Philadelphia Eagles Wary of Bounce Back from Sam Howell, Commanders

A poor performance in pass protection against Buffalo last week could fuel an over-correction against the talented Eagles' rush.

PHILADELPHIA - You might expect the talented Philadelphia Eagles defense to be circling like sharks in advance of Sunday’s game with the Washington Commanders.

Washington’s first-year starting quarterback Sam Howell is coming off his worst performance in a 37-3 drubbing at the hands of Buffalo last week, getting sacked nine times and throwing four interceptions.

Things don’t figure to get any easier for Howell at Lincoln Financial Field against the 3-0 Eagles.

The Eagles, though, are well aware that the typical NFL mindset after such a performance is often an overcorrection so the expectations are that Howell has been drilled to death about getting the football out on time against the ferocious Philadelphia pass rush.

“He’s a competitor,” veteran defensive end Brandon Graham said of Howell. “Yeah, he might’ve got sacked nine times, but they’re playing. They’re going to play hard against us, too. NFC East opponent, first one for us, so I know it’s going to be electric.

“… We just have to come out and be us. It’s all about us.”

The Commanders also won two games before the ugly performance against the Bills and the Eagles’ veterans have been around long enough to understand that things can change drastically from week to week.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham (55) celebrates his sack with defensive tackle Fletcher Cox (91) during the first quarter against the New York Jets at Lincoln Financial Field / © Eric Hartline, USA Today

“I think probably he’ll get the ball out faster and I’m sure the coaches over there are trying to find better ways to protect him,” cornerback Darius Slay said. “Maybe he makes better decisions. I don’t know how it is over there, but I’m sure they’re trying to figure it out because they know how great our D-line can be."

The Eagles are so talented that the mindset is to focus inward.

“We have to make sure we go out there and take care of our business and execute on our level,” said Graham.

The Eagles have won 20 of their past 21 games when Jalen Hurts has started at quarterback with the lone blemish being a 32-21 loss to the Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field in November of last year, recent proof that anything can happen in the NFL, especially in divisional games.

“Last year was last year. A lot of the stats of what we were as a defense are flipped now,” Graham said. “They ran the ball, they managed the game a lot more, and I just feel like we’re a lot better in the run game than we were last year, and we’re still working on other things, too.

“It’s an uphill battle for everybody. They aren’t the same team they were last year, either. We just have to execute whatever the game plan is, make sure we do exactly what we're supposed to do.”