Rob’s Observations: Eagles leave commanders heartbroken.


Rob’s Observations: Eagles leave commanders heartbroken. Originally published NBC Sports Philadelphia

Kenny Pickett almost won it, and the NFL’s top-ranked defense lost it.

After Pickett led the Eagles to some late field goals, the Eagles’ terrific defense allowed the Commanders to drive the length of the field for their third touchdown of the fourth quarter.

The winning streak is gone, their hopes for a No. 1 seed are dealt a huge blow and the Eagles may need to regroup against the Cowboys Sunday without Jaylen Hurts, who is now in concussion protocol.

The Eagles have blown a 13-point fourth-quarter lead for the first time in five years.

Commanders 36, Eagles 33.

It was bad.

1. The defense had been playing so well since the bye that it was surprising to see them fall like this – 36 points, 368 yards, five TD passes, 22 points in the fourth quarter. They allowed more points in the game’s final 13 1/2 minutes than they had allowed in any game before the bye. They only fell apart in the fourth quarter, allowing touchdown drives of 61, 87 and 57 yards, including Jaden Daniels’ game-winning touchdown pass to Jamison Crowder with six seconds left. Daniels kept the Eagles defense off balance in the fourth quarter by throwing and running, and the Eagles were trying to slow him and his receivers down. In the fourth quarter alone, Daniels threw for 139 yards with three touchdowns. In all, he threw five touchdowns and rushed for 82 yards against the top-rated pass defense in the league. The Eagles certainly missed Josh Sweet, who left in the second quarter with an ankle injury, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who ruled himself out after picking up his second unsportsmanlike conduct. The Eagles forced five turnovers, which was encouraging to watch, but had no answer until the fourth quarter. Coverage fell apart, tackling fell apart, the pass rush was non-existent. They just needed one last stop and couldn’t get it.

2. Pickett wasn’t perfect at all, but he gave the Eagles a chance to win, and if it weren’t for a late drop by Saquon Barkley in the right flat on a field goal drive and Devonta Smith over the middle. Next, the Eagles would have won the game and would still be riding that winning streak. Pickett had a nice TD pass to AJ Brown on his first drive and also had a 45-yard pass from Brown on a nonscoring drive, 67 yards on three Marshawn Lattimore DPIs on AJ Brown. picked up the distance and converted two gutsy fourth-down passes. On a fourth quarter field goal drive. The interception deep in Eagles territory was terrible and led directly to Washington’s first touchdown, and Washington’s depth in territory could have been disastrous. Fortunately, Lane Johnson recovered. But Pickett put up 26 points on the scoreboard in his first playing time in a year and his first game as an Eagle against the NFL’s No. 4 pass defense, and if not for those two drops, that game wins. Most likely, Pickett will start Sunday against the Cowboys, though it’s not unheard of for someone to clear the protocol in week one. If he plays like this against the Cowboys Sunday, he will give the Eagles a shot.

3. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson has been playing fantastic football, and his interception on Sunday was his fourth in a winning streak. But he has always played on the edge and was ejected midway through the third quarter for his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. You love his energy and passion, but he can’t let that happen. And who was covering Olamide Zacchaeus on his fourth-quarter touchdown catch? Tristan McCallum, who went to the game for C.J. was Gardner Johnson’s guy. He has to be smarter. He’s now in his sixth year, and he’s gotten better. have to do Play hard, play physical, play with an edge, but you have to know where the line is and not cross it.

4. It’s really hard to lose a game when you get five takeaways. Teams with five turnovers in the past 10 years were 71-5 entering the week and 235-18 over the past 20 years. The Eagles hadn’t lost a game with five takeaways since 1999 and were 45-3 in such games since 1975. But when you get five routes, you have to take advantage of those opportunities, and the Eagles didn’t. They got seven after the first turnover but the next four takeaways resulted in just six points – a punt, a short field goal and two field goals. These are opportunities you cannot afford to miss. Five takeaways are great. Ten points from these takeaways is awesome.

5. That’s not a knock on Kenny Pickett, who I felt played as well as you could hope for considering the circumstances. But when you lose a guy like Jalen Hurts, everything changes. Everything, not just the passing game, but everything. Now the opposing defense is playing you differently. The running game isn’t there. The third volatility becomes difficult to change. It even affects the defense as the entire balance of the game and the sidelines seem to disappear. When your best player walks off the field and leaves the game, everything is different. I think there is an emotional tool as well. You know everyone’s heart sank a little when Hurts was rejected. It’s tough to bounce back from and the Eagles will have to figure out how to play without their superstar on Sunday.

6. Once Josh Sweat left the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter, the Eagles had real problems generating pressure, and that’s no surprise. The injury meant the Eagles were down Sweet, Bryce Huff and Brandon Graham from their original edge rotation. Huff is still inactive after wrist surgery and is out for the year, leaving Smith, third-rounder Jalix Hunt and 2017 Dolphins first-rounder Charles Harris as the only healthy edge rushers. Picked on, and Harris doesn’t seem to get it. Nolan Smith got the opening sack in the game, but the Commanders – who had allowed 20 sacks in their last five games – didn’t allow another the rest of the game, and they barely hit Daniels on those final three TD drives. Pressed on. And when they did, he ran away. We don’t know how long Sweat will last or when Huff will return, but they need both of those guys if they’re going to generate the pressure they need.

More to come…

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