Week 2: Philadelphia Eagles @ Tennessee Titans Game Recap

Eagles Week 2 Thumbnail (I didn't make this)

If week 1 is supposed to set the tone for the regular season, week 2 is supposed to give everyone an idea of how good your team is going to be. Now this doesn't mean that being 0-2 will mean your team is going to be really bad, but there is such a low percentage of a chance that you will be a contender if you go 0-2. In fact it goes from 25% to 12% real quick with it going from an 18% chance of you going to the Super Bowl to there only being 3 teams in NFL history to start 0-2 and go to the Super Bowl with all 3 winning it. Suffice to say, you'd much rather be 2-0 right now than be 0-2. Last week, the Eagles would win a very close game against the Washington Commanders, a team that was supposed to be worse than them and they did so with 4 drives where the team got down the field quickly and while the defense held in the first half, the Commanders were able to abuse the Eagles defense on the final two drives of the game where the Eagles would get lucky enough to stop an important 2 point conversion, netting them the win. 

In week 2 however, the Eagles would have to do something that they had never done before. Go down to Nashville Tennessee and defeat the Tennessee Titans. There was a statistic that was shown in the game where since 2010, the Philadelphia Eagles had a record of 15-2 against AFC South teams with those two losses being in Tennessee. One a loss in 2010 where the 4-2 Eagles with Kevin Kolb at quarterback would play the 4-2 Titans with Kerry Collins at Quarterback. And while the game was probably expected to be close, it wasn't as Kerry Collins threw for almost 300 yards and 3 touchdowns with Kenny Britt and 225 total yards. The game had actually been 30-19 at the very end, but then Kevin Kolb threw an interception return for a touchdown to Cortland Finnegan, which bumped up the score for the Titans. Honestly, I recollect that Pro Bowl Wide Receiver, DeSean Jackson didn't even play because of a concussion he suffered the previous week against the Titans. Regardless, all loses are tough, but that spelled the end of Kevin Kolb's chances to continue being the starter for the Eagles. 

Kenny Britt #18 catching pass against Nate Allen #29 in 2010

Then in 2018, the 2-1 Eagles went to the 2-1 Titans when Carson Wentz and Marcus Mariota were playing for the Eagles and Titans. The Eagles had held onto a 17-3 lead in the middle of the 3rd quarter until the Titans, led by Marcus Mariota would go on a tear, going up 20-17 right before the end of regulation after a touchdown rush by Mariota and then one to Tajae Sharpe. The Eagles, led by Carson Wentz would get Jake Elliott to kick a field goal to take it to overtime. Then in overtime the Eagles would get a field goal, but after a key 4th and long conversion where Corey Graham would allow a 19 yard completion to Taywan Taylor, Mariota would throw the game winner to Corey Davis and embarrass the Eagles off the field. So let us just say that while the Eagles have played better Titans teams in the past, they have greatly struggled against this franchise post movement to Tennessee. 

Corey Davis #84 catches pass over Avonte Maddox #29 in overtime 2018 win

With that said, though the Titans were seen by the NFL as being a bottom 5 team in football as they got destroyed by the Jets, whom many thought would be the worst team win football. The Eagles on the other hand had quite a few problems, biggest one being the strength and depth of their offensive line. After a horrific day against the Commanders, Landon Dickerson would be placed on injured reserve and he would be replaced by the Center Cam Jurgens and then Jurgens would be replaced by Drew Kendall, a guy that has played minimally at Center for the Eagles. The other major issues was with the Eagles defensive backfield as Safety, Andrew Makuba and Cornerback Cooper DeJean would be injured as well as Defensive Tackle, Jalen Carter would have a cast on his hand. Finally, the newly traded for defensive end for the Eagles, Jonathan Greenard would be out for the game with an injury he got during the summer. 

The game started with a bang where after the Titans went 3 and out, they punted to the Eagles and on the first play by the Eagles (a dive up the middle, of course) Saquon Barkley would sustain an arm stinger and would be out for the entire first half. In his place, the Eagles would install Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley. The two of them did just okay in the first half with Bigsby scoring the Eagles first points of the game during a drive where Bigsby ran for 7, 4, 4 again, 2, 9 and then 2 to get into the end zone. So while he wasn't necessarily gashing the Titans, he got the yards on that drive when it mattered and that honestly matters more than bulk of yards. 

