Commanders key numbers: Another game slips away in Week 8 vs. Eagles

The Bad: Déjà Vu defensive effort from Commanders

11: Remember how the defense has had issues giving up big plays throughout Jack Del Rio's tenure as Washington Commanders defensive coordinator? Well, it was more of the same on Sunday.

The defense allowed 11 big plays including passes of 15, 16 (3), 17 (2), 18, 20, 24, 25, and 38 yards. This accounted for 17.7 percent of the Philadelphia Eagles' plays ran while leading to 59.3% of their total offensive yards, resulting in 21 points.

62.5: The Commanders' defense has now given up more than 30 points in 62.5 percent of their games. I don't care how good your offense is, - if you are giving up that many points, every game is going to be a struggle.

6: A.J. Brown set the record for most consecutive games (6) with 125+ receiving yards, surpassing Calvin Johnson. Two of those games have come against the Commanders.

In Week 4, he harassed Emmanuel Forbes throughout the game, leading to the rookie getting benched. He finished that game with nine receptions for 175 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Brown added eight catches for 130 yards and another two scores on Sunday. And yes, he once again embarrassed Forbes in coverage.

3.03: This "fearsome" defensive front four didn't get much pressure on a hobbled Jalen Hurts. The quarterback averaged 3.03 seconds time to throw, tied for fourth-longest in Week 8.

By comparison, Sam Howell had 2.54 seconds. Hurts finished with a career game, reaching season highs in completions, passing yards, passing touchdowns, and passer rating. He also had a completion percentage 17.4 percent over expected - second highest in Week 8.

26: Outside of the garbage time drive where the Commanders brought the game within seven with just over a minute left, the team only had 26 total yards of offense on their previous three drives. That is where the game was lost.

After Howell threw an interception, John Bates' unnecessary roughness penalty gave the Eagles the ball at Washington's seven-yard-line. Two plays later, they took the lead for good.

On the next drive, sure-handed Terry McLaurin dropped two passes in a row - albeit not the best throws - leading to a turnover on downs. On the team's next drive, the Commanders were plagued by a questionable incompletion call on Jahan Dotson on third down, which was followed by Howell getting sacked on fourth down.

As good as the offense was, when the team needed points the most, they came up short.

The Commanders continue to struggle with their identity. Are they closer to the team that lost to the bottom-feeder Chicago Bears and New York Giants, or is it the team that hung through with the Eagles twice?

Ultimately, if the Commanders don't resolve its flaws of giving up big plays and making inopportune mistakes, they will continue saying they let one slip away, while the fans look for a ref to blame.