ClutchPoints
If fans had been told that the Philadelphia Eagles would be playing the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship, the number of direct flights from PHL to New Orleans would have skyrocketed.
Now sure, anything can happen in any given football game, but the Commanders had just cleaned house, hired Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their new head coach, and were picking second overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, where they ultimately selected the clear QB2, Jayden Daniels. Factor in an overreliance on veteran free agents like Bobby Wagner and Olamide Zaccheaus, the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury as their new offensive coordinator, and a Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it seemed like it was going to be a long year for Josh Harris, Magic Johnson, and company in Landover, Maryland.
Oh, what a difference 18 weeks can make.
Fast forward to Week 21 of the 2024 NFL season, and the Commanders have officially arrived, going 12-5 in the regular season before scoring two big upsets in the playoffs. They put a beat down on Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were widely expected to win the game, before marching into Detroit and upsetting the first-seed Lions, ending their season and potentially dynasty, what with Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn leaving for head coaching jobs with the Chicago Bears and the New York Jets, respectively.
On the season, the Commanders are 1-1 against the Eagles thanks to the infamous Kenny Pickett game, but how worried should fans in Philadelphia be about the forthcoming rubber match against Washington? Well, considering the Eagles are coming off of a strange, snowy game where Jalen Hurts seemingly suffered a leg injury, this is anything but a slam dunk W, but considering the picture as a whole, things are setting up pretty well for Nick Sirianni to take his team to the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons.
How many games has Saquon Barkley rushed for fewer than 100 rushing yards over the course of the 2024 NFL season? Five, with his low water mark coming in Week 6 at 47 on 18 carries. He’s battled against old-school 3-4 fronts, has gashed teams that rely on the Tampa 2, and through it all, has helped to make Philadelphia’s offense among the league’s best, even while averaging the fewest passing attempts per game of any team in the NFL.
But how has Barkley fared against the Commanders in 2024? Pretty darn well, with the pride of Penn State rushing for 146 yards and two touchdowns in Week 11 and then picking up 150 yards and two more touchdowns in Week 17 down Hurts for much of the game. As a whole, Barkley combined for 348 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns on only 57 touchdowns and dominated Commanders even when Quinn and company knew he was going to get the ball more often than not.
Now granted, the...
