Hogs Haven
Things don’t get any easier as Washington faces the NFL’s top defense one week after facing the NFL’s top offense in another win-or-go-home game
It’s NFL Conference Championship week and the No. 6 seed Washington Commanders will be facing a No. 2 seed Eagles team on the road at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA this Sunday at 3:00 pm ET. The Eagles started the season a bit lackluster, going 2-2 to start, but have only lost a single game since their Week 5 bye - a loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 16.
We’ve had two previous 5Qs with BGN, in Week 11 and Week 16. The Eagles offense and defense were broken down in detail in the Week 11 article. The short summary is that the defense has excelled through a combination of new talent at critical positions and excellent coaching by new DC Vic Fangio. Since that matchup, DT Jalen Carter was named 2nd Team All-Pro and LB Zack Baun was named 1st Team All-Pro by the Associated Press. The Eagles defense has remained the NFL’s top statistical defense, allowing the fewest total yards, 2nd fewest points, fewest total passing yards, and 10th fewest rushing yards over the course of the regular season.
Although the Eagles offense hasn’t been quite as good as the defense, it has still been good, ranking 8th in total yards and 7th in total points over the regular season. However, that overall productivity masks a big difference in the run and pass game, as the Eagles are ranked 2nd in rushing yards and 29th in passing yards over the regular season. A big part of the rushing game is the ability of QB Jalen Hurts to rush for yards himself, but this may be impacted by a knee injury he sustained in last week’s game against the Rams. Hurts is currently likely to play, but may be limited by his knee.
The Eagles offense had 4 players granted AP All-Pro honors for the 2024 season: RB Saquon Barkley for 1st Team All-Pro and LT Jordan Mailata, RT Lane Johnson, and WR AJ Brown for 2nd Team All-Pro honors.
I asked Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation five questions to better understand the state of the Eagles and what to look for in this game.
1) What has changed for the Eagles since the last time these two teams played?
Great question! I actually wrote about this topic at length for BGN:
“What’s changed since the Eagles and Commanders last played each other?”
A few things I’ll highlight here:
1. Jalen Hurts’ return. Hurts obviously got knocked out pretty early in the last matchup (more than nine minutes remaining in the first quarter). He’s back now … but he hasn’t exactly been lighting it up as a passer. And now he’s dealing with a knee injury that he suffered during the Eagles’ win over the Los Angeles Rams. That injury might limit his mobility.
2. Dallas Goedert’s return. The Eagles...
