November 02, 2026
Geoff Burke/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Nick Sirianni and the Eagles have a long couple of months ahead.
The Philadelphia Eagles reached a new low on Sunday night, losing by three scores to the Washington Commanders, one of the worst teams in the NFL, once again in front of a national audience. As always, win or lose, we hand out 10 awards.
Normally in these postgame "10 awards" articles we recap the events of the game before we get to postgame reactions from players or coaches. But in this case, the most noteworthy takeaway from the night was the postgame acknowledgement by Nick Sirianni that nothing is working.
A reporter asked Sirianni about the sequence at the end of the first half where the Eagles had the ball with a chance to score points, but they gave the ball back to the opponent, who squeezed out some points late in the half instead. It was pointed out by the reporter that this was the second straight week that this had occurred.
"I mean, I don't think we've been real sharp at any sequence at this particular time," Sirianni said, with a hint of a laugh, almost surrendering any defensiveness and owning how true his statement really is. Sirianni's tone then became more purposely sullen, and he continued. "I think that's just a product of what we have been, throughout. Not that particular sequence, it's just what we've been. And like I said, it's not good enough and it falls on my shoulders."
Anytime the team — maybe more specifically the offense — has gone through some rough patches, Sirianni has maintained positivity. Some go-to phrases might include "We're close," or "We have to lean on the things we do well."
But not after this game. Not after this six-game losing streak. Sirianni couldn't muster any positivity. His candor was refreshing in a way, but also perhaps confirmation of what many have seen from this team all season... that nobody has any answers, and it doesn't feel at all like any are forthcoming.
One of the rare sympathetic characters from the Eagles' 2026 season is Saquon Barkley, who has played through an assortment of injuries for a rudderless team. His routine is that he rehabs all week, works hard to get his body as ready as it can be to play on the weekend, and then just deals with the pain as it comes with each carry.
Above, we mentioned the end of half sequence where the Eagles had a chance to score some points, but instead punted it away, and the Commanders got points instead. Well, on a 2nd and 6 play during that sequence, Elijah Mitchell caught a pass in the flat and had some room to run along the sideline. When a defender approached he stepped out of bounds. Had he tried to run through contact he would have gotten extra yardage and any contact would have forced him out of bounds to stop the clock anyway. A possible 6-8 yard gain instead became a 4-yard gain, setting up a 3rd down.
On 3rd down, McKee threw an incomplete pass and the Eagles punted. Washington then got a long punt return, followed by a long pass play, followed by a Jayden Daniel scramble, and they kicked a field goal with 12 seconds left in the half.
On the final play of the half, the Eagles ran the injured, pitch-count Barkley into the line before heading to the locker room for halftime.
The postgame explanation was that Sirianni was hoping Barkley could break off a long run and either score or get enough yards to call timeout and kick a field goal.
Barkley has been a soldier this season, but it has to be only a matter of time before he sees this season for what it is and how his body is being compromised for teammates who aren't matching his toughness, and he concludes, "For who, for what?"
The Eagles did have two sacks, but once again for the better part of the game an opposing quarterback had all day to throw. There was simply way too much of this:
Nobody's winning in pass rush.
— Thomas R. Petersen (@thomasrp93) November 2, 2026
Not one. pic.twitter.com/hYaPxKFCFC
The Commanders have an objectively bad offensive line, and once again the Eagles' pass rushers couldn't consistently make the plays it should be making.
Down 6, facing a 4th and 4 from the Washington 13 yard line with a little more than 9 minutes to play, Sirianni decided to go for it. And then... False start, Markel Bell.
Now 4th and 9, Sirianni elected to kick a field goal. A Jake Elliott kick was good, but... Illegal formation, Jordan Mailata.
Now 4th and 14, Elliott lined up to kick again, but the snap was high, and Elliott's kick doinked off the left upright, his first miss of the season.
No points. the Commanders then put together a field goal drive to go up nine, which is pretty much insurmountable at this point for this Eagles offense.
McKee is playing behind a makeshift offensive line and the team's top two receivers are out. But also, he has not stepped up and made the most of his opportunity to start.
I once saw a documentary about bears. I don't remember the name of it, but filmmakers followed a group of bears over a long period of time and studied how they interacted. There was one alpha bear, who was a bully. He dominated the other bears, at times almost because he seemed to enjoy it. But when age caught up with the bully bear, he was vulnerable to the younger, ascending bears, who in a way enacted their revenge on the bully bear, to the point where the bully bear went off on his own and died alone. At least that's how I remember it.
Anyway, the Eagles are that bully bear this year, and teams like the Rams, Cowboys, Commanders, etc., are taking joy in smacking the bully bear around while its weak.
I thought one moment in this matchup that was particularly demoralizing was after the Commanders scored a touchdown to take a late 25-10 lead. With the game very much out of reach at that point, the Commanders went for two, which they converted with ease.
Maybe the analytics say that the right move was to go for two to make it a three-point score, but anyone who has watched the Eagles this season — or especially in this game — knew they weren't scoring two touchdowns and two two-point conversions in under two minutes. Opposing teams are taking joy in beating up on the Eagles, and I imagine that will continue.
In the locker room after the loss, Moro Ojomo had words for his teammates.
"Nobody feels sorry for us," Ojomo said of his postgame speech. "Why do we do this? If you have a kid, a brother, whatever, do you want to look at them in the eye and they know you quit? You wouldn't want that. So that's how we have to approach it every day. Don't approach it like a quitter. Show up every day."
To be clear, Ojomo wasn't accusing his teammates of quitting.
"I don't feel like that's happening," he said. "I'm just encouraging everyone to keep going."
Ojomo is being a leader, but obviously it's not great when the "Q word" is being mentioned among teammates, even if as a proactive measure.
Updated NFC East standings:
If the season ended today, the Eagles would be selecting fifth in the 2026 NFL Draft.
I mean, they still have nine games to play!
The trade deadline is November 10th, two days after the Eagles' likely loss next Sunday at home against the Giants. The Eagles' clear course of action is that they should trade players no longer in the team's long-term plans for future assets that can help with the rebuild.
Sirianni seemed to understand postgame that this team is cooked. And so should Howie Roseman, Jeffrey Lurie, and anyone else who has watched this team the last two months.
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