Can Jalen Hurts and the Eagles get their revenge against Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders?
The feel good story of the NFL has been Dan Quinn’s second chance at a head coach. Quietly, it’s Quinn who has been the coach rolling the dice, being aggressive on fourth downs, and maximizing their opportunity to get points out of every drive.
The Washington Commanders have done historically well on late downs this season. You can point to the performance of their quarterback for that. Jayden Daniels looks exactly how he did at LSU last year when he won the Heisman. Whenever the Commanders need a play, Daniels has gone above and beyond to make it.
It feels naive to believe Daniels and the Commanders won’t continue their magical run in the NFC Championship. But I believe the clock strikes midnight on Washington today in Philadelphia.
At some point, defense has to matter. The Detroit Lions had a success rate of 58 percent against Washington and gained a first down on 45 percent of their plays. A pick-six and allowing 45 points have helped shield the Commanders’ defense from any criticism.
The Eagles are infinitely more talented than the Commanders. That was the case when they beat Washington the first time, 26-18. It was also true for the majority of the last game when the Commanders stormed back to win 36-33. That was a game where the Eagles had the ball up 21-7 early in the second quarter, and that was after throwing an interception.
I look for Jalen Hurts to remind people what his ceiling is today. A.J. Brown won’t have time to read books on the sideline, and Daniels won’t have time or room to escape Jalen Carter and the Eagles pass rush with his receivers covered. Eagles by two touchdowns.