NOTE: coming in late as I had an emergency meeting on Sunday night.
I must admit that I wished I had stuck to my instincts when putting together my preview column; I have had the impression that Philly was due to route the Commanders in one of these games. I think the Birds were on the verge of a route like Sunday's before Jalen's injury last month, and this result was closer to the true talent gap between the teams than the first two meetings.
Let's hit the main talking points, bullet style:
Defense and turnovers prove key once again. Teams that won the turnover battle were undefeated in this year's playoffs coming into the Championship round (the Chiefs actually lost the turnover battle but managed to win Sunday). We had pointed out how critical winning that battle tends to be in this series, and the Eagles' 4-0 win there was decisive. Defensively the Eagles gave up 350 yards but it took Washington 77 plays to get them; the 4.54 yards/play would have been second worst in the league if that had been there seasonlong mark. Both of those offensive stats are artificially inflated by the 23 yards gained on Washington's fake punt, yards that are scored to the defense but were given up by special teams.
Speaking of that fake punt... when I saw that Washington was resorting to trick plays so early in the game (still first quarter!), it told me that they had no confidence in their ability to stop the Eagles' offense. That fear proved true for the Commies.
Eagles' seven rushing touchdowns tie postseason record: the previous record holder was the 1940 Chicago Bears, who ran up seven rushing scores in the 1940 title game, another bad day for the Washington team.
Front runners get run over. Dan Quinn, dating to his time in Dallas, is the ultimate coach of front running teams (what is a front running team? They run their mouth, engage in cheap shots, try to pick fights, rely on trickery and good luck as much as actual talent, beat up on weak teams and celebrate minor victories like they were Super Bowls). His Cowboys defenses did great against terrible teams but vanished in big moments. The list of front runner traits listed above has fit this Washington team pretty well over the last couple seasons too, and it was on full display again this whole week, from Joe Witts' threats against Jalen to Frankie Luvu's Ralph Wiggum act to Daniels dancing like he was leading by thirteen (and not trailing by thirteen) to Marson Lattimore repeatedly losing his temper, the Commanders tried to make up for the talent gap by acting up. It didn't work.
No, the penalties were not a factor. There are actually Commanders fans that are inclined to think that the officials gifted the Birds this win (HAHA). Leaving aside the obvious fact that Philly could have scored 70 points had they needd to, the simple truth is that Washinton only racked up 17 more penalty yards (47-30) than the Birds did. 17! Commie fans may try to point to critical calls against Mike Sainristil (on third down, a late hit on Saquon) or Lattimore (a DPI against Devonta that set Philly up with first-and-goal)that extended Eagle drives. Those penalties were poorly timed, for sure, but were unquestionably legitimate. All those did for Philly was an additional seven points (Philly was in FG range both times). One could also point to the fact that both calls were unquestionably legitimate, that there was an uncalled DPI against Goedert in the end zone on one of those drives, and that there was a by-the-book holding call (that Brady said made no difference) that took a Hurts touchdown off the board on the other. No doubt that's more penalty talk than you cared to read, but in case you get exposed to that particular brand of Commie Copium, now you know the rest of the story.
Eagles warriors come up big. The big story, both pregame and in-game, was the injuries to Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson. Those guys played through pain and were instrumental in a solid overall effort from the OL. Dallas Goedert was allegedly hurt but broke tackles and was used as a RB for the first time since college. Jalen and AJ were nursing knee injuries but you'd never have known it. As of now it appears that everyone will be available for the Super Bowl (except for Dean, of course), and there are whispers that Brandon Graham may make it back as well. This team is all heart; what a welcome change from last year.
Long story short, this game felt like two years of frustration against this team being exorcized. It's been pointed out plenty, but the years of dropping these NFCCGs at home to inferior teams are long gone (four straight wins at home by an average score of 38-12). We're already on to New Orleans for a rematch against the hated Chiefs; more to come on that game soon.
E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!
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