Five Storylines for Eagles' Monday Night Matchup vs. Commanders

The Eagles havent played much the past month, their run defense has been leaky, and the Commanders have played five close games the past five weeks

Here are five storylines for Monday’s matchup at Lincoln Financial Field between the undefeated Eagles and the Washington Commanders.

LAY OFF

This will be just the third game in the last 29 days the Eagles will have played. After this, it will be a sprint to the finish line, with nine straight games and no time off.

The Eagles have enough veterans to not let the inactivity become a factor, but it can’t be easy to keep a mental edge during such an extended down period.

The Eagles beat the Cowboys on Oct. 16 then went into their bye week.

Coming out of it, they beat the Steelers then, four days later, beat the Texans. That recent outing was Nov. 3. They haven’t played since.

“The bye week is obviously a big one,” said center Jason Kelce. “You’ve got to come back and be really focused and prepared. I don’t remember having a bye week back-to-back, with the Thursday game so close together. 

"Once you get back, and you’re back into the schedule, in some ways I think it set the exact same way every week, so you kind of snap back into, ‘Hey, we’re at work here. We’re preparing.’”

RUN DEFENSE

This is the second straight week this storyline has been on this list and, until the Eagles can hold a team under 100 yards rushing again, it might just keep showing up.

“If the team is trying to pound you, you want to get another hat in the box,” said DC Jonathan Gannon. “You make sure that you're not check mated by the number count. With saying that, there's some give and take to that, too, in the pass game.

“I think we'll continue to work on, improve when we are in a light box, how we can be a little bit better, and then when we are in post close to really knock those runs down a little bit quicker

The Eagles allowed rookie Dameon Pierce to run amok in Houston, surrendering 39 yards on 27 carries. They haven’t held a team under 120 yards on the ground since Week 4 against the Jaguars.

TACKLING

The Eagles are too inconsistent with it.

It will be interesting see how they bring down rookie Brian Robinson, a hard-nosed runner from the University of Alabama who, like Pierce, is a physical downhill bruiser.

“The tackling gotta get better if we’re trying to win this thing, especially when it gets colder,” said DE Brandon Graham. “People are going to run the ball. So, we have to make sure we get the ball carrier on the ground. If I’m critiquing (us), that’s what we’re going to work on and make sure we stay sharp.”

CAN SMITTY DO IT AGAIN?

In the first matchup between these two teams, the second-year WR had a career-high 169 yards on eight catches and one touchdown.

Will Washington make more of a concerted effort to stop him, or do a better job than it did last time, and, if they do, does that mean A.J. Brown goes off this time?

CLOSE GAME

The Eagles have been tested in the ssecond half only by the Cardinals, turning a 17-17 tie with just over nine minutes to play, into a 20-17 with a mammoth drive for a game-winning field goal.

They may need some similar heroics this time since the Commanders’ last five games have been decided by five or fewer points and they are 3-2 in those games.

If form holds for Washington, Philly may need to find a way to get the job done in the final quarter to move to 9-0.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.