The Takeaways, week 16: Philadelphia Eagles at Washington
December 24, 2024
by Steve Thomas
Washington pulled off an unbelievable and possibly season-changing win over the first place Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday by a score of 36 – 33, in a game that featured plenty of ups and downs by both teams. With the victory, Washington saved its shot at the NFC East title and put itself in reasonably firm control of a Wild Card spot. This game was by no means perfect, and they were the beneficiaries of no small amount of luck, but at the end of the day, Washington got the victory, and that’s what matters. The game managed to highlight both some team strengths and weaknesses at the same time. I’ll discuss my thoughts on this game, as well as Washington’s immediate future, in this week’s edition of The Takeaways, below.
Jayden Daniels’ MVP effort
From a statistical perspective, this wasn’t necessarily Daniels’ best game. In total, he went 24 for 39, 61.5% completion percentage, 258 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions, for a 99.1 quarterback rating, plus 9 carries for 81 yards, 9.0 yards per carry. However, those numbers don’t tell the full story of Daniels’ performance in this game. Yes, he threw two interceptions, but he was also the sole focal point of the team’s offensive performance against a serious contender as an opponent. Does anyone think that Washington would have actually won this game with any of Washington’s recent quarterbacks under center? I don’t. The Eagles have a very highly rated defense, at least statistically, and despite that, he managed to lead his team to 36 points, with very little help. I think that Daniels essentially has the Offensive Rookie of the Year award locked down at this point, so that’s not in doubt, at least in my view. The more relevant question is whether he is a candidate for the League MVP award. I’m not going to start diving into numbers and competition here, because this is The Takeaways,, but it’s reasonable to think that’s he’s at least on the short list for that award. Despite the interceptions, considering this might have been his best performance of the season. It’s great to know that the Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington finally has a franchise-caliber quarterback, after 30 years of searching.
Washington needs a running game, bad
One of the reasons that Daniels’ performance was so impressive is that Washington was able to produce almost no running game whatsoever from anyone not named Jayden Daniels. As a group, Washington’s running backs had 15 carries for all of 32 yards, which equates to 2.1 yards per carry. That sort of failure is going to be unsustainable in the long term, particularly against top teams like Philadelphia. I know that Brian Robinson has had some big games this year – specifically, 3 in which he gained over 100 yards – but overall, he’s been insufficient. Overall, the Eagles have been pretty good against the run this year, but they haven’t been at the very top of the league in this area. Washington is going to end up getting Daniels hurt at some point if they don’t figure out how to support him with a reasonably consistent rushing attack. The coaches seem to like Robinson, but it wouldn’t surprise me too much if they made some moves in the offseason in order to achieve more consistent results.
Olamide Zaccheaus’ big day
Considering that Zaccheaus came to Washington from the Eagles, it was probably in the back of his mind to have a big game against his former team. If so, he certainly achieved this goal, with 5 receptions for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s only scored 2 touchdowns in a single game one other time in his career, in 2021 for the Atlanta Falcons. We all wondered what Jayden Daniels would do for a second target behind Terry McLaurin after Noah Brown went down, and, for this game at least, Zaccheaus answered the call. Not only was it a show of good performance by Zaccheaus, but the coaching staff deserves some praise for scheming him open under some difficult circumstances. If Washington has a shot in the playoffs, they’re going to need Zaccheaus to rise to the occasion again.
Defensive adjustments slowed down the Eagles
Let’s be honest and admit that Saquon Barkley was killing Washington’s defense in the first half. He had 7 carries for 109 yards in the first quarter, for 15.6 yards per carry. He finished the game with 29 carries for 150 yards, 5.2 yards per carry, meaning that he had 22 carries for 41 yards the rest of the game, which is under 2 yards per carry. Once Jalen Hurts went down, the defense was able to focus on Barkley and drastically limit his effectiveness. I suspect that this very likely wouldn’t have happened had Hurts not been injured, because Hurts’ presence obviously presents another extremely dangerous ground threat. Hurts isn’t necessarily a great pure passing, pocket quarterback; it’s the fact that he’s a dual threat that is the magic. Once that ended, Washington’s defensive front 7 seemed to wake up and focus on Barkley. Kudos to them for making the proper adjustments on the fly – just do that from the start next time.
Impact on playoff picture
Thanks to this game, Washington is now firmly entrenched in a Wild Card spot even if they can’t catch the Eagles for the division title. With the Green Bay Packers’ victory over the Saints on Monday Night Football last night, as well as the other weekend results, Washington is currently in the third spot. The Packers are one game ahead of Washington at 11 – 4, so Washington will need Green Bay to lose and then hope for good results from the tiebreakers in order to claim the second Wild Card spot. This could be important, because as things stand right now, Washington’s Wild Card opponent would be the #2 seeded Philadelphia Eagles, whereas the Packers would end up facing the lesser of the NFC South or NFC West champions, either the Falcons, Buccaneers, or Rams. All of those teams would be better than having to face down the Eagles again. Washington’s only real competition for the final Wild Card spot are the Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks, who both have 8 – 7 records. This means that all Washington needs to do is to beat the Falcons next week to lock up a Wild Card spot. Wow. Who’d have believed it back in the offseason.
I’ll be back next week after Washington’s battle against the Falcons at home in Raljon.