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Eagles

Air Raid – 30 Immediate Takeaways from Eagles 38, Commanders 31

Kevin Kinkead

By Kevin Kinkead

Published:

Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Eagles won a road game against an always-feisty divisional rival and covered the spread after erasing a double-digit deficit.  Imagine writing or reading that sentence after watching the wretched start to this one, which featured a couple of brutal red zone fumbles and Swiss cheese defense that was so stinky it may as well have been overnighted from Geneva.

It was bad.

Then the Eagles woke up, did their best Hal Mumme impersonation, and started bombing Washington through the air, scoring three-straight passing touchdowns en route to a 28-7 run that put the game away. Jalen Hurts threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns before DeVonta Smith iced the game with an onside kick recovery. The Birds are 7-1 and battled back to get it done.

To the observations:

1) Jay Glazer reported before the game that Hurts is dealing with a bone bruise. No structural damage, so obviously a fantastic thing, but those bone bruises low key can be painful and annoying. They take some time to heal fully. If Hurts gets through the Cowboys game alright, that bye week is timely.

2) YouTube TV completely shit the bed during the start of the game. A lot of fans were having issues with choppiness and freezing. Honestly, it’s the first time we’ve had any real issues with the service since we cut the cord in 2021.

3) FedExField is a dump. Lifeless, soulless, hopeless. An empty husk. It sounded like an Eagles home game on television.

4) Kevin Byard got the start at safety and they walked Sydney Brown down into the slot. Reed Blankenship was back from the rib injury, so that’s probably the best configuration they can come up with, with Avonte Maddox unavailable to play nickel.

5) Washington’s early game plan was pretty obvious. Get rid of the ball quickly and dink and dunk down the field. Good strategy to keep Sam Howell off his back.

6) Darius Slay and James Bradberry were not exactly amazing on that first Washington scoring drive. Slay looked like he was stuck in molasses chasing Brian Robinson down the sideline, then Bradberry got cooked on a double move for a touchdown on the very next play. Gross! (they weren’t great on the following series either, basically just took turns getting cooked)

7) They only got 3 points, but there was some really good Hurts decision making on that 2nd drive. He had the run for the sticks on 3rd and 7, then picked up a decent gain on a simple middle dump off to D’Andre Swift. That was followed up by a proper RPO pull and throw to move the chains. If they hit on that deep middle to Olamide Zaccheaus or DeVonta Smith was able to hold that block on the edge, they would have found themselves in the red zone.

8) Incredibly annoying was that person’s arm going up and blocking the camera twice during the Commies’ 2nd touchdown drive. Not as annoying as the Eagles’ inability to cover anyone or anything, but annoying nonetheless.

9) Agree with this:

10) Enough with Kenneth Gainwell touching the ball in the red zone. That fumble was an absolute killer at an inopportune time. Even when he seemingly got it back, there were 5 Washington players there to rip it out.

11) Riverboat Ron was kind of a pansy in the first Eagles/Commies game, but even though they didn’t convert, I thought going for it on 4th and 1 before halftime was the right call. You get 7 or 3 there and you’re up big going into the break.

12) A.J. Brown is a total dawg. What Eagles receiver from 2006 to 2020 makes this catch?

Or even this catch? –

13) Not sure what Mark Schlereth was talking about when he was asking Washington to run the ball more. At that point, there were 30 seconds in the half and Howell was 23 for 25 with 215 yards and two touchdowns. Yeah, Robinson was running well on limited carries, but the passing game was that much better in the first half and the time/situation didn’t call for running.

14) The Washington field goal before halftime was particularly painful. Defense should never have conceded 32 yards in 30 seconds, and then the Commies committed a penalty, only to convert a 61-yarder anyway.

15) At halftime – 25 Jalen Hurts passing attempts, 2 carries for Gainwell and 1 for D’Andre Swift.

16) The Hurts Brotherly Shove fumble was the biggest play of the game at that point and FOX just could not wait to get out of the replay to go to commercial break. They do this all the time and they are the absolute worst.

17) The Hurts fumble on the Brotherly Shove was the eighth turnover in three games. Looks like he just rammed the ball into Landon Dickerson’s huge ass. Kind of  a butt fumble, yeah?

18) Nolan Smith did a great job containing Britain Covey on that punt return. One of his biggest stops of the year.

19) Put Brian Johnson in jail for that 3rd and 6 bubble screen. They needed a miracle DeVonta grab and a non-challenge to move the sticks there. Pretty ugly two-play sequence.

20) Derek Barnett not getting flagged for unnecessary roughness on Sam Howell was the most surprising play of the game.

21) Nakobe Dean was underwhelming out there.

22) After A.J. Brown’s second touchdown, which tied the game at 17, the Eagles defense allowed Washington to go 14 plays and 75 yards for a touchdown while eating up 7:14 of block. Just a terrible response, not a single big play on that drive out of possibly the Fletcher Cox batted pass. They allowed a 3rd and 4 scramble that would have forced a field goal and then gave up the TD on 3rd and goal.

23) Little bit of history for A.J. in this one:

24) Before the Blankenship interception, Howell was 33 for 39 for 304 yards and three touchdowns. Made him look like the second coming of Dan Marino before the huge pick.

25) That really was a brilliant pull on the Julio Jones touchdown. If you watch it again, Hurts freezes both linebackers and creates just enough space to fire a bullet right down the middle:

26) Tell ya what, I did not see Terry McLaurin dropping two-straight fourth quarter passes. He should have caught at least one, even if both throws were low. After Washington farted away that possession, the Eagles went three plays, one yard, and chewed up a grand total of one minute.

27) Not much to say about the Jahan Dotson review. The longer it went on, you knew they weren’t going to find conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field.

28) Haason Reddick – showing up in the 4th quarter yet again. He’s been quiet through three quarters in most of these games, as far as getting in the quarterback’s face, but he’s continually showing up in the biggest moments when they need him.

29) Capping it off with the fake shove was the cherry on top. Loved it. Everyone knew they had wrinkles on that play so you don’t have to worry about putting anything on tape.

30) 7-1. Just win baby.

Kevin Kinkead
Kevin Kinkead

Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com

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