The Philadelphia Eagles entered Week 18 needing two results to move up to the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff picture and host a struggling No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers team that’s finished the regular season on a five-game losing streak.
- The Eagles needed to beat the Washington Commanders.
- The Eagles needed the Detroit Lions to beat the Washington Commanders.
The Lions did their part. They beat Chicago on a game-winning field goal.
The Eagles did not do their part. They lost to the Commanders at home. Final score: 24 to 17.
It’s hard to argue that Nick Sirianni doesn’t look pretty foolish for resting the starters.
Of course, this isn’t just me saying this with the benefit of hindsight. We made the case for the Eagles to play their starters in Week 18.
Instead, the team’s hubris and arrogance results in them remaining as the No. 3 seed. And they’ll now host the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card round.
Maybe the Eagles beat the 49ers and go on a run to repeat as Super Bowl champions. Not impossible.
But it’s also quite possible that this team is going to regret not trying to maximize their chances at the No. 2 seed.
We’ll see.
Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.
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FIRST QUARTER
- The Commanders won the coin toss and elected to defer to put the Eagles’ offense up first. Tanner McKee officially got the start at quarterback and completed his first pass attempt to DeVonta Smith for 17 yards. Matt Pryor totally failed to pick up Daron Payne to allow McKee to get sacked. Facing 3rd-and-9 after Tank Bigsby ran for 13 yards on second down, McKee threw to a spot but was seemingly early and missed DeVonta for a would-be first down. Nice tribute to the starting offense from the backup offense with a four-and-out.
- The Commanders took over at their own 15-yard line. Josh Johnson completed a pass to Deebo Samuel for a 16-yard catch-and-run. Facing 3rd-and-5 after Jihaad Campbell missed a sack on Johnson while blitzing, the veteran Washington quarterback completed a pass with Campbell trailing for a first down. Jakorian Bennett got called for defensive holding to give Washington another first down (pretty late flag). Facing 3rd-and-7, a screen to Deebo picked up four yards. Facing 4th-and-3 from the plus 44-yard line, Dan Quinn kept his offense on the field … and Johnson hit a wide open Terry McLaurin for a first down. Johnson took off running into the red zone. The Commanders moved into goal-to-go. Facing 3rd-and-5 from the 6-yard line after a good Jeremiah Trotter Jr. run stop, Johnson’s pass was incomplete and the cowardly Quinn turtled up just like he did in the NFC Championship Game early last year to kick a short field goal. Jake Moody’s 24-yard attempt was … NO GOOD! Single doink off the right upright. 17-play, 79-yard drive that took 9:48 off the clock and resulted in zero points. Lol.
- The Eagles took over at their own 20-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-1, McKee lofted a ball downfield to DeVonta for a nice jump ball catch for 27 yards and a first down to end the first quarter. And put DeVonta at over 1,000 yards on the season! Third 1K performance for him in five seasons played. Naturally the end of DeVonta playing in Week 18.
SECOND QUARTER
- McKee connected with Jahan Dotson for another first down into the red zone. Facing 3rd-and-7, McKee hit Grant Calcaterra over the middle for a touchdown. Touchdown Tanner McKee. Good nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive by the backup offense. EAGLES 7, COMMANDERS 0.
- The Commanders took over at their own 35-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-7 after Sydney Brown laid the wood on a short Washington completion, Johnson hit a wide open McLaurin for 25 yards. Then Chris Rodriguez Jr. ran for a first down. Campbell tipped a Johnson pass into the air but undrafted rookie Brandon Johnson couldn’t make the catch for an interception. Brandon Johnson was also injured after the play. Josh Johnson floated a ball to Treylon Burks in the end zone and a panicking Jakorian Benentt got called for pass interference. Bennett has been way too grabby. Two plays later, a running Rodriguez found the end zone to tie the game. EAGLES 7, COMMANDERS 7.
