December 20, 2025
The Philadelphia Eagles are NFC East champs after beating their division rival, the now 4-11 Washington Commanders.
As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards.
After rushing for 183 yards against the Raiders last week, the Eagles ran for 207 yards as a team, with Saquon Barkley carrying 21 times for 132 yards (6.3 YPC) and a TD.
Barkley had two of his most impressive runs of the season in this game. The first one was a 12-yard run in which he pinballed off of several defenders on his way to a TD.
"That was just an angry run by Saquon," Jordan Mailata said. "Angry runs are the best. We enjoy it. We feed off it."
The second was a play in which Barkley broke a tackle in the backfield and then galloped for a 48-yard run, setting up the Eagles' final score of the night, which came on a 22-yard TD run by Tank Bigsby.
It's fair to note that the Raiders and the Commanders are both very bad football teams. But also, this was the best that Barkley has looked this season, and the Eagles showed glimpses of 2022 and 2024, when they regularly choked out opposing defenses in the second halves of games by running it down their throats.
The Commanders were seemingly upset that the Eagles went for two, up by 17 points with 4:26 to play. After the Eagles successfully converted the two-point try, a brawl broke out between the division rivals.
Eagles RG Tyler Steen, Commanders DT Javon Kinlaw, and Commanders S Quan Martin were ejected from the game.
Kinlaw gave the double bird and grabbed his junk in the direction of what I assume were Eagles fans in the crowd.
After the game, Nick Sirianni explained that by going up 19, they guaranteed that if the Commanders had scored two touchdowns (plus two 2-point conversions) and a field goal could only tie the game.
Now, is it likely that the Commanders were going to score three times in 4:26, especially with Josh Johnson at quarterback? Obviously, no, that was about as likely as Scarlett Johansson waiting for me on my doorstep after my drive home.
But that's really not the Eagles' concern. It's their job to do whatever necessary to ensure they win the game, and the division. It's not on them to worry about the Commanders' feelings.
On the opening drive of the NFC Championship Game, the Commanders came out in no-huddle and put a little bit of a scare into Eagles fans. They converted a 3rd and 6 from their own 34, another 3rd and 6 from their own 45, a 4th and 5 from the Eagles' 43, and a 4th and 2 from the Eagles' 28.
On a 4th and 3 from the Eagles' 16, Quinn — of "28-3" infamy — decided on the 18th play of the drive, "That's enough risk for me even though we keep converting. Let's kick the field goal."
Lol. You know who was happy with that decision? Literally every Eagles fan, and the Eagles' sideline itself.
Did he learn his lesson? NOPE!
On the Commanders' first offensive drive of this game, after they were gifted a fumble by Will Shipley on the opening kickoff, the Commanders drove down the field and faced a 4th and Goal from the 3. Quinn settled for 3, lol.
He also punted on 4th and 4 and 4th and 6 while down by 11 in the fourth quarter. That is just amazing cowardice. I mean, you're 4-10, bro. Live a little.
Quinn was also mad that that Eagles went for 2 late in the game, and warned that the these two teams would meet again in two weeks, lol. (Video via Jeff Skversky.)
If Quinn gets some revenge on the Eagles, it could be against their second and third stringers.
Elliott missed three field goals in this game, from distances of 43, 57, and 52 yards. The 57-yard miss won't count against his stats because the Commanders were offsides.
Elliott is pretty comfortably the best kicker in Eagles franchise history, but he has six misses (including the one that didn't count) in the last five games. The Eagles have to at least entertain the idea of bringing in another kicker for the playoffs.
Dean injured his hamstring and did not return. Hamstring injuries have wide timetable ranges, so the Eagles will have to hope that Dean's injury doesn't shelf him for the playoffs. We should learn more throughout the week.
Dean suffered a torn patellar tendon injury in the playoffs last season, and returned to the field Week 6 against the Vikings. Since his return, Dean has had an impact on the defense, and was playing at a Pro Bowl-caliber level.
The Eagles do have great depth at linebacker with first-round rookie Jihaad Campbell filling in, but this would still be a big loss if the injury is serious.
Davis had 6 tackles and no sacks. Those stats aren't going to amaze anyone, but Davis was awesome, consistently tossing blockers aside and clogging up the middle of the defense. He is finally playing to his potential, and has eased the temporary loss of Jalen Carter.
Hat tip to Brandon Graham, who had another sack in this game after having two last week against the Raiders.
The Eagles got to face a backup last week in Kenny Pickett, and they got to face another one Saturday in Marcus Mariota, until Mariota got hurt and Josh Johnson took over.
Johnson looked very much like a QB3 on the interception he threw to Cooper DeJean:
Credit the Eagles defense for dominating the last two weeks, but they did get to face backups.
The crowd was conservatively at least 75 percent Eagles fans, and probably more.
If any of the dweebs from the Hard Rock are reading this, that's what a takeover looks like.
We should probably mention the quarterback, right? Hurts completed 22 of 30 passes for 185 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs. He also ran 7 times for 40 yards.
He made some really nice throws — like his TD toss to Dallas Goedert, and what should have been a TD throw to DeVonta Smith that was dropped — but he also missed about a half dozen throws that he could have made, the most egregious of which was a ball he sailed over the head of a wide open A.J. Brown.
But ultimately, he was involved in the run game and he didn't turn it over. In a lot of ways, his performance mirrored so many of his regular season performances during the Eagles' Super Bowl season in 2024, as did the flow of this game in general. He didn't turn it over, and the Eagles' talent on both sides of the ball eventually outlasted an inferior opponent. That was their script last year.
For the first time since the Eagles won the NFC East four straight seasons from 2001 to 2004, there is a repeat champion in the division. That would be, you know, the Eagles, who clinched the division with the win.
The Eagles will have at least one home game in the playoffs. Their most likely landing spot in the playoffs will be as the 3-seed in the NFC, though the 2-seed is within reach. The 1-seed and the 4-seed are also highly unlikely possibilities.
What there was not a repeat of is the 2023 season, when the team collapsed down the stretch. After a three-game losing streak, the Eagles have now won two straight in comfortable fashion, restoring some hope that maybe this team can make some noise.
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