Saquon Barkley #26 recording just 9 rushing yards after getting injured with a stinger on the 1st play

Jalen Hurts #1 was a tactical for most of his 1st drive

While Tank Bigsby definitely profited early, the Eagles as a team didn't. If you have ever seen the movie SAW 4 where the message of the film is to think before acting because Officer Rigg was a guy that didn't think before running into a crime scene because it might not have been safe. You would know that at the end of the movie, Officer Rigg has a chance to save his captured friend, Detective Eric Matthews had he not immediately ran into the warehouse room before the timer hit zeros. Sufficed to say, Detective Eric Matthews got decapitated by two giant ice blocks and Detective Rigg ends up getting shot and left in the warehouse room. Suffice to say, this is exactly how I felt after an amazing 64 yard drive to the Titans 8 was intercepted Amani Hooker and then returned all the way back to the Eagles 10. It was NOT a great way to end the first drive and then after 4 plays, Titans quarterback, Cam Ward would run a QB sneak to get the Titans to take the lead. 

Amani Hooker #37 picks off Jalen Hurts and returns the ball for 92 yards

Cam Ward #1 on his way to score his 1st rushing touchdown

Like said before, the Eagles would tie the game up, but they would also take the lead with their defense holding the Titans to 16 yards on their 3rd drive after two really bad Titans penalties, one being a holding call on a short run and the other being an unnecessary roughness call on Titans receiver Calvin Ridley to force the Titans to punt. The Eagles would finish the half on offense with an 81 yard drive where Jalen Hurts took control on a 16 yard deep pass to Devonta Smith, 2 intermediate passes to the newly acquired receiver, Dontayvion Wicks and then a 22 yard strike to Devonta Smith to put the Eagles up 14-7. And while there were a few Bigsby and Shipley runs mixed into there, it was great to see the Eagles operate out of a slow moving offense and capping it off with a touchdown to end the half for them. The Titans, however, wouldn't give up as they would spend the next minute 49 seconds getting the ball down the field thanks to an Elic Ayomanor 28 yard play and then a key screen to Tyjae Spears for a gain of 27. This would eventually set Joey Slye up for a 37 yard field goal that he would make to get the score to 14-10 at halftime. 

Tank Bigsby #8 scores 1st touchdown for the Eagles

Devonta Smith #6 with a big touchdown catch to put the Eagles up 14-7

For the first time in the last 25 some odd years, the Eagles had 3 drives in one half and every drive made it into the red zone. However, the 2nd half for both the offense and the defense was terrible. Let us start with the offense which started the half netting negative 13 yards thanks to an illegal formation penalty by Lane Johnson and then an 11 yard sack by Jacob Martin, which forced Braden Mann in to punt the ball for the first time in the entire game. The Eagles would get into Titans territory thanks to an 11 yard Saquon Barkley catch and they almost got a touchdown on a Jalen Hurts to Devonta Smith deep catch, but the one problem was that Smith landed out of bounds... The Eagles got points, but only a field goal by Jake Elliott to the tune of 58 yards. It is bad that the Eagles couldn't get a touchdown here, but good because Jake was able to not be "Smelliott". 

Saquon Barkely #26 catch on 3rd down

Jake Elliott #4 after kicking a 58 yard field goal

And now for the defense, which was formidable at the beginning of the third quarter became a shadow of themselves at the end of the quarter. It started with a 9 yard completion to Wan'Dale Robinson for a first down where he broke coverage and caught the ball next to the sideline, then a deep pass closer to the middle by Calvin Ridley for 25 yards to get the ball into Eagles territory. Finally, Cam Ward would hook up with Calvin Ridley once again for a 10 yard gain to get the ball into the Eagles red zone. The Eagles would get the Titans to 3rd and goal from the 1 where Cam Ward would playaction, roll out left and then barely get into the end zone for the game tying touchdown. He would get up and do the "mali" or the "Zombieland" or the "scuba" celebration. I don't know what exactly to call it, but it looks like the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Whenever I see it I think "what ever happened to dabbing"? You'd must faster see me plank than you would ever see me do the "mali". Regardless, it amped up Titans fans and players and gave them the confidence to succeed, so I guess it was good at something. 

