For the first time in 21 seasons, a team has won the NFC East for the second straight season. That team is the Philadelphia Eagles (10-5), who defeated the Washington Commanders (4-11) 29-18 at Northwest Stadium on Saturday night.
The last time a team won the NFC East in consecutive seasons was the 2001-2004 Eagles, who won the division four times in a row.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate Philly’s ‘Big 3’ and their outstanding performances on Sunday:
-Saquon Barkley got loose against the Commanders. He went over 1,000 yards for the season, finishing with 132 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. This is Barkley’s fourth straight game with 100-plus rushing yards versus the Commanders since arriving to the Eagles in 2024 (Week 11 of 2024, 146 yards; Week 16 of 2024, 150 yards; NFCCG, 118 yards).
The Eagles ran for 207 yards on Saturday.
-Jalen Hurts had a solid performance against the Commanders. He completed 22-of-30 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. In addition, he ran for 40 yards. Hurts now has 24 touchdown passes, a career high, and yes, all he does is win.
-Cooper DeJean(second interception of the season) had a big interception in the third quarter, which really helped the Eagles seal the game. With the Eagles up 14-10, DeJean picked off Josh Johnson, who replaced an injured Marcus Mariota. From there, Barkley would put the game away with a 12-yard touchdown run.
Honorable Mention:
–Brandon Graham had another sack! The sack marked Graham’s third sack in nine defensive snaps. He is the first player to record sacks in back-to-back games at age 37 or older since 2024.
-Dallas Goedert had a 15-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter, which was his 10th touchdown reception this season, which is a career-high. He is now tied with Pete Retzlaff (1965) for the most single-season receiving touchdowns by a tight end in franchise history (10).
End of the Day:
The Eagles are in the playoffs, and in three weeks, the games really begin.
As stated last week, Philadelphia can’t beat anybody, anywhere in the NFC. They have a solid defense that travels, and an offense that is starting to find a rhythm. At some point, they should be getting back their best linemen on both sides of the ball in Lane Johnson and Jalen Carter, which will help.
The team is pretty much locked into the third seed, so going forward, they should play the starters against the Bills next week and see where they stand.
However, the Eagles should chase health over seeding.
End of the day, get as healthy as you can, and let’s see what happens in the postseason.
Two negative things to discuss are Jake Elliott and the “Tush Push.” Elliott missed two field goals (43 and 52), and he has made only 17-of-24 kicks this season. That’s concerning, but we saw this last season, and in the playoffs, he made some huge kicks, so let’s hope that happens again.
Regarding the “Tush Push,” it appears to be dead. It’s being over-officiated at this point, and teams have probably figured it out, so it might be time to do something different. It was a great run, but all great things must come to an end.
What’s Next:
The Eagles will go on the road and battle the Buffalo Bills next Sunday.
One More Thing…
According to Elias Sports, Nick Sirianni is one of three Super Bowl Era head coaches to make the playoffs five times and win three division championships in their first five career seasons.
Sirianni is just the second head coach in Eagles history to earn playoff trips in five consecutive seasons (only one to do so in their first five career years), joining Andy Reid (2000-04). He and Reid are also the only head coaches in franchise history to lead Philadelphia to three NFC East Championships during their first five seasons with the team.
Leave a Reply