowers made his NFL debut and played 12 snaps. He had one okay block and one play where he got blown up on a run to his side.
OL
Mailata – Dickerson – Kendall – Steen – Bell
The best game of the year for the OL. Dickerson had a solid overall game, although he was upset at himself for some bad plays late in the game. I thought Dickerson moved okay and looked fairly healthy. He was able to win in the run game. He sustained blocks well. I thought he and Mailata had good chemistry. Mailata had a good block on Pierce’s TD run. Drew Kendall had a solid game and his presence was a big help to the offense. He stabilized the middle of the line. Tyler Steen continued his up and down season. Markel Bell was solid overall, but did struggle late when the Eagles had to pass. He’s got to get better with his hands.
***
DEFENSE
DL
The entire DL struggled. Nick Sirianni loves to use the phrase “block destruction”. That simply did not happen in this game. Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo all got neutralized. There were a few plays where they got dominated. It was ugly. This DL is too talented to get controlled like that.
ED
The edge rushers were as bad as the DL. Jonathan Greenard had a quiet game, with no tackles. Arnold Ebiketie was the best of the bunch. He had 4 tackles and played hard. He pushed the pocket a couple of times. He re-directed a WR when Dallas tried to trick the Eagles by lining him up in the backfield. That kept the play from being successful. Jalyx Hunt had 2 tackles and was also too quiet. AJ Epenesa had a couple of chances to make plays and whiffed on both. So frustrating.
LB
Zack Baun led the team with 9 tackles. He broke up a pass in the end zone. Baun did not play the run well. He got stuck on blocks too much and looked to be in the wrong spots a couple of times. Jeremiah Trottrt had 5 tackles. Jihaad Campbell had 2 tackles and struggled vs the run.
SAF
Drew Mukuba had 7 tackles and did okay on downfield coverage. He gave up a TD while covering Lamb out of the slot. The coverage wasn’t bad, but the throw was great and got hauled in for the score. Mukuba did not play the run well. Kenny Moore was the other starting safety and had 1 tackle.
CB
Quinyon Mitchell mostly played well. He had 6 tackles and a PD. He did get beaten on a couple of short third downs. Riq Woolen had a weird night. He had 3 tackles and 2 PDs. One of the PDs was an impressive downfield play. He also got beaten plenty of times. He fell down once and gave up a long completion. He was called for a penalty on a third down play. He was also beaten for a TD. Cooper DeJean had 7 tackles. He was beaten by Lamb for a TD. Coop was called for PI when covering a TE. Another strange, sloppy game.
***
ST
Braden Mann averaged 50 yards on his 3 punts, all of which were downed inside the 20.
Britain Covey got hurt early in the game. Lemon replaced him as the PR, but neither of Dallas 2 punts got returned.
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