November 01, 2026
Geoff Burke/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Andrew Mukuba really got up there. It just didn't count for anything.
The first drive down in Landover, MD pretty much summed up what Sunday night was going to be, not that it was anything shocking to begin with.
Andrew Mukuba leaped up as high as he could to pick an ill-advised Jayden Daniels chuck to the end zone on third down, then was just as quickly KO'd from his head slamming down into the grass after a flailing swipe from Treylon Burks flipped him upside.
Mukuba held on to the ball, but it didn't matter. Because at the line of scrimmage, back at the Philadelphia 32-yard line, Jonathan Greenard jumped offside to give Washington a free five yards and a do-over, just from a much more generous 3rd and 1 instead of 3rd and 6.
Washington then followed up with consecutive false starts – with its quarterback somehow committing the first – a weak incompletion, and a missed field goal from 55 yards out.
In one fell – ugly – swoop, it was a show of misplaced effort, severely lacking focus, maybe care at this rate, too, and awful execution.
And again, that was no shocker.
The Philadelphia Eagles are bad at professional football now, and so are the Washington Commanders, who you could've argued were actually worse. Well, before a rudderless Sunday night, that is.
Because even with an on-paper "layup" in the schedule right in front of them, the Eagles still couldn't stay out of their own way. Worse than that, by the end of Sunday night, they just rolled over and died.
They lost to the Commanders, 27-10, to make it six straight losses and a shameful trip to the bottom of the NFC East standings at 2-6. Washington trounced the Eagles on a run of 27 unanswered points.
The Eagles' only touchdown came from a gimmick play to Saquon Barkley in the first quarter, who essentially disappeared after from a mix of nursing injuries, the Eagles trying to preserve him by using him sparingly, but then just running him straight into a wall whenever they did.
And once he was out of the equation, there was nothing left.
Tanner McKee caved under pressure and behind a patchwork offensive line that couldn't protect him.
Elijah Mitchell, a fourth-string, at best, running back with a chance to play anyway because of some dire circumstances, only showed that he doesn't belong on an NFL field.
The Eagles' offense on the whole didn't score beyond the first quarter, with an illegal formation call leading to a missed Jake Elliott field goal in the fourth really twisting that knife.
And the Eagles' defensive front, which was supposed to be one of the NFL's best heading into the season, instead pulled another no-show. By halftime, it was getting gashed for 5.6 yards per carry by Washington's ground game, while some expensive pass rushers came nowhere close to Daniels until the third quarter, when Jalen Carter finally got him for a sack for the team's first in almost two weeks.
Like a lot of opposing quarterbacks the Eagles have faced this year, Jayden Daniels stayed mostly upright on Sunday night.
Washington had to punt off that, but by then, what did it matter? The Eagles weren't going to capitalize anyway, and pretty much everyone watching knew, no matter what sliver of hope you could've still possibly clung on to if you stayed up to watch.
How? With what? With who? After all, they were getting torched by Stefon Diggs in the home stretch of his career, and Burks, the bust who not all that long ago was constantly held up as a punchline for Eagles fans to point and laugh at the Tennessee Titans for how badly they mishandled A.J. Brown.
Guess it all comes around eventually, though, because now this Eagles team is its own punchline.
And it's not just that they're bad. They got to that point right around the flight to London a few weeks ago.
It's that they actually might be the worst now.
Saquon Barkley alone can't save the Eagles now.
Look, the Washington Commanders aren't a good football team, and everything leading into Sunday night, 1-4-1 record and all, said as much. That doesn't really change for them either leaving Week 8. The Commanders are still bad.
And yet, beyond the first quarter, the Eagles couldn't even play them competitively. There was just nothing there. No skill, no talent, no scheme, no cohesion, just a depleted roster that's probably getting flipped heavily within the next six months.
Because if you look at the remaining schedule, this Eagles team might not be able to win another game the rest of the way. Who can this group beat after Sunday night's display? The Colts maybe? The Texans? Even then, those games won't be until well into December, and probably well into a spiral that hasn't stopped.
Washington on Sunday night might've been their last shot to show something, their last "layup."
But the Eagles forgot to jump, or even dribble to begin with.
Nine more games of misery left, it seems.
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