Game Preview, Week 8: Philadelphia Eagles at Washington
October 30, 2026
by Steve Thomas
It’s been a pretty active two weeks since the last game for Washington’s fanbase, although not quite as active for the team itself as some would have liked. Washington needs to turn things around, ASAP, as in immediately, if they are going to have a chance to be competitive for a playoff spot this season. In the way of that goal stand the Philadelphia Eagles, which sounds intimidating, because at full strength, they are a Super Bowl contender. However, the Eagles are just 2 – 5 so far this season and have lost quarterback Jalen Hurts for the year due to an insanely-managed blood clot situation. Plus, they got handled, more or less, by the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football last week. So, does Washington have a chance in this game? I’m normally cynical about NFC East games, in general, especially the Eagles, even more so when the season is going poorly. However, in these circumstances, in a home game, I think that Washington might just have a chance to get a much-needed victory. Our game preview is below.
Game time & location: Sunday, November 1, 2026, 8:20 p.m. ET, Northwest Stadium, Raljon, Maryland; Gates open 6:20 p.m. ET; Red Zone parking lots open 3:20 p.m.; all other parking lots 4:20 p.m.
Television: NBC
Television announcers: Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, Melissa Stark, Kaylee Hartung
TV broadcast map: Click here
DC-area radio: BIG-100 (WBIG FM)
Washington radio network: Click here
Eagles radio network: Click here
Satellite radio: SiriusXM: 192 (Wash. broad.), 831 (Wash. broad.)
Washington roster: Click here
Washington depth chart: Click here
Eagles roster: Click here
Eagles depth chart: Click here
All-time head-to-head record vs Eagles: 90 – 88 – 6 (last 10: 3 – 7)
Last meeting: L, September 13, 2026, 22 – 24
Eagles record: 2 – 5 (3rd place) / away: 1 – 2 / NFC: 1 – 4 / NFC East: 1 – 1
Washington record: 1 – 4 – 1 (4th place) / home: 1 – 1 – 1 / NFC: 1 – 3 – 1 / NFC East: 0 – 2 – 1
Early odds: Washington, -6
3 KEYS TO THE GAME
Play four quarters of quality football
This is something that Washington hasn’t done all year. The truth is that they would’ve had at least one, maybe two more wins so far this year if Washington had acting like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the first and seconds half in nearly every game. Against the Eagles this week, the most important thing for Washington to accomplish in order to get a win is to simply play for fours of relatively mistake-free, quality football. Is that so hard? For Washington, apparently it is, but that’s what it’s going to take.
Jayden Daniels needs a big game
Let’s all be honest and admit that Washington’s run game stinks due to a combination of bad offensive line play and lack of talent as the running back position, especially with Jacory Croskey-Merritt on injured reserve. I know that I’ve been preaching for at least six months that Washington needs to move away from such a heavy reliance on Daniels, particularly on the ground. This is me surrendering to reality: Washington must have Daniels do his thing: high completion percentages, touchdown passes, good scrambling, and field vision in order to win. If the guy gets hurt again, then he gets hurt again. And yes, it is inevitable that that’s going to happen again. But for now, the only way out of the doldrums against the Eagles appears to be on his back.
Focus defensive efforts on sacking Tanner McKee and controlling Saquon Barkley
Barkley is quietly having a pretty good year, despite a hamstring injury, with 43 carries for 244 yards, which is 5.7 yards per attempt. With Jalen Hurts out, the Eagles will need to rely much more on their rushing attack against Washington, and that means slowing down Barkley is the priority. For his part, McKee is a far cry from Jalen Hurts at his apex, and I suspect that if Washington is successful in pressuring him – which is no guarantee at all, given their poor blitz percentage-to-sack ratio – then McKee’s performance in leading Philadelphia’s passing game will be fairly poor. So: the two defensive keys this week: (1) control Saquon, and (2) sack McKee.
3 KEY MATCHUPS
Trey Amos and Amik Robertson vs DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks
Washington’s secondary gets a boost this week with the return of #1 corner Trey Amos. The battle between he and Robertson against Smith and Wicks. As I said above, the absence of Hurts brings down the overall effectiveness of Philadelphia’s passing game, but this is nevertheless a pretty big featured matchup in this game. Expect the television announcers to discuss this quite a bit. The wildcard here is the return of Marquis Brown, who’s missed most of the season with an ankle injury but is back now.
Sam Cosmi and Chris Paul vs Jalen Carter
Washington’s interior offensive line has been absolutely terrible across the board nearly all season, in almost every position. The problem here is that Carter is a pretty talented player and currently leads the Eagles with 3 sacks. He has a habit of getting to the quarterback quite a bit by interior defensive linemen standards. Keep an eye out on whether Cosmi and Paul can stem the tide somewhat and keep Daniels from facing tons of pressure right up the middle of the line. This is an important key to this game.
Sonny Styles vs Dallas Goedert
Don’t look now, but Sonny Styles is starting to live up to his draft status for Washington. He’s leads the team in tackles, with 46 so far this season, and has made multiple impressive plays. I therefore place most of the principal job of controlling Dallas Goedert, who is a quality tight end, on Styles For his part, Goedert is a talented receiving tight end who has had 22 receptions for 228 yards, including 2 touchdowns so far this year. This is a pretty big matchup between two good players. Given the success Styles has had in these very early stages of his career, don’t be surprised if the television announcing crew spends some time highlighting him throughout the game.
OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT (active roster only)
LP – limited practice FP – full practice DNP – did not practice
NIR – not injury related Q – questionable O – out
D – doubtful
| Washington | Eagles |
| C/G N. Allegretti, back; Wed: NL; Thurs: DNP | RB S. Barkley, hamstring/back; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP |
| TE J. Bates, shoulder; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP | LB J. Campbell. Hamstring/quad; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP |
| WR T. Burks, foot; Wed: LP; Thurs: DNP | WR B. Covey, knee; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP |
| DT J. Kinlaw, knee; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP | CB J. Jones, hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP |
| DT J. Newton pectoral; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP | WR D. Smith, hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP |
| DE C. Omenihu, groin/ankle; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP | WR D. Wicks ankle; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP |
| QB J. Daniels, left elbow; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | CB M. Carter, abdomen; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP |
| WR S. Diggs, hand/hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: FP | S M. Epps, jaw/concussion; Wed: NL; Thurs: LP |
| QB M. Mariota, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | OLB J. Greenard, ankle; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP |
| CB F. Moreau, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | OLB J. Hunt, knee/ankle; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP |
| TE C. Yankoff, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | DT M. Ojomo, neck; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP |
| OLB N. Smith, concussion; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP | |
| LB Z. Baun, shoulder; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | |
| CB J. Bennett, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | |
| G L. Dickerson, pectoral; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | |
| OLB A. Eblketie, shoulder; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | |
| TE D. Goedert, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | |
| C D. Kendall, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP | |
| LB S. Mondon, knee; Wed: :P; Thurs: FP | |
| G T. Steen, shoulder; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP |
Steve’s Prediction
Washington finally gets a win and beats the Eagles 24 – 17.