October 30, 2026
Bill Streicher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Jalen Carter and the Eagles' extremely disappointing defense will try to stop Jayden Daniels and the Commanders' crappy offense.
The Philadelphia Eagles are losers of five straight games, and they have been outgained by more than 800 yards during that streak. In Week 8, they'll face the trash 1-4-1 Washington Commanders, who are now 6- or 6.5-point favorites, depending on where you look. Here are our five things to watch.
The Eagles' defense was supposed to be the strength of this team this season, and although they're marginally better than the abysmal offense, they have been the far bigger disappointment.
| Eagles defense | Stat | Rank |
| Points per game | 25.0 | 21 |
| Yards per game | 371.3 | 27 |
| Yards per play | 5.5 | 19 |
| First downs per game | 21.7 | 27 |
| EPA per play | 0.04 | 25 |
| Success rate | 44.8% | 24 |
| Rush yards per game | 131.4 | 27 |
| Rush yards per attempt | 4.2 | 20 |
| EPA per rush | -0.02 | 26 |
| Pass yards per game | 239.9 | 26 |
| Pass yards per attempt | 6.9 | 19 |
| EPA per pass | 0.10 | 25 |
The offense certainly hasn't helped, since it hasn't been able to stay on the field. But the defense is every bit as much to blame, as it can't get off the field. There are only five teams in the league that are allowing more first downs per game.
The run defense is porous, the pass rush has been completely non-existent (only 8 sacks!), they have produced a league-low 3 turnovers, and the back seven — Quinyon Mitchell aside — hasn't been able to bail them out.
They're not just a team with a bad offense. They're a bad team across the board.
Jayden Daniels is 0-7-1 in his last eight starts. His last win was more than a year ago, against the Chargers Week 5 of the 2025 season. You've all seen this already, but in Week 5 against the Giants this season, Daniels blew a game with the following boneheaded play:
The Commanders can't get the play off in time and this game ends in a tie pic.twitter.com/WmPp6q5hU0
— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2026
Daniels' downturn since his outstanding rookie season has been remarkable. He has lost a lot of games on the field, suffered an assortment of injuries, and he had a bizarre distraction off the field this past summer.
In fairness, Daniels is playing behind a bad offensive line (we'll get to that momentarily), with below average skill position players. With Terry McLaurin done for the season and Jacory Croskey-Merritt on injured reserve, here is what Daniels is working with:
• RB: Rachaad White
• WR: Stefon Diggs
• WR: Treylon Burks
• WR: Antonio Williams
• TE: Chig Okonkwo
Those guys aren't going to keep defensive coordinators up at night. The Commanders had a golden opportunity to surround Daniels with premium talent while he was on his rookie contract and have completely squandered that advantage.
The Commanders' offensive line looks like this:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Brandon Coleman | Chris Paul | Lucas Patrick | Sam Cosmi | Josh Conerly |
Early in training camp, Laremy Tunsil tore his triceps. He has not yet played this season. He is arguably the best player on Commanders' roster. When Tunsil went down, the Commanders didn't have much in the way of ideal replacements. They settled on Brandon Coleman, who was in a camp battle with Chris Paul for the starting LG spot. Coleman started 12 games for the Commanders at LT in 2024. He also started three games at LT when Tunsil got hurt last season. Massive downgrade.
The Commanders were likely hoping that Coleman would win the starting LG job over Paul. Instead, when Coleman had to move to LT, Paul had to start at LG. In other words, the Tunsil injury didn't just cause a downgrade at LT. It also caused a less than ideal outcome at LG too.
At center, the Commanders cut Tyler Biadasz this summer. Biadasz certainly wasn't a world-beater but was a solid enough starting center. They then moved Nick Allegretti to center, full-time. Allegretti wasn't really even a good guard (or a starting one at that), and yet the Commanders opted to put more responsibility on his plate. That was ill-advised. Allegretti missed time during training camp, played poorly during the regular season, and has since been replaced by 33-year-old Lucas Patrick.
At RT, 2025 first-round pick Josh Conerly has cut down significantly on his sacks allowed. He has been an improved player. Sam Cosmi is a good RG.
This is a bad offensive line, but it might not matter since the Eagles have failed to pressure opposing quarterbacks. As noted above, they have just 8 sacks as a team. Only one team has fewer.
#FeastinMeter™️: 2/10 turkey legs 🍗🍗
The Eagles have played a lot of bad defenses this season, like the Commanders Week 1, the Titans Week 2, the Panthers Week 6, and the Cowboys Week 7. They'll face another one in the Commanders (again) on Sunday night. The Commanders' team defense stats:
| Commanders defense | Stat | Rank |
| Points per game | 28.7 | 31 |
| Yards per game | 345.5 | 25 |
| Yards per play | 5.6 | 22 |
| First downs per game | 20.7 | 23 |
| EPA per play | 0.03 | 24 |
| Success rate | 48.29% | 31 |
| Rush yards per game | 100.5 | 14 |
| Rush yards per attempt | 4.0 | 14 |
| EPA per rush | 0.02 | 31 |
| Pass yards per game | 254.0 | 28 |
| Pass yards per attempt | 7.0 | 21 |
| EPA per pass | 0.03 | 22 |
It hasn't mattered. We've been showing the Eagles' offensive stats all season, but here they are again, and they're atrocious despite playing so many bad defenses:
| Eagles offense | Stat | Rank |
| Points per game | 18.1 | 29 |
| Yards per game | 264.9 | 31 |
| Yards per play | 4.5 | 32 |
| First downs per game | 16.0 | 30 |
| EPA per play | -0.17 | 30 |
| Success rate | 37.62% | 30 |
| Rush yards per game | 878.7 | 27 |
| Rush yards per attempt | 3.9 | 24 |
| EPA per rush | -0.14 | 26 |
| Pass yards per game | 177.1 | 26 |
| Pass yards per attempt | 5.8 | 29 |
| EPA per pass | -0.19 | 28 |
| Average T.O.P. (excluding OT) | 27:40 | 31 |
They're probably the worst offense in the NFL.
This is the worst game on the NFL's Week 8 slate of games. There's maybe an argument for Raiders-Jets, but even those two teams are collectively better than the Eagles and Commanders.
Somehow, it is being played on Sunday Night Football when the NFL could have flexed it out. Why even have flex scheduling?
If you're the petty type, at least the rest of the nation has to watch this slop matchup, not just Eagles and Commanders fans.
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