No doubt about 1st in NFC East anymore — 5 takeaways from Commanders-Eagles a day later

In a battle for first place in the NFC East, the Eagles left zero crumbs.

It was another dreadful opening for Philadelphia, but once again, they pulled away in the second half, capping off their sixth straight win, 26-18, over their only competition in the division, the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football in front of 69,879 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Historic defense, terrific rushing again, but a lot of bad, as well.

Here are my five observations a day after the win:

Quinyon Mitchell leads defense to an unbelievable night

The Eagles flat-out dominated the Commanders’ offense. Absolute sovereignty.

And it was led by the rookie corner out of Toledo, Quinyon Mitchell.

Mitchell has been in coverage of many elite receivers so far this season. CeeDee Lamb, Malik Nabers, Ja’Marr Chase, and Terry McLaurin on Thursday night. McLaurin has been a Pro Bowl-level receiver for years, even with all the quarterbacks the Commanders have through. However, his first catch of the game came with 10:25 left in the fourth quarter when Cooper DeJean (not a knock on DeJean, he was amazing again).

Mitchell lined up across from McLaurin on 20-of-25 routes, including 19-of-20 aligned wide. Mitchell was not targeted on any of his coverage snaps against McLaurin and was targeted just once all night. That target was incomplete.

Mitchell has allowed 0.5 yards per coverage snap, the second-fewest among cornerbacks with at least 100 coverage snaps. He should be in the running for Defensive Rookie of the Year. The 22nd overall pick has been incredible against some of the best wideouts in the NFL this season. Thursday night, that was on full display.

This prevalent defense was on maximum production at the Linc as well. They held this really good Commanders offense to just 18 points and 264 yards. This is the fourth-ranked offense in the NFL, averaging 29 points per game, and the defense came up huge.

They gave up a touchdown on a 58-yard drive on Washington’s second possession and then held the Commanders to three points and 151 yards on their next eight drives.

The coverage was great as mentioned, the Eagles got sacks from Nolan Smith, Brandon Graham, and Josh Sweat, and they tackled pretty well outside of a few instances.

This defense does not have any clear weaknesses. This unit gets better every week. They have been saving this offense. I am out of words.

What else can you say about Saquon Barkley?

I have also lost words to describe Saquon Barkley.

Like, holy crap.

It was not going for him early, which was surprising against the 28th-ranked defense against the rush. But then, he exploded.

In the fourth quarter alone, Barkley runs six times for 77 yards and a 23 and 39-yard touchdown 20 seconds apart after Reed Blankenship’s interception. He took the lead and then applied the dagger in 20 seconds.

His ability to kill a team at the end of the game is improbable. He gets stronger and stronger as the game progresses, and the Eagles’ offensive line does what they do, wears defensive lines down.

He finished with 26 rushes for 146 yards and had 52 receiving yards for 198 yards.

Oh, and Barkley eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season for the fourth time in his career. He did it in 10 games. Want a reason why he is a frontrunner for the Offensive Player of the Year, and should probably be in the MVP discussion? There you go.

The Eagles shut down the OROY leader

Jayden Daniels came into this game as the undisputable leader for the Offensive Rookie of the Year. He has been incredible this season, leading an unlikely Commanders team to 7-3 and at the top of the NFC East.

Thursday night at the Lin was Daniels’ welcome-to-the-NFL moment.

The final stats were inflated by the last drive where they got in the endzone via a Zach Ertz homecoming touchdown, but the Eagles gave him nothing.

Outside of Austin Ekeler turning a couple of short passes into big gains, Daniels did not complete a pass to a wide receiver longer than 10 yards, or any pass for more than 20, averaged just 5.9 yards per pass attempt and only managed 18 rushing yards on seven carries.

When Daniels took his time in the pocket, he got sacked. When he looked down the field, no one was open.

Blankenship also became only the third player to pick him off this year.

Daniels is going to become a very good NFL quarterback, but every rookie has a welcome-to-the-NFL moment. This was Daniels’.

Jalen Hurts got beat up

Jalen Hurts continued his first-half struggles and then turned it around in the second half. He was 10-for-19 for 101 yards in the first half and then 8-for-9 for 120 yards in the second half. That is just who he is at this point.

But, there were a lot of injury scares.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Eagles called some sort of trickery play that did not work at all. Looks like when they drew the play up they were a little tipsy. Anyway, Frankie Luvu read the play perfectly off the edge and sacked Hurts, slamming his head on the turf in the process. With the way his head bounced off the ground like it did, and how he looked when got up, it was scary.

Then with 28 seconds left in the quarter at the three-yard line, Hurts had Barkley and DeVonta Smith wide open on the left side of the endzone. He missed them, not the first instance of this Thursday night, and got sacked hard, again, smashing his head on the ground. Hurts was slow to get up, and the Eagles settled for a field goal.

He went into the medical tent, cleared concussion protocol at halftime, and then won the Eagles a football game.

“I guess I beat the protocol,” Hurts said postgame. He said he did not feel any effects after his head hit the ground. Sure, Jalen. My head hurt watching you.

Is Jake Elliott a problem?

I have no clue what is going on with Jake Elliott, but he has not looked like himself lately.

He has just been bad this year after being one of the NFL’s best since his rookie 2017 season. He missed from 44, 51, and an extra point. He is now 14-for-19 this year and zero-for-four from 50 yards out.

His five misses this year equal his total number of misses from 2022 and 2023 combined. I could not believe that when I saw that.

He is not just one of the best current kickers, he is one of the best in NFL history if you look at his numbers. But no one is perfect. Things happen, it just never has with him.

If Hurts was able to find the wide-open Smith or Barkley in the endzone, and Elliott makes all his kicks, the Eagles should have won this game 37-18. Whatever.

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