Eagles / Commanders Deep Dive – Are The Eagles Starting Their Run?

By Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

Long-time NFC East rivals clash in Week 16 as the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (10-4) visit the Washington Commanders (4-10) in a rare Saturday afternoon game at Northwest Stadium on Fox. This is the first meeting of the year between the teams. They’ll square off again in the final week of the regular season on Jan. 3 or Jan. 4. 

The teams are facing each other for the first time since last season’s NFC Championship game where Philadelphia routed Washington 55-23 at home en route to winning Super Bowl LIX (59). The Eagles have won seven of the last nine meetings against Washington dating back to the 2021 season. 

Philadelphia is a 7-point favorite and the total is 44.5. 

Prior to the season, Philadelphia opened as a slight 1.5-point favorite over Washington. The significant point spread shift in Philadelphia’s favor is due to the unexpected down season for Washington. The Commanders were projected to be one of the NFC’s top teams in 2025 after last season’s strong showing, but things went awry in a hurry this year. 

WHAT BOTH TEAMS DID IN THEIR PREVIOUS GAME

Philadelphia is coming off a 31-0 shellacking of the hapless Las Vegas Raiders at home in Week 15. The victory halted a three-game losing streak for the defending Super Bowl champs. It was Philadelphia’s first shutout since a 24-0 win at Washington in Week 17 of the 2018 season. It was also the Eagles’ largest shutout victory since a 34-0 rout against visiting Green Bay in December 1990. 

Jalen Hurts completed 12 of 15 passes for 175 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the win. Tight end Dallas Goedert led the Eagles with six catches and 70 yards, he also caught two touchdown passes. The Eagles defense dominated the Raiders collecting four sacks and giving up just 75 total yards of offense.

Washington picked up a 29-21 win on the road against the New York Giants in Week 15. The victory ended Washington’s eight-game losing streak. The Commanders had not won since Oct. 5 against the Chargers in Los Angeles. Marcus Mariota completed 10 of 19 passes for 211 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt finished with 96 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown in the win.

GAME STORYLINES: PHILADELPHIA

After enduring an epic late-season collapse in 2023 — where they dropped 6 of their last 7 games after a 10-1 start — the Philadelphia Eagles rebounded in a major way last season going 14-3 and winning Super Bowl XIL (59). The addition of star running back Saquon Barkley as a free agent prior to the season proved to be a game changer as Barkley rushed for an astonishing 2,005 yards while the Eagles cruised to a Super Bowl crown. The Eagles concluded the 2024 season winning 16 of their last 17 games.

Philadelphia opened the 2025 season as the Super Bowl favorites at +650. They started 4-0 and looked to be coasting to another dominant season after improving to 8-2 on Nov. 16. But three straight losses dropped them to 8-5, and criticism surrounding their underwhelming offense performances grew louder. The Eagles failed to score more than 21 points in 5 straight games from Week 10 through Week 14.

With a win at Washington today, Philadelphia will win the NFC East for a second straight season. They’ll also be the first NFC East team to repeat as division champs since 2004. The Eagles won the division four straight years from 2001-2004. Philadelphia is also in position to claim the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. They were the No. 2 seed last year when they won the Super Bowl. 

Despite the somewhat underwhelming performance of the offense in 2025, the Eagles are getting good production from quarterback Jalen Hurts (2,929 passing yards, 22 touchdowns to 6 interceptions, 65.2% completions, 8 rushing touchdowns in 14 gms), running back Saquon Barkley (940 rushing yards, 273 receiving yards, 8 total touchdowns in 14 gms), tight end Dallas Goedert (551 receiving yards, team-leading 9 receiving touchdowns in 13 gms) and the star wideout duo of A.J. Brown (840 receiving yards, team-leading 7 touchdowns) and DeVonta Smith (team-leading 889 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns in 14 gms).

Saquon Barkley won’t approach last season’s historic 2,000-yard mark but he’s logged at least 20 carries and a touchdown in two straight starts, and looks to be gaining momentum heading into the postseason. Star wideout A.J. Brown also appears to be playing his best football heading into the playoffs as he’s eclipsed the 100-yard mark in 3 of his last 4 games. 