Cam Ward scoring his second 4th quarter touchdown

Titans players doing the "Mali" or the "Scuba" or whatever this abomination is

Not much occurred at the beginning of the fourth quarter in terms of the Eagles or Titans doing anything. The Eagles would gain 2 yards on 3 plays and the Titans would gain 21 yards on 5 plays thanks to a Tony Pollard 18 yard run, but then the drive would stall out. The Eagles attempted to get something going on the ensuing drive where Hurts hooked up with Devonta Smith, then there was a 10 yard holding penalty on Johnny Mundt during a Hollywood Brown run. This would force a Darius Cooper 23 yard pass to get into Titans territory, which led to a 5 yard run loss to Makai Lemon on a pitch play that hasn't worked all season. We will get to my distaste for this kind of play later on in the recap. The final play of the drive included a play that actually was draw up fairly well, but was poorly executed. This happened when Titans All Pro Defensive Tackle, Jeffrey Simmons completely destroyed Cam Jurgens on a rush, got up in Jalen's face during his passing motion on a pass deep to Devonta Smith that probably should have been a touchdown... if it wasn't a duck thanks to a poor follow-through, that was intercepted by Marcus Harris to give the ball back to the Titans. 

#26 Marcus Harris interception from Jalen Hurts

The Titans would then push the ball down the field thanks to two 9 yard rushes by Tony Pollard, a massive over the middle pass to Elic Ayomanor, then the Titans would be backed up by a 10 yard penalty thanks to holding, then a 3 yard loss forced by Moro Ojomo, then an illegal formation penalty on the Titans, which the Eagles accepted for force 2nd down and then a 6 yard pass to Carnell Tate. Now you'd be thinking "great, the Eagles are going to likely force a punt", well... you'd be wrong as the greatest nightmare scenario took place where the entire defense allowed Tyjae Spears to run the ball down the left sideline for a 27 yard run where only the sideline could stop him. It was only thanks to Jalen Carter sacking Cam Ward and two throw away plays by the Titans offense did they bring old Joey Slye onto the field to kick a 33 yard field goal. The score was 20-17 and I had flashes to 8 years previous where seemingly the same thing happened. I was definitely thinking to myself "I did not have the Eagles losing to the Titans on my bingo card". 

Tyjae Spears #2 huge run on 3rd and long into the red zone

Joey Slye #6 kicking the go ahead field goal for the Titans

However, like Lloyd Christmas said in "Dumb and Dumber", so you're telling me there's a chance... the Eagles still had 1 minute and 56 seconds left and let me just say, they didn't waste a single one. What did Hurts do on 3rd and 6 at his own 39? He jetted a 20 yard pass to Dontayvion Wicks, then a 9 yard pass to Devonta Smith, then a 6 yard pass to Devonta Smith, some of these needing spectacular catches to complete. This is where I really had that Chargers game from last year on my mind where Jalen Hurts had numerous chances to win the game but kept throwing dumb interceptions and the game ended on a really bad interception. A controversial call happened next where Jeffrey Simmons held Jordan Mailata's helmet, had almost a free rush to Hurts, Jalen would run right, turn himself around, then toss the ball right to the line of scrimmage. Admittedly, I think the ball landed right ahead of the line, but it was so close that it was too close to call. Titans fans wanted intentional grounding, but they didn't get it. Likely because Jalen was out of the pocket and because the ball got very close to beyond the line. I can see the gripe, but officials are really bad at calling intentional grounding. 

Jalen Hurts under attack on the final drive

Jalen Hurts looking poised on the final drive

Footage of Jalen Hurts out of the pocket on "alleged" intentional grounding

Ball landing at the line of scrimmage on "alleged" intentional grounding

Jeffrey Simmons #98 holding Jordan Mailata's #68 facemask on "alleged" intentional grounding play

The previous play happened on first down, on second down, Jalen ran for a gain of 4 to the Titans 22 where Drew Brees exclaimed that Jalen has to dive head first to get the first down while a bunch of other defenders are actively trying to concuss him... Great advice Drew, great advice! Hurts would then throw a spectacular pass down the left sideline because he didn't listen to Brees' concussion worthy exclamation and then on the final play of the drive, the Eagles would line up with a tight end to the left and three receivers to the right, Devonte Smith would go on to trip (I don't know if this was planned) and the Titans were in a cover zero formation with Jeffrey Simmons for some reason dropping back with 14 seconds on the 3 yard line with 0 timeouts. Darius Cooper would run around the back side, Hurts would deliver a high, lollipop pass that would be completed in the back of the end zone where Cooper had to toe tap in. The Eagles scored and were up 24-20 with like 6 seconds left and after 2 plays, the Titans were unable to score and the Eagles had won their second game of the season. 

