Pat Mulranen

After Sunday, the Eagles schedule gets very hard over the next six weeks. But luckily one of them is the bye week. So, this is an important game for the Eagles. 

Washington has given the Eagles trouble recently. A few weeks ago, the Commanders took the Eagles to overtime in a game that should not have. Last year, Washington gave the Eagles their first loss. This will probably not be easy. Most divisions aren’t. But the Eagles should get the win. 

Coming off a statement win against the Dolphins, the Eagles should hopefully have a ton of momentum and use that to improve to 7-1. Washington’s Sam Howell arguably had his best game of the season in Week 4. Howell has not been playing well lately, which has a lot to do with the Commanders’ offensive line (they have allowed 40 sacks this season). Against the Eagles pass rush, along with their 28th-ranked pass defense (248 passing yards allowed per game). So expect some (or maybe a lot of) sacks. And Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown and the other receivers should have big days.

Listen, the Eagles lost to the Jets. The Eagles should have beaten them, but that goes to show the saying “Any Given Sunday” is accurate. The Eagles should defeat Washington, and I think they will. The Eagles cannot let them hang around, though. The Eagles absolutely need to win this game. After this, they have Dallas twice, San Francisco, Kansas City and Buffalo. The Eagles will probably not win all those games, so they have to get the wins while they can. The Eagles are far better than Washington, and they need to (and will) prove it.

Eagles 35, Washington 20

Ryan Shead

Hard to believe we’re basically at the halfway point of the season already. The Eagles are coming off a dominant performance last week vs a high powered offense in the Miami Dolphins, the Commanders however had a very disappointing game in NY.

Washington usually seems to play tough Against the Eagles, and you’d expect that with a division game. I don’t think that happens this week.

The Eagles are averaging more ypg and more ppg then they did last season, yet they haven’t seemed to 100% click yet. That’s because last year Eagles were +8 in turnovers, this season-2. That has to be fixed, Jalen Hurts has to be more careful, plain and simple.  The Eagles are 3rd in the league with 24 sacks, Sam Howell has been sacked 40 times. I think Eagles have a sack party today and get on the plus side of turnovers.  

Eagles 31, Washington 20

Mike Sliwinski

In a weird scheduling quirk, the Eagles find themselves facing Washington a second time while still in the first half of their season. Meanwhile they have yet to play either of their other two division foes even once. Washington’s ever changing QB carousel remains at Sam Howell. Sam Howell and Washington played the Eagles tough in the first match up. Everyone feeling Washington Head Coach Riverboat Ron (nickname due to his risk-taking nature) decided not to go for 2 and the win after a late touchdown drive in the first meeting that ultimately led to an overtime win for the Eagles.

Since that game in week 4, Washington has gotten blown out by a bad Bears team, beat an over .500 Falcons team at home, then lost to another Bad Giants team in a division game. They sit at 3-4 on the year and are on pace for giving up something like 100 sacks. Aside from a shaky offensive line and mediocre QB, Washington does have weapons. The RB combo of Brian Robinson and Antonio Gibson is solid. Terry Mcluarin remains as WR1 and has been one of the better receivers for the past half decade or so. Young up and comer Curtis Samuel was supposed to take McLuarin’s throne but has yet to do so. He is a solid #2 in his own right though. TE Logan Thomas is injury prone and hot and cold but on any given Sunday, he can look like one of the best at his position. The Eagles strength on the defensive line against an again, shaky offensive line should feast and neutralize the passing attack and always plays well against the run, even with 2nd year stud Jordan Davis questionable. Lastly, I am excited to see the hometown kid Howie just traded for in Kevin Byard suit up in Eagles Green. As a recent all pro, this was seen as another shrewd move by Howie making people wonder why other GMs pick up the phone when he calls.

A quick hit on the other side of the ball. Washington has a decent defense that can make things tough on the Eagles offense. The Eagles offense finally put together one of their most complete games of the season last week, but I would still like them to use the RBs more. They have 4 of them and all should be fresh. This would neutralize the pass rush and take a little pressure off of Hurts who has been turnover prone this year. At the same time so many mouths at receiver with Dallas at TE, AJ having a monster season at WR, Davante having another solid year and always reliable, and last week’s acquisition, future hall of famer (albeit past his prime) Julio Jones.

In the end I think the Eagles are better on both sides of the ball. But last meeting none of that mattered as it was only a coin flip game. I am sure Ryan, as he did on the show, will talk about there always being one close game against Washington, with the other being a comfortable win. I’m not so sure though. Division away games are always tough. Washington will be angry and Eagles coming off an emotional Sunday night win last week, it seems to me it will be another tight one.

Eagles 20, Washington 17