The Washington Commanders are Destroyed by the Philadelphia Eagles -

By Luke Weidenkopf

On Sunday all hope vanished for Washington Commanders fans. All thoughts and emotions of possible success were turned into mere memories as they were walloped by the Philadelphia Eagles 24-8.

This was a revenge game for Commander’s quarterback Carson Wentz. He was selected by the Eagles with the second pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and played multiple years there. However, he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts last year due to his poor play and the emergence of the Eagles’ current starting quarterback Jalen Hurts. After just one lackluster year with the Colts, the team traded him to Washington, and they immediately made him the starting quarterback.

On Sunday, against his former team, Wentz played with no emotion or fire. He threw over 43 passes and completed only 23 of them for 211 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. He had no impact on the field and fumbled the ball twice, recovering it once and losing it the other.

The offensive troubles were not entirely Wentz’s fault as he was sacked nine times. In his first eight drop backs, he was sacked five of those eight times. His former teammate, Jason Kelce, said after the game, “I love Carson, [but] I do not feel bad at all that he took seven sacks”. Even players on the field couldn’t keep track of how many times Wentz was sacked.

The running game for the Commanders was below average. Their leading back, Antonio Gibson, had 12 runs for 38 yards and a touchdown. In total, the team had 88 rushing yards and averaged 4.0 yards per carry, which is below the NFL average. Washington needed an excellent running attack if they had any hope of winning, but their offensive backs could not get the job done.

Washington’s defense struggled early, specifically in the second quarter where Hurts and the Eagles scored 24 points, but the Commanders were able to shut them down later in the game. Hurts and wide receiver DeVonta Smith were an unstoppable duo for the Eagles, as the former Heisman Trophy Winner had eight receptions for 169 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown was an amazing jump ball grab over Washington defender, Kendall Fuller, as the clock ran out in the first half.

That was all that the Eagles could muster offensively as the Commanders’ defense stopped every drive in the second half. Early in the fourth quarter, Washington’s special teams pinned the Eagles deep in their zone. On the next Philadelphia play, the Commanders’ defensive line clobbered Eagles running back, Boston Scott, back into the endzone for a safety. The Commanders’ offense scored a late garbage-time touchdown to bring the game within two scores, but it was too late for them to mount a comeback.

Overall, the Commanders looked lifeless, and the offense could not amount to anything. The offense had been the only bright spot for Washington the past two weeks, but after being shut down by a subpar Eagles defense, questions and concerns must arise. Coach Ron Rivera stated that “It’s a combination of things that we’re working through and trying to find.” The defense picked up the slack in the second half and brought some much-needed energy to the team, but their extremely slow start handicapped Washington from having any chance at a comeback.

It seems that the Commanders cannot put a full game together. In both Week one and two, the offense started slow, and it took until the third quarter for the wheels to start turning. The defense has been basically invisible for the first two weeks. The key to Washington’s success is starting out hot. They need to jump on their opposition and take a strong commanding (no pun intended) lead.

Washington has an extremely important game next week against their divisional rivals, the Dallas Cowboys. This is a winnable game as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback, Dak Prescott, is out with an injury. It all depends on how they start and who shows up ready to play.