Drew Brees saying Jalen Hurts should slide head first

Devonta Smith #6 on a clutch 3rd down catch 

Right before the Darius Cooper go ahead touchdown

Jalen Hurts #1 throwing the football

Darius Cooper #80 secures the go ahead touchdown

Now I think if that was any other failing franchise I would have said "well... it is just the Titans and we almost lost", but since it was a team that the Eagles had not beaten in their city... EVER, I think it was a bit of a different story. Obviously the Titans aren't good with them being in the bottom 5 of teams this season, but there were quite a few players who showed off their skills in the game and were instrumental in the Eagles victory. The first one being Devonta Smith, a guy who caught 10 passes and totaled 117 yards on the game with 1 receiving touchdown and could have had a second at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. It seemed like he was always at the right place at the right time, totally killing it in the game and was hauling in passes all over the field, including on the sidelines and with the inclusion of spectacular passes. If Devonta Smith isn't in the game, the Eagles FOR SURE lose. The next player that the fans are claiming did well was Drew Kendall, who was taking the place of Cam Jurgens, who was pushed over. Many pointed towards his numerous good snaps, his composure against Jeffrey Simmons and was able to ensure that everything was organized on the Eagles final drive for a touchdown. Finally, I need to point out the works and talents of Quinyon Mitchell and Riq Woolen, who each allowed 2 receptions on 4 targets for 16 and 21 yards a piece with no touchdowns. 

Now that we have discussed the impact players of the week, I am going to go on to discuss the players who should have just stayed home. Including Cam Jurgens. I think like with Landon Dickerson, the 2024 season as well as the previous two seasons completely destroyed Cam's morale and durability and I think the tush push might be to blame. He isn't the same player. He is slow, he doesn't have the ability to defeat stunts and he just gets destroyed by almost every stunt against him. He is just very bad and I do not even think rest is going to fix him. It was almost like every time they showed him he was either falling to the ground or was like an invisible wall that a defender was moving through. This gave Jalen Hurts a host ton of trouble, which led to him taking 3 sacks on the game. The other player that probably could have stayed home was Saquon Barkley. Gone is 2024, a year where he went absolutely bazerk and put up over 2 thousand rushing yards and was the offensive player of the year. Gone are the days of an amazing offensive line, gone is his durability, and gone is the play calling of Kellen Moore. He had 1 rush for no gain and then left the entire half and ended the game with like 4 rushes for 9 yards. That isn't a pro bowl caliber running back, that is a guy on the decline. The final thing that never needs to show up again are the swing passes to Makai Lemon, which do not work. Not only because they are insanely telegraphed, but also because the receivers cannot hold blocks to help the rookie get a lot of yardage after the catch. It is a wasted play because since it first was used in week 1, it hasn't done anything. 

The final player that people are saying did poorly was Jihaad Campbell and a lot of that has to do with the fact that from 2024 to 2025, Nakobe Dean was so good. Thankfully he decided to bring his services to the Raiders and not the Cowboys, but in his place has left a hole in the defense, especially in places of stopping the run, which Tony Pollard completely gashed the Eagles in the 2nd half. Campbell just doesn't seem to be at the place that many Eagles fans thought. a former first round, SEC linebacker should be. Now he isn't as bad as Marcus Epps has been, but he also just wasn't that good on Sunday against the Titans despite leading the team in tackles. 

Jihaad Campbell #11 trailing Tony Pollard

Marcus Epps #39 getting hurdled over

The final thing I am going to do is rate Jalen Hurts and I will be honest, there are a few good things he did and a few bad things with a certain number of caveats. Firstly the fact that his 3rd down passing was off the charts. The Eagles are a team where on 1st down they are ranked 32nd in yards, on second down, they are 21st in yards and then on third down, they are 1st. It was Jalen Hurts who helped make the team convert on those key 3rd downs because they were usually long yardage needs and many quarterbacks cannot do that. The other truly positive thing was the final drive where there was less than 2 minutes left, there were no timeouts and the team had to go like 68 yards down the field. I'll be honest here, Jalen showed out. He had 1 really bad play on the drive and he never let the pressure get to him. Almost reminded me of a week 2 game by Michael Vick against the eventual Super Bowl Champion Ravens. This was a game where there was 4 minutes and 43 seconds left left and Vick was able to get the team down the field on the back of 371 passing yard performance with 1 passing touchdown and 2 interceptions and capped the game off with a 1 yard touchdown rush. That Eagles team would also extend to 2-0, but after injuries and poor play and coaching they would go to 4-12 by the end of the year. Suffice to say, I think Jalen showed poise and never gave up. 