For all the outside noise about the Eagles’ struggles on offense, they will likely have two 1,100-yard receivers, a 1,100-yard running back and one of the leading tight ends in the NFL. With two more touchdown passes, Jalen Hurts will surpass his career-high (23) which he set in 2023. 

The Eagles defense remains formidable again in 2025. Their 19.4 points per game allowed ranks 5th in the NFL. A trio of terrific linebackers in Zack Baun (108 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 1 forced fumble, in 14 gms), emerging second-year star Jalyx Hunt (41 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 1 defensive touchdown in 14 gms) and Nakobe Dean (53 tackles, 4 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles in 9 gms) along with much-improved defensive tackle Jordan Davis (59 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 7 tackles for loss in 14 gms) headline a deep and talented group. 

GAME STORYLINES: WASHINGTON

Behind the stellar play of incandescent rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the Washington Commanders completed a stunning turnaround one year ago. Washington finished 12-5 and advanced to the NFC Championship Game for the first time since the 1991 season. The 12 wins were an 8-game improvement over 2023 and their most wins since the historic 1991 team that finished 14-2 and won the Super Bowl. 

Washington selected Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft out of LSU, where he won the 2023 Heisman trophy. Daniels amassed an exemplary rookie campaign passing for 3,568 yards with 25 touchdowns to 9 interceptions on 69 percent completions. He also rushed for a rookie quarterback record 891 yards and added 6 rushing touchdowns. Daniels was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year and was selected as a Pro Bowler. 

With superstar quarterback Jayden Daniels heading into his second season and Washington coming off its most successful season since 1991, expectations were through the roof for 2025. Unfortunately, the 2025 season has ended up being a disaster for the Commanders. 

After a solid 21-6 opening week victory against the New York Giants at home, everything went downhill quickly for Washington. In a 27-18 loss at Green Bay in Week 2, Washington dealt with several devastating injuries. Running back Austin Ekeler (torn Achilles) and starting defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (torn quadriceps) both suffered season-ending injuries. Jayden Daniels also left that game with a sprained right knee. 

The Green Bay loss in week 2 foreshadowed how Washington’s 2025 season was going to play out. After missing Washington’s next 2 games, Jayden Daniels would go on to suffer two more terrible injuries — a strained hamstring at Dallas in Week 7 on Oct. 19 and a dislocated elbow against Seattle on Nov. 2. Daniels missed the next 3 games due to the dislocated elbow. 

Jayden Daniels returned to play at Minnesota in Week 14 on Dec. 7, but left that game due to getting hit on the dislocated elbow after being knocked down on an interception he threw. Washington lost 31-0 to Minnesota. After sitting out of Washington’s win at New York last week, the team decided to shut down Jayden Daniels for the remainder of the season. Washington lost 8 straight games during the stretch where Daniels was in and out of the lineup.

With so much hype and fanfare for Jayden Daniels’ second season, it ended with him starting and finishing just 3 games. His final statistics for 2025 are 1,262 passing yards with 8 touchdowns to 3 interceptions on 60.6 percent completions. He added 276 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. There were questions about whether Daniels would be durable in the NFL due to his slight frame. He stayed healthy as a rookie, but was injury-prone in year two. It will be interesting to see how Daniels holds up going forward. 

Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota (1,600 passing yards, 10 touchdowns to 7 interceptions, 62% completions, 1 rushing touchdown in 10 gms), wideouts Deebo Samuel (604 receiving yards, 6 total touchdowns in 13 gms) and Terry McLaurin (409 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns in 7 gms), along with rookie running back Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt (646 rushing yards, 5 touchdowns in 14 gms) are having decent seasons for Washington amidst the injuries and losing. 

THE PICK: EAGLES (-7)

Philadelphia got back on track offensively last week against a weak Las Vegas Raiders team. They face another weak team this week in Washington. I expect the Eagles to dominate again in Landover, Maryland. Lay the Points…Eagles 31, Commanders 17