The Takeaways, Week 11: Washington at Philadelphia Eagles

November 18, 2024

by Steve Thomas

This game certainly did not go well for Washington, which lost be a score of 26 – 18 to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles in a game that probably shouldn’t have been as close as the final score indicated.  It’s undeniable that this was a lost opportunity, as the result was that the Eagles are now firmly entrenched in first place in the NFC East.  However, the honest look at the situation was that a win was probably a bit too much to expect at this juncture – facing down an elite team on the road, in front of a national audience in a short week, with a rookie quarterback at the helm, is alot to ask.  So don’t be upset at the result.  The bigger concern is that the team didn’t rise to the occasion.  A hard-fought, well-played loss would have probably been acceptable given the circumstances, but that’s not what happened here.

Jayden Daniels’ bad day

Daniels went 22 for 32, which is a 68.75% completion percentage, for 191 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception, for an 81.6 quarterback rating.  He also had 7 carries for 18 yards, which is an average of 2.6 yards per carry.  His completion percentage was acceptable in general terms, but Daniels not only missed several throws, but also missed reads.  Also, strangely, nearly all of his completions were made within 5 or so yards of the line of scrimmage.  I assume from the fact that Washington’s training staff was wrapping his ribs on the sideline between possessions that his injury is still bothering him; however, I don’t believe that accounts for the misreads.  It seemed like the combination of big game, very tough defense, and injury probably combined for what was Daniels’ worst game of the season so far.  It’s also possible that defenses are game-planning for him better now that there’s a fair amount of NFL game film available.  Look, we always knew or should have known that it was impossible for Daniels to keep up the statistical brilliance of his first few weeks of the season.  That isn’t reality.  The key from this point forward will be how he responds next week.

The moment was too big

Washington hung with the Eagles, basically, through three quarters of this game.  It wasn’t until the 4th quarter that things really got away from them.  That having been said, the Eagles missed two field goals and an extra point in this game, so the final score should have been worse.  The point is, though that the Eagles stuck with their game plan and eventually got Saquon Barkley rolling.  Despite the fact that he finished the game with 26 carries for 146 yards, 5.6 yards per carry, and 2 touchdowns, at halftime he had 15 carries for just 56 yards, 3.7 yards per carry, and no touchdowns.  Washington’s defense finally wore down and was unable to continue to keep Barkley ineffective, and that was in no small part why the Eagles took command of the game in the 4th quarter.  Disappointing, certainly, brought on by a combination of a fading defense and incompetence on offense.  It was the offense that was the most disappointing – they looked stagnant, mistake-prone, and nothing like the explosive group we’ve seen in several games this year.  Washington probably wasn’t ever going to keep the Eagles offense down, but if form had held, the offense was supposed to keep up.  They completely failed on that job in every respect.

Brian Robinson’s return was a dud

Robinson returned from his hamstring injury, playing for the first time in three weeks.  He didn’t do particularly well and wasn’t a difference maker, which was disappointing, with 16 carries for 63 yards, which equates to 3.9 yards per carry.  That’s well below the numbers that Robinson was posting prior to his injury and wasn’t what Washington needed.  I wrote in the game preview, and we talked in The Hog Sty Podcast, about the importance of Washington’s running game against the Eagles in particular, given the high-quality of their pass defense.  Washington needed Robinson to produce this week, but that unfortunately didn’t happen.  Yes, he was injured; we’ll see if he can get it back together next week.

Frankie Luvu is the most important starter on the defense

Raise your hand if you knew Luvu was going to be this valuable to Washington’s defense when he was signed this offseason.  I know I didn’t.  I was pretty ambivalent about him and just assumed that he’d be just another mediocre free agent.  That, of course, was totally wrong.  Luvu was the biggest defensive difference maker in this game and has been all year.  In this game, he had 10 total tackles, including 6 solo, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, and 3 quarterback hits.  He seemed to be involved in  many key plays and was in the Eagles’ backfield on what seemed like a regular basis.  Luvu is signed through 2026 and his cap hit jumps way up from $3.8M this year to over $11M in both 2025 and 2026.  That cap hit is well worth it though, as he provides competence and toughness in a position that hasn’t had those qualities in a very long time.  Here’s to hoping that Luvu stays in Washington well beyond 2026.

All is not lost

A 7 – 4 record and second place in the NFC East, including a Wild Card slot, is pretty good.  Frankly, that’s much better than we had a right to expect this season.  Yes, Washington has dropped two in a row in games in which they played progressively worse.  On the other hand, though, those two losses were against talented and successful first place opponents.  In addition, they have very winnable games at home both next week and the week after, followed by the bye.  As a result, Washington is still in the race for both a Wild Card playoff birth and a division title.  They just need to fix whatever’s ailing the offense, in particular, and get back to the type of explosive play we saw earlier in the year.  It’s possible, folks.

That’s it for The Takeaways for this week.  I’ll be back after Washington’s battle against the hated Dallas Cowboys at home at Northwest Stadium.