Now to the poor aspects of the game for Jalen. Despite the fact that the first 3 drives made it into the Titans red zone, that doesn't mean it was all sunshine and rainbows. That interception on the first drive was absolutely inexcusable. I understand Devonta was being held a bit, but it was a pass into a very covered player that was intercepted into a 14 point swing. The Eagles were absolutely dominating at both sides of the ball up to that point and the fact that this gets rid of points outright helps the opponent win. I don't care which team you are, if you turn the ball over in the red zone, you will have a tough time winning the football game. The next aspect of Jalen's game I didn't like was his happy feet. I don't know if this will always be an issue for Jalen, but the guy leaves the pocket way too early. I don't know if he was pressing because of the guys that were starting in front of him or because he felt like he was under immense pressure, but there were numerous times where he bailed left or right when he still had time and he still had numerous step up lanes. In fact there was a play where the linebackers moved out into coverage, there were four linemen and he never had the inkling to run the ball. Those options are there, he is a dual threat quarterback, he can manipulate defenders with his legs. My thought is he is looking down field for someone to deal the ball to and the defenders are just getting to him far too early. This was happening during the majority of the 2nd half and he just didn't have a counter for what the defense was trying to do against him there. I get that Simmons was bearing down on him often, but you are faster than him, use that speed to your advantage. The 2nd interception by Hurts was just a good play, not only by Simmons, but also by Marcus Harris. 

However, a win is a win, it is true that you can't always blow out bad teams. It is definitely better to be 2-0 than 0-2 or even 1-1, but at the end of the day, all of the teams are kind of still feeling themselves. The Eagles have gone 2-0 many times and sometimes doesn't do anything when it comes to playoff or season success. You have to continue to improve and even start to right some of the negative aspects of the team. Glaring weak spots on this team are the offensive line, the poor running game, poor play by the safeties on the team and a lack of consistency by the offense. If these things aren't improved on then it could be a long season at a time where the Eagles could gain a lot of ground over the division. 

Week 1: Washington Commanders @ Philadelphia Eagles Game Recap

 

Eagles score thumbnail (doesn't belong to me)

My personal philosophy when it comes to the first game of the regular season is two fold. Firstly, the primary game of the season is a pace setting effort for the team that is playing in the game. If you win and you win big during the first game of the season it "could" go a long way to how you are going to do during the season. This doesn't mean that if you win the first game 35-0 you are automatically going to the Super Bowl. You could be extremely successful, but then you could completely bomb the rest of the season. Example of such lies with the 2020 Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that destroyed the Colts at home in week 1 and then went on to lose all the rest of the games on their schedule. In the current era of the NFL, I also see week 1 being a preseason game for the starters. In the modern day NFL, a lot of starters never see the field during the preseason because of the risk of getting injured. This makes the first game of the season a "get right" game for a lot of the guys who merely attended practices instead of playing in actual preseason action. Now don't get me wrong, you don't have to win the 1st game of the season, in fact the two teams that went to the Super Bowl in 2025 didn't win the first game of the season, but most times the teams with the most success during the season do win the first game of the season. 

With all of this said, I expected a rough opening performance from the team. Not only did the Eagles not have any starters playing in the preseason, but they also were performing under a new offense, with a new offensive coordinator and a new quarterbacks coach and a new offensive line coach. In my right mind I had them winning this game by around a possession and I didn't expect a perfect game. What I also didn't expect was despite the Eagles and Commanders playing in the game of the week, that didn't mean that they were going to go straight to my game at 1:25 Eastern in my area. No, they instead showed the "completely important" overtime matchup between the Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints. While this annoyed me, it probably paled in comparison to all of the people that had Sunday Ticket and actually paid money to YouTube TV to NOT play their game. So suffice to say, I missed the first two drives. To add insult to injury, once the Lions and Saints game ended with a "no good" two point conversation, FOX took their sweet time, showing about five super slow commercials, thanks a lot for that!

Eagles fans mad that the Saints @ Lions game went to overtime because they couldn't watch their game

The game started out really slow for the Eagles with the team allowing the Commanders to get to their side of the field and having rookie kicker, Drew Stevens, to kick a 55 yard field goal to put the Commanders up 3 - 0. Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts had a horrendous start to the game, going 1 for 3 for 5 yards on the team's first drive and then after going into negative yardage on a 5 yard loss to 1st round rookie, Makai Lemon, Hurts would suffer his first sack of the season by Frankie Luvu. Luckily the Eagles were able to do the work keeping Jayden Daniels and the Commanders offense down that they were able to get onto the board early in the second quarter. This happened after a deep pass to Dontayvion Wicks for 63 total yards and after going backwards because of a holding penalty by Center, Cam Jurgens, Jalen Hurts was able to hook up with his tight end, Dallas Goedert for a 17 yard touchdown to put the Eagles in the lead 7 - 3!

