The Washington Commanders picked an unfortunate time to play one of their sloppiest games of the season. The resulting 55-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles ended what had been a spectacular run to the NFC Championship.
Going into Philadelphia to play a team that had only lost once since the end of September was always going to be a tall order. Playing without the Commanders' best offensive and defensive lineman made it all the more challenging.
The only legitimate chance the Commanders had was to have Jayden Daniels outplay Jalen Hurts by a wide margin. Washington was the only team to have defeated the Eagles after Week 4 largely because the rookie signal-caller was far better than Philadelphia's backup Kenny Pickett.
As it turned out, Daniels played well. Unfortunately, so did Hurts.
There's every likelihood that the Eagles would have won this game even if Washington played well. The fact that the Commanders played poorly resulted in a blowout.
Commanders were too sloppy in key moments against the Eagles
The biggest culprit was turnovers. That's typically the difference at this time of year when the margins get finer.
The Commanders fumbled three times and the Eagles pounced on them. Philadelphia had plays that might have resulted in fumbles — Frankie Luvu was involved in several of them — but they always managed to hold onto the ball. That essentially doomed any chance Washington had for an upset.
Washington also committed too many penalties and surrendered too many big plays. Their cornerbacks couldn’t contain Philadelphia's pass catchers and their interior linemen couldn’t handle the Eagles' dominant defensive front.
Fans can complain about a couple of calls, but there was only one egregious referee’s decision that hurt the Commanders unfairly. That came shortly before halftime when Hurts completed a beautiful long ball to A.J. Brown on 4th-and-5 from Washington’s 45-yard line.
Saquon Barkley held the blitzing Luvu on the play. Had it been called properly, the Eagles would have punted, giving Washington a chance to take a lead into halftime. Instead, they gave up a touchdown.
The referees didn’t decide the game. Not when the Commanders took such poor care of the ball. That is the major takeaway from Washington’s final game of the season. Play sloppy and lose.
But I’ll offer two others.
The first is that Shawn Hochuli should learn the meaning of the word “deliberate.” The comedy of penalties called on Luvu and then Jonathan Allen on the goal line early in the fourth quarter was far from deliberate. They were the result of a desperate attempt to stop a virtually unstoppable play. But that’s just semantics, so we’ll leave it alone.
Here’s the key takeaway I’ll hold onto.
At the end of January, the Commanders were still playing meaningful football games. They were one of four teams with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. They were clearly the least talented across the board, but they had a chance.
After years in the wilderness, the Commanders are back.
The Commanders picked a terrible time to play a bad game and it showed on the field. More power to Philadelphia, who deserves to move on and who will have a solid chance to claim the Vince Lombardi trophy.
They would be well-advised to take advantage of the chance. In the years to come, as Adam Peters continues to build his roster and Daniels becomes a better quarterback, it is not going to be as easy for anyone in the NFC to take out Washington.
The Commanders, in all candor, played one dismal game. But make no mistake, they have a very bright future.