5 changes since the last time the Eagles played the Commanders

The Philadelphia Eagles played the Washington Commanders for the first time in Week 11. Five weeks later, they played again in Week 16. Five weeks after that, they’re playing in the NFC Championship. That’s kind of neat.

In the five weeks since the Eagles saw them last, there have been some changes. Both teams have lost some players and are getting different ones back, and there’s some extra motivation coming from a scorned Eagles offense that wasn’t there before.

The biggest changes are coming in the trenches

Postseasons can be won or lost based on player health. The Commanders got some tough news last Sunday about one of their offensive linemen, so when we’re talking about changes, that seems like as good of a place to start as any.

Players who are out

Sam Cosmi has been the Commanders’ best offensive lineman this season. He tore his ACL in the divisional round against the Lions, and his season is over. He was their right guard, which meant he had the honor of lining up across from Jalen Carter. 

Now it’s probably going to be eight-year veteran Trent Scott. It’s not like this is some rookie who’s getting thrown to the wolves, but he is a significant downgrade from Cosmi. He did fine when he came in against the Lions, but he was blocking Joshua Pascal, Myles Adams, and Levi Owunzurike. Those guys aren’t anywhere close to Jalen Carter.

Nakobe Dean played really well against the Commanders in Weeks 11 and 16. Per Next Gen Stats, he combined for 15 stops (tackles that result in a successful defensive play) which was the most on the team. 

He’s out with the knee injury and Oren Burks will probably get his second consecutive start. He played perfectly fine against the Rams last week… but he wasn’t Nakobe Dean. Nakobe would MAKE plays, and Oren just makes plays. There wasn’t anything that made you say, ‘That guy is a good linebacker’ like you would say just about every week for Nakobe.

Players who are coming back

For the Eagles, there were a couple of guys who are coming back for the divisional game that weren’t there in Week 16. Most notably, Jalen Hurts. This is still a little up in the air because of the knee injury that he’s going through right now… but come on… it’s Jalen. He’s not going to miss the game. 

He started the Week 16 game but left early in the first quarter because of a concussion. Before he left that game, he moved the offense with virtually no resistance. Not much more needs to be said about the added value of having your starting quarterback on the field.

Another Eagle that missed the Week 16 game was Dallas Goedert. Not only is he a mega-efficient pass catcher, but he’s also the Eagles' best run-blocking tight end.

Goedert has missed a total of seven games this season for a couple of different injuries (Weeks 7-9, and 14-17). The Eagles had their lowest rushing success rates of the season in six of those seven games. He’s important to the main function of the Eagles’ offense. 

C.J. Gardner-Johnson was ejected early in the third quarter of Week 16 because he was "basically taunting.” That was probably the first time anyone has ever been ejected for something that stupid, so there’s a pretty solid chance that it won’t happen again this week.

The Commanders also have some ‘new’ players coming back. Jonathan Allen missed Weeks 7 through 16 with a torn pec which means the Eagles haven’t had to play him this season. When he’s in, he’s really good. The two-time pro bowler led the Commanders in pressure against the Lions and he’ll be Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson’s problem to deal with this week.

Commanders have a postseason star

Some players shine in the postseason. The Commanders have one of those players with wide receiver Dyami Brown. In the regular season, Brown had 30 catches for 308 yards. In the postseason, he’s had 11 catches for 187 yards. He’s gone from being targeted on 17.3 percent of his routes to 28.9 percent. He’s a guy that Jayden Daniels trusts and I guess he’s good now. That’s not optimal.

Coming off a bad week

The Eagles win a lot of games and that’s because they hardly ever play two bad games in a row, on a team level and an individual level. 

Going into Week 16, the Eagles had just played one of their most complete games on offense after they shellacked the Steelers up and down the field; they were feeling themselves. It feels different right now.

The offensive line had a particularly rough time against the Rams, based on what we’ve seen, they’ll clean it up this week. In Week 4, Jalen was pressured 18 times and sacked twice — in the next game, 12 pressures and one sack. In Week 7, 10 pressures and five sacks — in Week 8, three pressures and zero sacks. In Week 10, 11 pressures and five sacks — in Week 11, seven pressures and one sack. In Week 16, 16 pressures and four sacks — Week 17, four pressures and zero sacks. These guys bounce back big time. 

A.J. Brown is another player who doesn’t stay down, and right now he’s in a slump. In the past two games, he’s had three catches for 24 yards. He hasn’t had a stat line like that since his rookie season. It’s just a matter of time until he breaks a game, and an NFC Championship game at home sure feels like it’d be a great place for it.

Saquon Barkley has a record to break

Going into the Week 16 game, Saquon Barkley had 1,688 rushing yards and the thought was that he would have three games to break the single-season rushing record. Unbeknownst to him, he actually only had two games.

Now, he’s at 2,329 rushing yards on the season, so he only needs 148 yards to break the NFL’s single-season rushing record including the postseason. He knows that the season can end at any moment and you have to believe that’s going to be driven to get it done on Sunday at home.

You don’t ever want Saquon Barkley running at you, and you REALLY don't want Saquon Barkley running at you when he’s trying to put his name in the history books. 

The Commanders’ safeties are Jeremy Chinn and Quan Martin. Chinn is 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds. Martin is 6-foot and 195 pounds. That’s not big enough to stop the Saquon meat train… especially when that meat train’s metaphorical cowcatcher is a lead-blocking 303-pound Cam Jurgens.