Dontayvion Wicks #13 with a big catch

Dallas Goedert #88 grabs the second quarter touchdown

The next three drives for both teams netted 1 yard, then 4 yards, and then 3 yards, which led to punts. For the Commanders, it had to do with the fact that the Eagles were locking down their receivers and Jayden Daniels just wasn't able to pass the ball to save his own life. He was constantly pressing for an open receiver and most of his incomplete passes were either errant throws or balls purposefully thrown out of bounds. He was not completing a high percentage of his passes and the Commanders offense was faltering because of it. In fact, Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell had allowed a total of 2 receptions on 3 targets for 15 yards and Riq Woolen was targeted 4 times for 0 receptions so the outside cornerbacks were really doing work. 

Riq Woolen #2

Quinyon Mitchell #27

For the Eagles on the other hand, the anchor for their team was former Pro Bowl Offensive Guard, Landon Dickerson. A guy that seemed to be completely injured pretty much all the 2025 season and who was apparently injured during this game too because he was a turn style. He was slow off the snap, he was letting defenders into the backfield to harass Jalen Hurts and even he admitted a day after the game that he was the reason why the offense played poorly. I for one, agree with him, he was very bad. Dickerson played so poorly that the Eagles recognized his injury, which apparently is a bone bruise and placed him on Injured Reserve. Personally, I believe that his decision to play the game was pure selfishness because if you aren't feeling good enough to play, you shouldn't play. It doesn't matter if fans and teammates are needing you to play, if your poor play due to injury, it is hampering your ability to do well and therefore you shouldn't be playing anyways. Needless to say, it was mostly on Landon Dickerson for why Saquon Barkley struggled almost all day while being hit almost the moment he got the ball. 

Landon Dickerson #69 was placed on injured reserve Monday with a bone bruise

With all of this said, the Eagles last drive of the half ended in success thanks to a 42 yard Saquon Barkley run to the Commanders 12 and then with a 9 yard to go to get to the end zone, Jalen Hurts would hit Dontaiyvion Wicks on a corner post route, beating Mike Sainristil. While the Eagles would have a fast hitting touchdown drive, the Commanders would end the half with a slow and methodical drive where Jayden Daniels would go "no huddle" to get the ball to the Eagles 32 on 4th and inches. Now they could have made the decision to kick the field goal, but instead they got serious and decided to go for it on a Jacory Croskey-Merritt first down. On 2nd and 10 in the red zone, Jayden Daniels would find an open Antonio Williams to the 1 yard line of the Eagles and then Croskey-Merritt would dive for the end zone to lessen the Eagles lead 14 - 10. 

Saquon Barkley #26 with a 42 yard run

Dontayvion Wicks #13 with a late in the 2nd quarter touchdown

The third quarter would be more of the same for both teams as neither was able to get very many first downs. The Commanders were able to get to the Eagles 36 after a Jayden Daniels connection to Chig Okonkwo and then a Cooper DeJean illegal contact penalty on Terry McLaurin. Unlike the first Drew Stevens field goal attempt, the second one from a bit closer distance would be no good. The only bright spot for the Eagles in the third quarter was a dazzling pass from Jalen Hurts to Devonta Smith along the sideline for a gain of 31 yards. What dashed this play was the fact that on the very next play, the Eagles played fast and loose because they were afraid the Devonta Smith catch might get challenged, which caused the drive to stall out and Hurts threw his worst pass of the game to a wide open Goedert that sailed away from him and was almost intercepted. The only positive aspect of the drive was the 35 yard Jake Elliott field goal that grew the Eagles lead by 7. 

