Winning plays: 5 takeaways from Commanders-Eagles a day later

It never seems to be easy, does it?

New offensive play caller. New receivers. A deteriorated offensive line. An exhausted defense.

You know who still made the play to win a game? Jalen Hurts. That is just what he does. He is now the third quarterback since 1950 to win his first six opening-day starts, joining Roger Staubach and Johnny Unitas.

“It’s just about meeting the moment when your opportunity comes,” Hurts said after leading the Eagles to a stressful 24-22 victory over the Washington Commanders Sunday evening in front of 69,879 at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Week 1 win was not a piece of art. It was abstract. However, it got the job done. Hurts and the offense made the plays when they needed to be made. The defense stepped up when they had to. It was too close for comfort, but in Week 1, you will take it.

Here are my five takeaways a day after the win:

1. Hurts makes the winning plays, again

Hurts was ranked as the 17th-best quarterback in the NFL this offseason. All he has heard all offseason was criticism, cynicism, and antagonism. Under the circumstances he dealt with on Sunday, he really silenced the doubters… again.

Hurts threw for 203 yards, three touchdown passes, no interceptions, with a 122.2 passer rating, while rushing for 46 yards. Working with new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, whose system is brand new to Hurts, he looked comfortable and efficient, a welcome sight.

“We’ve got new coaches at almost every position on the offensive side of the ball, especially when it comes from instilling the values and the philosophy of this new scheme,” Hurts said. “We’ve got new players that are going to make a lot of plays for us this year in important new roles. We’ve just got to continue to fine-tune those things.”

Hurts did a lot of great things, especially in their third drive of the game. His 64-yard bomb down the right sideline to the six-yard line to Dontayvion Wicks was perfect. After a Cam Jurgens penalty a play later, Hurts fired a dart to Dallas Goedert in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown, the first of the season. Hurts’ deep ball was flawless, and his line-drive to Goedert continued their red-zone connection.

Two drives later, Hurts lofted a nine-yard touchdown pass under pressure after the Eagles’ offensive line failed to pick up the blitz.

Hurts was five-for-eight with 167 yards on throws of ten-plus air yards, including two touchdowns and a 145.8 rating.

“Jalen has worked extremely hard at that portion of his game,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “He really can throw. He just puts the ball on the money in those situations, which helps you be explosive.”

All of that is great, but Hurts’ 22-yard run on third-and-17 in the fourth quarter was the play of the game. He dropped back, hopped twice in the pocket, and then tucked the ball and ran through a seam in the middle of the field for the first down.

Once again, the former Super Bowl MVP made the plays to win the game.

“I think one of the things that makes Jalen such a special quarterback,” Sirianni said, “is that he can do it through the air. He can do it running the show. He can do it with his legs when he needs to make plays, and obviously, that was a big play, and you need those.”

After a pair of two-yard pick-ups by Will Shipley, Hurts found Goedert open over the middle and tossed him a short pass that he ran in for a 43-yard touchdown, which ended up being enough to win the game.

Hurts overcame a lot in this game. His offensive line did not help him out. The run game seemingly vanished. The defense became fatigued at the end. His coordinator was calling plays for the first time. Still, he made the winning plays. That does not sound like the 17th-best quarterback in the NFL.

2. Offensive line already a major concern

The Eagles’ offensive line was supposed to be one of the best units in all of football. There are elite talents across the line, and all are healthy. They did not play the part on Sunday.

Landon Dickerson and Jurgens specifically struggled against Washington. Dickerson got beat way too many times, especially on blitzes. Washington exploited him. Jurgens also suffered two penalties, both negating nice gains. Dickerson and Jordan Mailata were also flagged.

With this group healthy and at full potential, they have been a part of historic seasons. That is almost the expectation. However, here we are, 246 days after the Eagles’ 2025 season ended in the Wild Card to the San Francisco 49ers, and the o-line is still a problem.

This offense will require a highly functioning o-line. Barkley needs space before contact, Hurts needs time, and with how this Mannion offense will shape up with complex pre-snap movement, this team will be nothing without a formidable o-line.

