It felt like a playoff setting Thursday night time at Lincoln Monetary Subject with first place within the NFC East on the road and the Washington Commanders on the town. On a Salute to Service recreation, the Eagles performed that form of gritty, bodily, pounding, and environment friendly soccer in beating Washington, 26-18, and profitable their sixth straight recreation.
The Eagles at the moment are 8-2, two video games forward of Washington (7-4) within the loss column. It was an excellent soccer recreation, a knock-down, drag-’em-out NFC East Division recreation, and the Eagles performed their form of soccer: No giveaways, a suffocating protection, and a fourth quarter to cherish.
Listed here are some observations after the thrilling win in prime time on Thursday night time …
1. This Eagles protection had its finest recreation of the season
We have seen the Eagles take large leaps ahead defensively this season, and what they did towards a Washington offense averaging 29 factors per recreation was past spectacular. It was dominating. The Eagles, of their first have a look at quarterback Jayden Daniels, have been bodily, tackled nicely, had nice self-discipline, and performed with unimaginable depth. The cease on fourth-and-2 halfway by means of the fourth quarter, when Daniels bobbled a snap after which tried to run round the best edge, solely to be stopped by linebacker Zack Baun – with assist from Reed Blankenship and others – was the spotlight. However the protection was simply dominating all night time – Daniels had solely 18 dashing yards on 7 carries, Washington gained simply 93 yards on 28 carries, and huge receiver Terry McLaurin, who has had huge video games prior to now towards Philadelphia, had 1 catch for 10 yards on 2 targets. Washington managed solely 264 whole web yards, 70 of them on the ultimate scoring drive when the rating was 26-10.
“Nice crew protection,” stated security Reed Blankenship, who had his third fourth-quarter interception of the season. “We have been nicely ready, we performed as a crew, and we have been sound on our assignments. A lot respect to that offense, however we simply performed as a unit tonight.”
2. The fourth quarter belonged to the Eagles – because it has a lot of the season
It took a while, however as soon as the Eagles bought issues rolling, they did not cease. Philadelphia outscored Washington 20-8 within the fourth quarter, with landing drives of 11 performs, 76 yards, then 5 performs and 74 yards, after which 2 performs and 46 yards, and the protection got here up with a cease on downs after which the Blankenship interception. Need an excellent quantity? The Eagles have outscored opponents 88 to 43 this season within the fourth quarter of video games. Discuss ending robust …
3. Wash, rinse, repeat – Saquon Barkley is a particular, particular participant
We see it each week and it turns into increasingly more wonderful to witness: Saquon Barkley is pretty much as good as they arrive. Extra numbers: Barkley had 26 carries for 146 yards and a pair of touchdowns, together with the 39-yarder that was only a reduce and a dash to the top zone to place the Eagles forward 25-10, and a 23-yarder round the best nook that got here earlier within the fourth quarter. Barkley now has 1,137 dashing yards this season, a wowwowow quantity and he is averaging 5.8 yards per carry with eight dashing touchdowns. Oh, and Barkley had 2 receptions for 52 yards giving him a whopping 198 yards from scrimmage tonight. Barkley has 23 receptions for 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns as a receiver.
“Having these guys (the offensive line) up entrance, it is easy to get stronger as a result of they’re doing a whole lot of the load and leaning on these guys and once more simply maintain trusting them, maintain trusting the scheme, and attempt to make the best learn as a result of they’re doing a hell of a job,” Barkley stated.