Devonta Smith #6 after his 31 yard catch from Jalen Hurts

The fourth quarter was certainly the best one for the Commanders as they installed two very methodical touchdown drives of 67 and 64 yards that were both capped off by touchdown passes by Jayden Daniels. The first one went to the newly signed Stefon Diggs, who in a very boneheaded fashion collected an unsportsmanlike penalty after hugging the goal post. This put a 15 yard penalty on the extra point and when Drew Stevens attempted the extra point, it was blocked by Jalen Carter, so instead of the game being 17-17, it was 17-16. The other drive was another very tactical and methodical one where the Commanders were able to convert a 4th and 2 down by 8 to Terry McLaurin to get his first catch. The drive was eventually capped off by a Jayden Daniels flat route touchdown to Antonio Williams, who recorded 4 receptions, 64 yards and 1 touchdown. The ball appeared to have touched the turf, but after further review, he didn't use the ground to catch the ball and the play was upheld. 

Stefon Diggs #3 after his catching his first touchdown of the season

Jalen Carter #98 blocking the point after attempt after the Diggs unsportsmanlike conduct penalty

Antonio Williams touchdown that hit the turf

Jayden Daniels #5 throwing touchdown against the Eagles

We will rope back to the two point conversion in a second, but right now I am going to go over the final scoring drive for the Eagles that happened to have the most controversial play of the game. So by this point in the game, the Commanders have been showing to not only be dominating on offense, but also on defense, so the Eagles really needed to do something or they might have had to submit to the loss. The Eagles were kind of in crisis, after a 3 yard loss by Saquon, a 5 yard false start on Mailata and an incomplete pass, the Eagles were staring down a 3rd and 18. This is where Jalen Hurts played hero ball and was able to run to the Commanders 47 and a gain of 22 thanks to man coverage, bad contain and an excellent Makai Lemon block. A few plays later Dallas Goedert would go in motion away from the offensive line, Jordan Mailata would appear to stand up, Hurts would snap the ball, confuse the heck out of the Commanders defenders, who were expecting a flag and didn't get one. Goedert would catch the ball over the middle and run for a 43 yard touchdown with Commanders defenders eating his dust. 

Jalen Hurts #1 about to throw a touchdown to #88 Dallas Goedert

Dallas Goedert #88 running for his 2nd touchdown of the game

Now this was a very controversial play because #98, #52 and #54 thought they rightfully pointed out a false start. However, in the broadcast it is detailed that Goedert was in the backfield, so he is allowed to motion or shift without getting set. As for Mailata, since he never put his hand to the ground he is allowed to get out of his stance to point something out, even when a snap takes place. His upper body is thus allowed to move if it isn't simulating a blocking attempt or as long as he isn't simulating movement backwards. So while I wasn't personally aware of this rule and while I know that officiating explanations on air aren't always correct, I am just going to go with it because people who know more than me are telling me that Mailata didn't actually go against the rules and thus, the touchdown stood. So if you'd like you could crack one of those "see you don't really know ball" quips. 

Okay, back to the touchdown for the Commanders that many Eagles fans thought shouldn't have been. The Commanders decided to go for a 2 point conversion to try to tie the game. For this play they decided to run a shovel pass to Jesse Bates, which was immediately eaten up by Moro Ojomo. The Commanders didn't get the conversion, the score ended up being 24-22, they tried an onside kick, didn't get it either and the ball was recovered by Devonta Smith and thus the game was over. 

Failed Commanders 2 Point Conversion Attempt

So let me get into the impact and disappointing players for the Eagles in the game. Let us start with a player that really surprised me in the game, that being Dontayvion Wicks. A guy who Eagles fans really hyped up and everyone else was like "Eagles fans are stupid". Well, Wicks ended the game with 2 receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown including a deep 63 yard pass from Hurts that set up a Dallas Goedert touchdown. Then in the second quarter he would catch a touchdown of his own after a big Saquon Barkley run. Of course the other main impact player of the game on offense was Dallas Goedert, who caught 2 of Jalen Hurts 3 touchdowns with the inclusion of 4 total catches. On defense the impact players included linebacker, Zack Baun who recorded 19 total combo tackles, including one for a loss and 2 pass defenses. Not to mention, Baun apparently played so well that he was one of the NFC defensive players of the week. It must also be shown that both starting cornerbacks, Riq Woolen and Quinyon Mitchell excelled in the game, with both allowing minimal catches and yardage in the game. Oh, and I forgot, special teams. Braden Mann really killed it as a punter against the Commanders. So much so that with his 7 punts, four of them landed inside the 10 to set the Commanders in bad field position. Chalk another one up for the brand!

