Hogs Haven
The Commanders ended the season with a 24-17 defeat of the Philadelphia Eagles on the road at Lincoln Financial Field.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made the controversial decision to rest most of his starters to keep them fresh for the playoffs. The Eagles listed starters for the game included 3 players on offense who had started in the season opener and 5 on defense who were starters on opening day.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn fielded the starters he had available. They included 5 players on offense who had started on opening day and 7 players on defense.
There were noticeable similarities to a preseason game. Having written up every game this season, I would have to say that there was about as little going on in this game as any of them.
The Commanders’ biggest two positive plays on offense were pass interference calls on the Eagles. The Commanders only managed 7 plays over +/-2.4 EPA, including the two DPI penalties and an incompletion by Eagles backup QB Tanner McKee.
The Eagles only managed 5 big plays, one of which was a missed chip-shot field goal by Commanders’ kicker Jake Moody, and another was a botched snap that QB Josh Johnson didn’t see coming.
While some fans celebrated the Commanders’ fifth and final win of the season, others lamented that winning the meaningless battle of the backups cost Washington two positions in the draft order.
In the interest of completeness, here is a rundown of who played where, who stepped up and who didn’t in the 2025 season closer.
Stats Sources
Stats were sourced from the NFL, Pro Football Reference (PFR), Pro Football Focus (PFF), or ESPN. NFL official stats were used whenever available. When the source is not indicated, it means either than NFL official stats were used or that there was agreement between stats services. The source is not always indicated if a stat is only available from one source (eg. PFF: stops, run stops, Y/RR, QB hurries; ESPN: QBR).
Expected Points Added (EPA) quantifies the contribution of individual plays to a team’s scoring potential on a drive. These are all the plays with EPA greater than 2.4 or less than -2.4.
Q2, 9:57, 3rd and 9 at PHI 24: Josh Johnson pass incomplete deep right intended for Treylon Burks. Penalty on Jakorian Bennett: Defensive Pass Interference, 23 yards. EPA 4.16
Q4, 12:02, 1st and 10 at PHI 30: Josh Johnson pass incomplete deep left intended for Deebo Samuel. Penalty on Mac McWilliams: Defensive Pass Interference, 29 yards. EPA 3.39
Q2, 12:20, 3rd and 7 at WAS 38: Josh Johnson pass complete deep left to Terry McLaurin for 25 yards. EPA 2.69
Q4, 4:51, 3rd and 7 at PHI 11: Josh Johnson scrambles left end for 7 yards. EPA 2.66
Q1, 7:26, 4th and 3 at PHI 44: Josh Johnson pass complete short left to Terry McLaurin for 5 yards. EPA 2.65
Q2, 4:49, 4th...
