Week 1 – Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles

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September 14, 2029

By Noonefromtampa

First Quarter

Philadelphia won the coin toss and deferred. Jaylin Lane returned the opening kick off 33 yards to Washington’s 36 yard line. Jacory Croskey-Merritt opened the drive with an 11 yard run. The next two plays were a run for no gain and an incompletion. Jayden Daniels found Stefon Diggs on third and 10 for a 13 yard completion. Washington only gained three more yards on the drive, a run by Rachaad White. Rookie kicker Drew Stevens nailed a 55 yard field goal attempt to give the Commanders a 3-0 lead.

Philadelphia had a short 6 play drive of 13 yards with only one first down before having to punt it away. Washington went three and out on their next series.

The Eagles put themselves in a hole with a holding call on first down. Nick Cross tackled Makai Lemon for a 5 yard loss on the second  first down play. DeVonta Smith has a 12 yard catch on second down. Frankie Luvu sacked Jalen Hurts for a 9 yard loss on third down to force the punt.

Washington went three and out again on their next possession. Saquon Barkley started the next drive with a 6-yard run but the next play was the big one, a 64-yard completion to Dontayvion Wicks over Mike Sainristil who could not find the ball. Cam Jurgens got called for his second holding penalty of the game pushing the Eagles back 10 yards. Javon Kinlaw stuff Barkley for a two-yard loss and Cross tackled Barkley for a gain of one.

Second Quarter

On third and goal from the 17 yard line, Hurts found Dallas Goedert for a touchdown between Jeremy Reaves and Quan Martin. With the successful extra point, the Eagles took a 7-3 lead.

The Commanders and Eagles then traded three and outs on offense.

Washington was able to pick up one first down behind runs 2 yards from Daniels and 9 yards from Croskey-Merritt. The drive was then blown up on a holding call on a blitz pickup by Croskey-Merritt. They also lost 7 yards on a screen play and were unable to convert the third and 27.

After an incompletion under good pressure, it only took 4 plays for the Eagles to score their second touchdown. The key plays were a 42 yard run by Barkley, and 9 yard touchdown catch by Wicks. After the successful extra point, the Eagles took a 14-3 lead.

Washington then had their best drive of the game to that point. Croskey-Merritt started with an 11 yard run and Diggs caught a 15 yard pass from Daniels. After a delay of game and incompletion put them in a third and 15 to gain, Daniels scrambled for 14 yards and Croskey-Merritt ran for 4 yards on fourth down. After picking up another first down behind two Croskey-Merritt runs, Daniels found Antonio Williams for 16 yard*-s down to the Eagles 1-yard line. Croskey-Merritt scored from there, but the extra point was blocked by Jalen Carter, making the Eagles lead 14-9.

The Eagles were only able to gain 18 yards and one first down on the next series. The punt was downed inside Washington’s 5 yard line. Washington was able to run one play to run out the clock to end the half.

Third Quarter

After a short kickoff return of 21 yards, Sainristil tackled Barkley for a 1 ard loss and then Martin tackled Lemon for a 3 yard loss. Goedert caught a pass for 12 yards, but Cross brought him down short of the line of gain. Lane was able to return the punt 19 yards to the Washington 41c yard line.

With good field position, Washington could only muster a three and out. To make matters worse, Tress Way‘s punt went for a touchback putting the Eagles on their own 20-yard line to start.

Sonny Styles got his first career sack to start the next series. The Eagles couldn’t overcome the 6 yard loss and went three and out. Lane had an 11 yard return on this punt, keeping Washington in decent field position. The two big plays on the drive were a 15-yard completion to Chig Okonkwo and an Illegal Contact penalty on Cooper DeJean both gave the Commanders first downs. The drive petered out on the Eagles 36, but the 54 yard field goal attempt was wide right.

The net gain on the Eagles’ next drive was -6 yards, which ended on a Odafe Oweh sack of Hurts, which forced a 3 and out punt. Washington picked up another delay of game and never recovered going three and out.

After a holding penalty on first down put the Eagles in a hole, Hurts scrambled for 14 yards and threw 31 yards to DeVonta Smith to the Commanders 24 yard line. Washington’s defense was able to hold from there, forcing a Jake Elliot 35 yard field goal to make the lead 17-9.

After the kickoff of 26 yards by Lane, Daniels scrambled for 13 yards.

Fourth Quarter

Daniels checked down to John Bates who picked up 8 yards. Croskey-Merritt ran yards for the first down. A couple short runs and a false start put in a third and 14 to go. Daniels found Williams in a hole in the zone defense for 33 yards. Diggs scored two plays later on third down on a 10 yard catch but committed an unsportsmanlike penalty by grabbing the goal post. Washington had to settle for kicking an extra-long extra point to cut the lead to 17-16.

After Barkley ran twice for 13 yards, Washington had the Eagles backed up in a third and 18, when Hurts ran for 22 yards. After two short runs, Hurts found Goedert over the middle and he split the defenders for a 43-yard catch and run for a touchdown. The extra point was good, giving the Eagles a 24-16 lead.

Washington came back strong on the next drive. Mixing passes and runs, Williams caught a 14 yard pass and Diggs had a 17 yard catch. Terry McLaurin caught his first pass on an 8 yard screen. Kaytron Allen gained 8 yards on two runs. McLaurin picked up a first down on a fourth down catch for 6 yards. Allen ran it down the one and Williams caught the touchdown pass a couple of plays later. The two-point conversion was stopped, to make the final score 24-22.

Thoughts

Same theme as last year: miscommunication on defense or a missed tackle leads to a big play for the opponent.

  • Goedert scored twice on plays where Washington was not sure who was supposed to cover him.
  • Hurts ran for first downs when in third and long situations.
  • Missed tackle on Barkley put the Eagles in scoring position.

The other theme was stupid mistakes: a blocked extra point, multiple delay of game penalties, Digg’s unsportsmanlike penalty.

Most pundits had this as big Eagles blowout, so a two-point loss is not so bad, right? The reality is that the team had an opportunity to win this but the loss turned on a few plays. That is normal course in the NFL – close games hinge on the outcome of a few plays in the game.

The good news is that the defense looked better than last year most of the time. They put pressure on the quarterback and tackled Barkley for a loss or no gain on several occasions. Both of those are good signs for the defense.

The offense started slow, probably because of lack of work in the preseason, but picked up as the game went on. David Blough stuck with the run even when it was only gaining a few yards. The Eagles put pressure on Daniels a number of times but only sacked him once. Diggs and Williams are definitely an upgrade in the receiving corps.

The basics are there, but whether the team build on them and get better over the course of the season is the big question. They will need to get better fast with the strong schedule they have over the first half of the season.

Rookie watch: Styles got his first sack and Williams scored his first touchdown.

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