Linebacker, Zack Baun #53 wins NFC Defensive Player of the week

Punter, Braden Mann #10

And now for the players who I wished stayed home on Sunday. The first one being the completely obvious, Makai Lemon. This guy was such a disappointment, if I could rate this guy on a scale from Jalen Reagor to Terrell Owens, I would rate him as J.J. Arthega-Whiteside, who might be worse than Jalen Reagor. Makai was targeted on 3 passes for negative 5 yards. Which, yes, I and almost everyone else on the entire planet has better stats than Makai Lemon. One reason might be because they only tried to deal passes to him on screen routes, which immediately got blown up by the Commanders, the other reason is because he was open, Hurts just didn't throw the ball to him. On the first Goedert pass, he was open, but Hurts didn't throw to him, likely because he doesn't trust him and if you know anything about trust, Hurts has his favorites. Suffice to say it is his first game, but you gotta play better if you were a 1st rounder. 

Makai Lemon #9 (not doing the number 9 any favors)

Next is Cooper DeJean, who was an All Pro Cornerback and had one of the greatest interceptions for a touchdowns in Super Bowl history against Patrick Mahomes. However, on Sunday against the Commanders, he just looked slow. He was getting beaten on big plays and even the touchdown catch by Stefon Diggs. Like I know Diggs is no slouch, but he looked really slow on that slant route and seemingly let him score. A lot of people have been saying he has slowed down because he is drinking and partying too much, some say he is dating too many cougars and Cowboys cheerleaders and finally that he is missing his buddy Reed Blankenship (who played like dirt himself as he got picked apart by Josh Allen). Regardless, I think he has an ab injury and might be questionable for the Eagles game on Sunday in Nashville against the Titans. On a scale from Michael Jaquet to... Cooper DeJean from 2024, I would rank him at Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. A guy who is able to be physical and make plays, but also a guy that gets burned way too much. 

Cooper DeJean #33 getting his lunch money taken away by Stefon Diggs #3

The final player I wish stayed home was pro bowl offensive guard from the University of Alabama, Landon Dickerson. Let me first of all say that Landon Dickerson is a freaking warrior. The way he was able to play in the NFL Championship Game injured against the Commanders two years ago at a position he didn't play was nothing short of amazing. He clearly put his body on the line and got the reward of winning the Super Bowl. With that said, his level of play in 2025 was really bad and his level of play week 1 was equally horrendous. The news, however came out and it said that he had a bone bruise in his right knee that he absorbed in training camp. This begs the question, if he had a bone bruise and it was that bad and he didn't play in any preseason games... then why did he even play? Like there is being a hero for your team and raising the level of play, but then there is going out there in a debilitating way, while being injured at the same time and almost costing your team the win. Dickerson and the Eagles obviously chose the option of Jalen Hurts getting immediate pressure and losing the opportunity of getting drives going and Saquon Barkley getting tackled in the backfield almost immediately. To me, that isn't heroic, that is being selfish and not being smart with your body. 

Now to save the best for last, grading Jalen Hurts. On the scale from Mike McMahon to Nick Foles in Super Bowl 52, I would rank him at Carson Wentz in 2019. I think he played an okay game. Obviously he did very well throwing deep passes. On his three main deep passes or passes that went over 15 yards he completed a high amount of his passes. He also threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, so that is also great to see. He also made some major plays with his legs and was able to get the team to where they needed to be in order to win the football game. At the end of the day, that is what you want to see. Some criticisms though and I am not sure if this can be completely pegged down to Jalen Hurts, but the offense really struggled to methodically get down the field. I think the offensive line definitely played a factor with that, but when you don't get a single first down on first down, then your offense as a whole might be hampered. The Commanders certainly did a good job limiting Saquon Barkley, who got around half of his yards on one play, so a better running game could help the quarterback out. If I would describe Jalen Hurts in one phrase when it comes to this game it would be "hero ball". He came up hot when the team needed him the most, but when the team didn't need him, he and the offense were stagnant. 

Jalen Hurts #1 winding up for a pass

Jalen Hurts #1 running away from defenders

Before the game I actually did a bit of lurking on the bad place (twitter or X) or whatever you call it just to see what Commanders fans were saying about Jalen Hurts before the game. Most of them were saying that without AJ Brown he would suck, but in all actuality, he played about as well as he had when AJ Brown was in Philadelphia back in 2025. And even so, he played better than Jayden Daniels for most of the game, so I think that means that Jalen Hurts at least has to be "pretty good". It was tough to see that Jalen Hurts didn't start the game out very well, but I understand that with no preseason, you have to get up to the mark quickly during game one because you are probably relatively rusty. Oh well, hopefully I have good things to say about the team as they go to Nashville to play against the Tennessee Titans.