Bleeding Green Nation
A closer look at the NFC Championship Game between Philadelphia and Washington.
I’m not the biggest fan of Eagles game previews, mainly because I don’t have the time to watch even more film during the season. However, this is an easy one, because I’ve watched a ton of Washington Commanders film this year!
I struggle with previews because there’s too much to talk about. I could go on forever. So, I won’t break this down into strengths and weaknesses. I’m just going to give a bunch of thoughts about Washington after watching as much film as possible and looking at the stats. I use a bunch of stats in this one, and credit goes to Team Rankings, PFF, and Sports Info Solutions. Lastly, my podcast co-host @ShaneHaffNFL is responsible for putting some of the graphics together in this one. I’ll use some film from the Eagle's previous matchups, too. Let’s go!
There is only one place to start this preview. The Washington defense is not very good against the run. Washington gave up 139 rushing yards per game (30th) at 4.9 yards per carry (30th). In the two games vs. Washington this year, Saquon Barkley has 55 carries for 296 yards and 4 touchdowns. Is that good? This should be a game where the Eagles have success running the football.
Washington’s defensive line is aggressive and gets up the field quickly. The Eagles took advantage of this last time the two teams met and ran some trap plays (such as Crunch) that we haven’t seen the Eagles run very often. I expect to see some more of these runs if the Washington’ defense continues to get up the field quickly.
Look how aggressive the Washington’ defensive line is here. You can take advantage of this if you get to the second level. They play a 1-gap style a lot of the time, and if they are not extremely gap-sound, they can be susceptible to explosive runs.
However, it is fair to point out that outside of the explosive runs the Eagles didn’t run the ball well against Washington in Week 16. However, Jalen Hurts didn’t play! He has a huge impact on the run game, even if he isn’t fully healthy. Another one of the reasons why the Eagles struggled to run the football in Week 16 was the play of the Eagles' tight ends. Luckily, Dallas Goedert is playing this time (unless this new ankle injury keeps him out?)! I expect the Eagles to be able to run the ball well.
When Kenny Pickett came into the lineup, Washington stacked the box, and the Eagles struggled to run the football. I would expect Washington to stack the box and dare the Eagles to throw it. This could be a ‘single-high let it fly’ game for the offense. However, Washington has done a good job in the two matchups, taking away deep shots by playing with off-coverage.
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