Eagles fight back to defeat the Commanders 38-31

The Eagles overcame an ugly first half and two red zone turnovers in a 38-31 win against the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

Even with Jalen Hurts clearly banged up from a bruised knee that he has been dealing with for the last month, the connection between him and A.J. Brown single handedly kept the Eagles in the game when at times, it looked bleak. For another week, Hurts also overcame another turnover and led the Eagles to an impressive drive to take the lead and finished with a solid day in the box score throwing for 319 yards with four touchdowns.

Brown finished the game with a pair of touchdowns and 130 yards on eight receptions, setting a new NFL record for six consecutive games with 125-plus receiving yards.

A tale of two halves

It was an ugly start for the Eagles on both sides of the football.  Hurts and the offense went three-and-out on the first drive. Sam Howell and Washington’s offense scored in a blink of an eye on a three-play, 54-second drive capped off by a 26-yard touchdown pass from Howell to Terry McLaurin on their second possession of the game.

Hurts and the offense started to find a rhythm, but ultimately had to settle for a 51-yard field goal from Jake Elliot to make it a 7-3 game. Yet, despite the secondary getting gashed, the Commanders putting together another impressive 58-yard touchdown drive, a Kenneth Gainwell fumble at the five-yard line to abruptly end what looked to be a promising drive, Hurts orchestrated a flawless scoring drive right before the half going 7-for-7 for 63 yards capped off with an acrobatic  Brown touchdown that might rank as one of the top catches of the season.

The secondary once again let Howell pick up big chunks to lead to a 61-yard field goal to close out the half. However, with the poor performance and the Eagles with just six rushing yards in the first half, somehow, the Eagles trailed by just a touchdown at halftime. 

Philadelphia came out strong in the second half, destined to scored a touchdown, after a defensive pass interference on 4^th and 2 on a deep pass to Brown was called against Washington to put the ball on the one-yard line. In came the “Brotherly Shove” formation, a near automatic for this team, but a snap that wasn’t handled cleanly by Hurts fell to the grass at FedEx Field and the Commanders fell on it.

However, the Eagles offense and defense were able to make plays when needed. Both teams exchanged touchdowns before Reed Blankenship redeemed himself after a tough first three quarters. Blankenship picked off a Howell pass to set the Eagles up inside the 20. Hurts then connected two plays later to newly added wide receiver, Julio Jones, for the go-ahead touchdown.

Defense took step back

A week removed from holding the high-flying Miami Dolphins to 17 points, it appeared the defense and secondary more notably, took a step forward. However, against Washington, Howell looked at times, like an All-Pro quarterback. The secondary played softer coverage and struggled to make plays on key downs. Allowing Howell to throw for nearly 400 yards and four scores is a step backwards with that offensive line protecting him. Despite the 4th quarter interception by Reed Blankenship, the secondary caught a break with two drops by Washington late in the fourth quarter. They will need to clean things up leading into the big NFC East clash against Dak Prescott and the Cowboys next week who dismantled the Rams.

Brown is truly always open

If Brown isn’t on your list of top five, even three wide receivers, you may need to revisit your list. He entered the game with five consecutive games with 125-plus receiving yards, the first wideout to have such a stretch since Calvin Johnson in 2012. He extended that streak with a 16-yard grab in the 4th quarter as part of the game-tying drive for the Eagles.

Brown came down with one of the best catches we’ve seen so far through eight weeks of the NFL season near the end of the first half and provided a much-needed score when the game could’ve unraveled for the Eagles.

The now 7-1 Eagles will return home next Sunday for a huge showdown against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field with kickoff starting at 4:25 p.m.