- The Eagles took over at their own 35-yard line. McKee completed a pass to the GOAT, Darius Cooper, for a first down. McKee had a short pass to Bigsby result in a 37-yard catch-and-run with the running back breaking tackles and moving like a man possessed. Facing 4th-and-2, Nick Sirianni kept the offense on the field and tried to get the defense to jump offside. The offense then called a timeout and went for it for real … but McKee was pressured into an incompletion for a turnover on downs. I like the decision to go for it (trusting this backup offense more than the backup defense) but I’d have fed Bigsby and the Eagles went empty on fourth down. At the same time, the Detroit Lions went up 13 to 0 on the Chicago Bears.
- The Commanders took over at their own 6-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-2, Washington ran for a first down. Josh Uche pressured Johnson into a bad pass that was picked off by Jalyx Hunt! The edge rusher’s THIRD interception of the season. Former safety experience has come in handy, huh?
- The Eagles took over at the plus 22-yard line. McKee completed a pass over the middle to Darius Cooper, who made the contested catch for 17 yards … but then got called for a 15-yard taunting penalty after the play. Lame. Facing 3rd-and-10, McKee got picked off by former Eagles UDFA signing Jeremy Reaves. Bad decision. Zero points scored from the last two red zone trips.
- The Commanders took over at their own 29-yard line with 0:48 on the clock and one timeout to work with. Washington moved to the plus 38-yard line to set up a 56-yard field goal attempt. Moody naturally missed the 24-yarder earlier only to then make the 56-yarder as the first half expired. EAGLES 7, COMMANDERS 10.
THIRD QUARTER
- The Commanders began the second half at their own 26-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-8, Johnson’s deep pass to Treylon Burks fell incomplete. Looked like there was contact from Bennett but no flag.
- The Eagles took over at their own 9-yard line. A Bigsby carry resulted in a first down, thank to the line paving the way for him. Facing 3rd-and-1 after McKee stepped up against pressure and threw an incompletion instead of just running for the easy first down, Bigsby was stopped for no gain. Sirianni opted for the punt instead of going for it on 4th-and-1 from Philly’s own 29-yard line. Terrible and costly decision by McKee to not just pick up the first down himself.
- The Commanders took over at their own 33-yard line but immediately got hit with a false start. Washington picked up a first down with a defensive holding penalty on Kelee Ringo. Johnson had a shotgun snap go through his hands and the ball was recovered by Hunt for an Eagles takeaway! Pretty fortunate development. Also, an Avonte Maddox interception for the Lions in Chicago!
- The Eagles took over at the plus 28-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-9, McKee found Britain Covey (!) over the middle for a first down. Two Bigsby carries resulted in a first down at the 6-yard line. Bigsby took another carry through contact to fall into the end zone … but the refs ruled his forward progress was stopped at the 2-yard line?! How. No matter with Bigbsy getting in on third down anyway, after Washington called their second timeout to leave just one remaining. Really needed to find the end zone there and they did. Kudos for capitalizing on Washington’s blunder. EAGLES 14, COMMANDERS 10.
- The Commanders took over at their own 35-yard line. Uche did a nice job to keep contain on a jet sweep to Samuel to bring up third down. Facing 3rd-and-7, Trot Jr. pressured Johnson into a throw over the middle into a sea of bodies that went incomplete. Mac McWilliams was credited with the pass breakup on the play.
- The Eagles took over at their own 28-yard line. Calcaterra got hip drop tackled (no flag thrown) and injured after a short catch over the middle. Facing 3rd-and-3, McKee hit the legendary Darius Cooper for a first down. McKee on the move hit Kylen Granson for a first down into field goal range. Bigsby took another carry for a first down. Unstoppable. Facing 3rd-and-8 after some offsetting penalties (where the Commanders had two and the Eagles had one … 2 = 1), McKee’s third down thrown was in danger of being picked but fell incomplete. Jake Elliott came in for the 39-yard field goal make. Unfortunately, the Bears also cut the Lions’ lead in half with a touchdown and two-point conversion. EAGLES 17, COMMANDERS 10.
