Commanders 'Have to be Ready!' vs. Eagles, Says Sam Howell

The Washington Commanders travel into enemy territory on Sunday to face the Philadelphia Eagles, with Sam Howell knowing the enormity of the task that's in front of them.

The Washington Commanders have licked their wounds and moved on from the 37-3 butt-kicking at the hands of the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. Attention now turns to a team that is just as potent on both sides of the ball as Josh Allen's team - the Philadelphia Eagles.

With the Eagles in action on Monday night in a routine win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sam Howell revealed that he took a vested interest in what the Eagles were doing when he watched their tape.

“Yeah, I watched a little bit of it,” Howell said.

And as far as what he took away from the Eagles 25-11 win?

“We watch every game that they've played," Howell said. "I didn't really watch a whole lot on TV while the game was on, but I watched it on Tuesday. But yeah, we look at every game and always look at what teams are having success on and what's not working. And obviously, when you look at the tape, their front jumps out. Obviously, I think that's where it starts with their defense and you know, in the back end they have some really good players as well. So, it's a very talented defense and they're doing a really good job, so we definitely got to be ready to go.”

For most teams, entering the unforgiving stadium in Philadelphia can send shudders down the spine, but for Washington, the last time they stepped onto Lincoln Financial Field, they managed to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season in a 32-21 win in Week 10.

After giving up 14 first-quarter points, the Commanders tightened things up and only allowed seven points for the remaining three quarters while Washington piled on 25 points.

But Howell didn't suit up, it was Taylor Heinicke who orchestrated the win as Washington dominated time in possession (40:24 to 19:36) as Jack Del Rio's unit forced three fumbles (recovered them all) and intercepted Jalen Hurts.

Washington Commanders defensive end Montez Sweat / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

For Howell, the memories of the game are great, but he stated that they are just memories and what happened last year has no bearing on their matchup this week.

“It was a great game," Howell said. "Great win for us last year and obviously a good Philly team and so talented, they had one of the better rosters in the NFL, so it was a great challenge. But yeah, we're excited to go back to Philly. Obviously, last year's game isn't going to do anything for us this year. It's a new team, we have a new team and we got to go in there and play at a high level in order to have a chance to win the game. We got to have a really good week of practice and we'll have a good plan and it's just a matter of going in there and executing.”

It will be the first division matchup up of the season for both the Eagles and Commanders, with many similarities to last year as Washington is coming off a loss, the Eagles are undefeated and it is at a stadium where the Commanders beat the Eagles last season.

Could history repeat itself and could Washington hand Philadelphia its first loss of the season as they did a year ago? 

This is the NFL and despite the Eagles being overwhelming favorites, anything can happen on any given Sunday.