'Sloppy' Stops the Eagles Win Streak At 10

The Eagles should have beaten the Commanders on Sunday but a host of self-inflicted mistakes did them in.

Dec 22, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders wide receiver Jamison Crowder (80) catches the game winning touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Northwest Stadium. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

LANDOVER, MD - The Eagles lost for the first time in nearly three months on Sunday and it took 59:54 before the Washington Commanders vanquished them, 36-33, at Northwest Stadium. 

And oh yeah, the Eagles played about 54 of them without starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, who was ruled out early in the first quarter with a concussion after gashing the Washington defense for 13 yards.

Backup Kenny Pickett did an excellent job in difficult circumstances and has the Eagles in a position to win had the normally reliable DeVonta Smith hauled in a bunny the star receiver secures 99 times out of 100.

To his credit the classy Smith didn’t shy away from the accountability for what went on.

“I dropped the ball. I mean, I ain’t going to beat myself up over it. It’s life, part of the game,” Smith said. “S#$%, I made all the tough catches today, and the easy one I had, I dropped. It is what it is. It (cost) us the game. Ain’t nobody else’s fault but mine.”

That said, the Eagles still could have won and the other two facets of the game also failed Philadelphia in the final two minutes.

Poor kickoff coverage had been a theme throughout the game and was exacerbated on the final try by Sydney Brown leaving too soon.

That field position enabled Commanders star rookie Jayden Daniels to navigate the field in 1:52 with just one timeout.

When Washington finally used that stoppage 23 seconds they needed a first down on third-and-one from the Eagles’ 14-yard line.

A five-yard run by Brian Robinson secured that but took 12 seconds off the clock leaving the Commanders two plays to win the game from the nine-yard line.

Daniels needed just one by throwing a dart to Jamison Crowder with Zack Baun underneath in coverage and safeties Reed Blankenship and Tristin McCollum bracketing Crowder.

“We hit that in practice,” Daniel said. “That’s the same exact concept, same exact throw so it kind of just like I see two-high safety, middle field open and I already hot this in practice so it was time to just make the throw to end the game.”

Crowder also noted the practice rep.

“It was a play that we had in this week in the red zone and it’s crazy. Friday, we actually ran it and I caught the same pass. So we got the same look that we had thought we were going to get," he said.

Sometimes you get got and in the NFL once every three months isn’t exactly cause to sound the alarm.

“Just sloppy. Sloppy with penalties, sloppy with too many men on the field, sloppy with our fundamentals," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "And when you play a good football team like we played today, and you’re playing sloppy regardless of how many turnovers you force, it’s going to be hard to win.”

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