- The Commanders took over at their own 35-yard line and picked up a first down to end the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
- Washington slowly but surely moved into field goal range. Johnson took a deep shot to Deebo and McWilliams was called for pass interference in the end zone to move the ball to the 1-yard line. The Eagles’ defensive line movement forced a Washington false start to knock the Commanders. But then Jakorian Bennett tackled McLaurin in the end zone to give the Commanders another first down at the 1-yard line. The Eagles came up a TFL to knock the Commanders back. The Commanders took their third and final timeout with 10:24 left in the game. Trot Jr. made a tackle to force the Commanders to third down. Facing 3rd-and-goal, the Commanders finally got a touchdown with Johnson hitting John Bates in the back of the end zone. Tie game with 9:35 to play. Ditto for the Lions and Commanders who got tied up at 16 to 16. EAGLES 17, COMMANDERS 17.
- The Eagles took over at their own 35-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-4, McKee’s pass was a bit high of Dotson but still catchable and incomplete. Three-and-out.
- The Commanders took over at their own 23-yard line. Ringo was called for a 32-yard defensive pass interference penalty for getting to the receiver early while failing to get his head turned around. The Commanders quickly moved into the red zone. Facing 3rd-and-7, Johnson took off running for a first down at the 4-yard line. The Eagles used defensive line movement to bait the Commanders into another false start, this one back to the 6-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 2-yard line, Johnson took off running and found the end zone uncontested. It looked like Kelee Ringo had a chance to make a play at the QB but he instead turned around focused on his coverage assignment. Uh, who did Ringo think was going to stop Johnson?! EAGLES 17, COMMANDERS 24.
- The Eagles took over at their own 35-yard line with 2:32 left in the game and three timeouts (plus the two-minute warning) to work with. McKee hit Will Shipley for 12 yards and a first down. McKee bailed the pocket into pressure to be forced into a throwaway on second down. Facing 3rd-and-11, McKee hit Dotson along the right sideline for a first down. Facing 3rd-and-3, McKee aired it out deep to Cooper and the ball was out of play for an incompletion. Facing 4th-and-3 at the plus 31-yard line, McKee’s throw to Kylen Granson was high. Turnover on downs … as the Lions kicked a game-winning field goal to do their part to help the Eagles. Wow.
- The Commanders took over at their own 31-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-4 after the Eagles called their first two timeouts, the Commanders ran for two yards and the Eagles called their third and final timeout at 1:04. The Commanders brought on the punt team to boot it deep.
- The Eagles took over at their own 28-yard line with 0:53 left in the game and zero timeouts to work with. Facing 4th-and-17, McKee’s throw went out of bounds. Loss. No. 2 seed squandered.
EAGLES LINEUP NOTES
- The Eagles’ starting offense: QB Tanner McKee, RB Tank Bigsby, WR DeVonta Smith, WR Darius Cooper, WR Jahan Dotson, TE Grant Calcaterra, LT Fred Johnson, LG Brett Toth, C Drew Kendall, RG Tyler Steen, RT Matt Pryor.
- The Eagles’ starting defense: EDGE Nolan Smith, EDGE Jalyx Hunt, DT Jordan Davis, DT Moro Ojomo, LB Jihaad Campbell, LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr., CB Kelee Ringo, CB Jakorian Bennett, NCB Michael Carter, S Sydney Brown, S Brandon Johnson.
- Brandon Johnson’s injury caused the Eagles to move Michael Carter to safety and put Mac McWilliams in at nickel cornerback.
- Rookie Cameron Williams came in at right tackle with Matt Pryor shifting to right guard on the Eagles’ third drive.
- With Brett Toth evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter, Tyler Steen came back in the game at right guard with Matt Pryor moving to left guard.
EAGLES INJURY NEWS
- Undrafted rookie Brandon Johnson (ankle), who started at safety, got banged up in the second quarter. He was originally ruled questionable to return and later downgraded to OUT.
- Moro Ojomo entered the medical tent midway through the second quarter. Ojomo returned to the game.
- Grant Calcaterra (knee/ankle) got banged up late in the third quarter. He was down on the ground for a bit before walking to the medical tent. He then walked to the tunnel.
- Brett Toth was evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter. He was later downgraded to OUT.