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Missed Opportunity – 21 Immediate Observations from Commies 24, Eagles 17
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It was fun while it lasted, but the Eagles’ backups blew a fourth quarter lead on Sunday night, losing 24 to 17 at home to Washington in the season finale.
They battled throughout, and had some really nice moments, but the story of the game was the Birds’ secondary, which committed something like 17 pass interference penalties for what felt like 700 yards. They looked like they were each infused with the spirit of Izel “Toast” Jenkins while trying to cover Terry McLaurin and Treylon Burks, and by “trying to cover” I mean they grabbed and held because they couldn’t keep up. Mix in a Tanner McKee interception, and a questionable series of red zone calls on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1, and the Birds couldn’t get the job done.
It amounted to a missed opportunity, because the Detroit Lions knocked off the Chicago Bears on a walk-off field goal, wining 19-16 at Soldier Field. With the Birds and Bears both losing, Philly will host San Francisco in the 3/6 game and Chicago gets the 2 seed and division rival Green Bay.
That’s somewhat of a bitter pill to swallow, but is anybody scared of the 49ers at home? After that performance against Seattle? And is anybody scared to go on the road in the divisional round? Don’t think so. The #2 seed would have been nice, but the only thing beating the Eagles in January is the Eagles. Bring on the next opponent.
To the observations we go:
1) Kevin Harlan is the best. This was a low-stakes, Week 18 NFL game and he put a lot of effort and enthusiasm into the call. Al Michaels would have fallen asleep in the booth.
2) It’s somewhat of a bummer that neither Commanders game ended up meaning much this season. It would have been nice to build on this renewed rivalry with a good Washington team, but between Jayden Daniels’ injury and the funkiness of the schedule it just didn’t happen in 2025.
3) Jacory Croskey-Merritt with one of the worst pitches you’ll ever see on the failed flea flicker. Looked like a wounded duck coming out of his hands.
4) That first Washington drive was something else. 17 plays, 79 yards, 9:48 off the clock, and they clank a field goal off the upright. If you looked for “bend, but don’t break” in the dictionary, it would be that drive.
5) Tank Bigsby doesn’t mess around, does he? It’s been fun all year long watching him get downhill.
6) Tanner McKee isn’t exactly prime Michael Vick back there, but he’s not a statue. He’s got some shiftiness in the pocket and a little bit of that innate Big Ben twitch. You saw some of it on the Eagles’ first scoring drive.
7) The Birds started DeVonta Smith in an effort to get him to 1,000 yards on the season, and he hit that mark with three receptions for 52 yards in the first quarter. Another great year for Smitty, who has now crested 1k in three of his five Eagles seasons.
8) Jakorian Bennett did indeed put Treylon Burks in an armbar on the second Washington drive. I guess we now know why Adoree’ Jackson won the CB2 job.
9) The pass/pass red zone sequence on the third drive was a key failure. They went to their read-and-pull package out of 21 personnel on 3rd and 1, but it didn’t come off because the tight end was covered. Should they have just run it twice? Or kick on 4th, take the points? In hindsight, yes to both, but that short pull and toss has been money all year long. I really can’t get too bent out of shape over them calling that on 3rd. It was the 4th down decision and call that was the bigger head scratcher.
10) Jalyx Hunt’s interception was awesome. That’s three on the year as a defensive end. At the same time, Deebo Samuel not exactly coming back to the ball:
11) …followed up with a disaster. Darius Cooper was flagged for a pretty weak taunting call, then McKee threw a pick. That was two consecutive trips into Washington territory in which the Eagles came away with 0 points.
The Cooper thing feels like a classic case of more than one thing being true. You’re not supposed to spin the ball right in front of the dude, but this is hardly egregious:
— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) January 4, 2026
12) Not surprisingly, McKee was much less effective when DeVonta Smith came out of the game. There were a couple of Jahan Dotson targets that didn’t come off it, one the interception and another blown communication. It’s gotta be hard when you don’t play very often, but these were sequences that could have changed the game’s outcome.
13) The coaching staff smartened up after the Josh Johnson fumble and decided to run the ball with TANK BIGSBY, who looked like prime Mike Alstott on that drive. They needed a key third-down conversion from McKee to Britain Covey (the Mormon to Mormon connection), but otherwise it was six runs on eight plays and a badly-needed touchdown.
14) Covey takes at least one hit every game where you have no clue how he held on to the ball.
15) Grant Calcaterra was injured on a textbook hip drop tackle, but no flag from the refs. It’s the unweighting portion of the tackle that makes it illegal, which is what Ross Tucker was explaining coming out of the commercial break. And don’t listen to Gene Steratore. His explanation didn’t make sense. There’s nothing in the NFL rulebook that says a defensive player touching the ground first negates the illegality of the play.
16) Another Britain Covey point: he’s really not that bad of a receiver, right? He’s like a scatback and slot receiver hybrid. Tom Brady would have found a way to get him 600+ yards on one of those Patriots teams from the back-end of the dynasty.
17) Pretty shitty that both Commanders touchdowns were a result of DPI, with the Eagles’ backups struggling to cover the first-string Washington receivers. Imagine not playing all year long and then you’re thrown out there against Terry McLaurin. Nobody could cover him, not Kelee Ringo, not Jakorian Bennett, not Mac McWilliams, nobody. Bad technique as well, it was more than just not being up to snuff.
18) Linebacker play was good. Is this the deepest LB room of our lifetimes? They got Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, Jihaad Campbell, and Trot Jr. out there. Makes you wonder what Howie was doing between 2019 and 2023.
19) Would have loved to see a replay of that 3rd down Dotson target. Did he alligator arm it?
20) Worst play of the game might have been a gassed Ty Robinson getting held on 3rd on 7 in the red zone. No call, big conversion for the Commies.
21) Kelee Ringo doing what exactly here?
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