3. Wicks, Mannion impress in debut

Who would have thought that the Eagles’ trade in April for Dontayvion Wicks from the Green Bay Packers in exchange for a 2026 fifth-round draft pick and a 2027 sixth-round draft pick would have been one of the biggest moves of the offseason? Well, after Week 1, it is shaping up to be an intellectual move.

“I tried to tell you,” Sirianni exclaimed. “I had that interview with Kay [Adams], and I told her. He’s good. He’s really good at football. He had a route in practice where he broke off a DB and I was like, ‘He’s good at football.'”

Wicks did a lot of really good things as the Eagles’ WR2 on Sunday. Of course, he made a nice grab on Hurts’ perfect 64-yard rocket. But on his nine-yard touchdown catch, he made a shifty move in the end zone to create separation from Mike Sainristil, who watched Wicks reel in the grab.

With DeVonta Smith as the WR1, Wicks will have a lot of chances this year. He is already stepping up.

“If people want to sit there and cloud me all game, you got to take over,” Smith said he told Wicks. “He made some big plays. Look forward to more of that. But the coaches, I feel they’ll draw up something real good to help me out a little bit.”

The coaches will get Smith, who only had three catches for 53 yards Sunday, more involved. It will be on Mannion, who also excelled in his debut. The offensive line did not help, but from what Mannion can control, it was sufficient, especially for a Week 1.

“I thought he did a good job of getting the play in,” Sirianni said on Mannion. “The operation’s the first thing you always look at. I thought we were pretty balanced in our situations of the way we kind of break it down. I thought we were able to be explosive. We would’ve liked to finish the third one in the red zone because those are always big, but we were two-for-three in the red zone. Even in some tough situations, we got behind the sticks in the red zone on both of our first two scores, and I though he did a good job calling it on that one to try to get us back.”

This offense is going to involve a lot of explosive plays. However, outside of the 64-yard pass to Wicks and Barkley’s 42-yard run in their superior first half, they only had 76 yards. If they are going to be explosive, the intermediate gains have to he there as well. They also struggled on first down, which consistently set up second-and-longs, which we learned last year is not a good formula.

That will come with time. So will the rest of the operation.

4. DeJean has rare deficient performance

Cooper DeJean is an All-Pro nickel corner, is due for a hefty extension this offseason, and one of the best in the NFL at what he does.

Sunday was really the first time he did not look like that.

DeJean was targeted a game-high nine times on Sunday and gave up seven catches for 83 yards and a touchdown, according to PFF. Stefon Diggs was targeted five times with DeJean in coverage and had four catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.

He did make some key tackles, especially one in the third quarter on Jaylin Lane to force a punt from Washington’s 15. But he got beat pretty consistently.

“I just gotta be better, DeJean said. “That simple…. I’ll have to watch the tape, see what happened, see what I can fix in my technique. Just sometimes my eyes get bad, and that gets in me in trouble. Just got to be better with that. And good thing is, it’s Week 1. Got a lot of games ahead of us, and I’ve got to be better for our defense.”

5. Defense bent, but did not break

The defense had kind of a weird opener. They did not force a turnover, only had one sack after supplying pressure all game, were not great at stopping the run, and got worn down in the fourth quarter.

But, as they always do, they did not break. They made the big plays in the big moments, most notably with the game on the line. After giving up their second touchdown of the fourth quarter, the Eagles only led by two with 1:01 remaining in regulation. Washington attempted a shovel pass to Jake Bates, but he was swallowed up by Moro Ojomo, who made the stop and called game.

“I got off on the ball, took a shot,” Ojomo said. “You kind of got to play it free. I saw the guard pull, spun out of it, the tight end was right there…. You have to play fast, man. And you can’t play indecisive.”

At the end of the day, the Eagles’ defense held Jayden Daniels and Washington to 295 yards, stopped them on 10-of-15 third downs, held them to 4.4 yards per play, and only allowed one play longer than 17 yards. 

Just like the offense, it will get better. It is Week 1. We have a long way to go.

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