5 winners and losers from the Eagles Week 11 statement win over the Commanders

The Philadelphia Eagles sit at the top of the NFC East with an 8-2 record after knocking off the fraudulent Washington Commanders on Thursday night. It was a win that was punctuated by incredible plays and dumbfounding errors.

That’s what makes this team great. Even if everyone is not constantly firing on all cylinders, the team still finds a way to win. 

It’s not a true Eagles win unless there are players to celebrate and players to complain about

For the entirety of the game, the Eagles dominated on defense. It was one of the more aesthetically pleasing defensive performances of the year. Unfortunately, the game was closer than it should’ve been, and that’s because the offense struggled in the first half.

Almost every player on defense deserves special recognition, but there are a few who won the game for themselves and also the team.

Winner: Quinyon Mitchell

Imagine, if you will, a game where a wide receiver has a game where they are remotely productive against the Eagles’ defense… you can’t. That’s a preposterous thing to think of. You might as well try to imagine a game where Brandon Graham doesn’t talk trash during a coin flip. Those games just don’t happen.

Quinyon Mitchell once put a team’s leading wide receiver in prison and this week’s new addition to Quinyanamo Bay is Terry McLaurin. Going into this game McLaurin had 47 catches for 711 yards. Leaving this game, McLaurin had 48 catches for 721 yards.

Terry had just one catch for 10 yards… That’s it… and that catch wasn’t even on Quinyon. McLaurin lined up on Quinyon’s side of the field over three-quarters of the time, and whenever he was over there during this game, he was an absolute nothing-burger. He had to move to the other side of the field so that Jayden Daniels could throw the ball at him. 

Because of his performance against Terry McLaurin, Quinyon leapfrogged Kamari Lassiter and Laiatu Latu in the Defensive Rookie of the Year odds. As of Friday morning, Q is second (+300) only to Jared Verse (-250) on odds for DROY.

What we are seeing out of the rookie is truly magnificent. He’s this good, and he’s only 20 games into his professional career. Goosebumps.

Winner: Jalen Carter

In Week 3, Jalen Carter broke the game against the New Orleans Saints when he decided to set up residence in Derek Carr’s face. He did the same thing to Jayden Daniels this week. 

He was a game-wrecker. He consistently made Jayden Daniels move erratically and blew up runs before they could turn into anything. If he gets double-teamed, he eats them. If he doesn’t get double-teamed, he gets a touch on the quarterback.

This is the kind of performance that we all hoped he would be having all season. Unfortunately, it hasn’t always been that way, but big players show up in big games. This was a big game. Get a load of the way he ruined the Commanders on a fourth-and-two.

Did Jayden bungle the snap? Yes. Did Jalen throw the right guard out of the club and force Jayden eight yards behind the line of scrimmage? Also yes. When he’s good, he’s the best in the league.

Loser: Jake Elliott

Woof. Jake Elliott had a really bad day. He came out and missed a 44-yarder on the Eagles’ first drive. Then he missed a 51-yarder on the Eagles' first drive of the second quarter. Then he missed the extra point on the Eagle’s first touchdown. 

He’s attempted four field goals over 50 yards this season and he hasn’t made any of them. This is a problem, especially considering how frequently kickers are making 50+ yard field goals this season. 

Jake’s not on a hot seat yet, but you can smell the smoke. He’s been phenomenal for so long and it’s been incredibly comforting knowing that he’s automatic. Unfortunately, those times may be a ways behind us. Time will tell, but hopefully he gets right.

The tough thing about evaluating a kicker is that all you can do is base it on the make-or-miss. Kickers are weird dudes and certifiable headcases. There’s no way of telling what actually goes wrong unless there’s a glaring slip or a botched snap/hold. This stinks and it’s tough to watch.

Winner: Saquon Barkley

Saquon hit 1,000 rushing yards in this game. That’s the fourth time he’s hit that mark in his career and it’s the fastest he’s hit it too.

He didn’t stop there though. He’s currently at 1,137 rushing yards this season. He’s 176 yards away from breaking his career high of 1,312 yards (2022). For him to break that record, he needs to rush for 26 yards per game for the next seven games. There’s a chance that he will break that record in the next two weeks. 

On top of that, the Eagles' single-season rushing record is 1,607 yards from LeSean McCoy in 2013. Saquon is 472 yards away from breaking that record and all he has to do is average 68 yards per game for the rest of the season. What we are witnessing is predictably historic.

Saquon took over the game against the Commanders. It didn’t feel like the running game was working for a good chunk of the game, but then their defense broke and Saquon went crazy.

In an offense with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, Saquon is the most consistent playmaker. He’s unstoppable and every carry is must-watch television. What a time to be alive.

Winner: Brain damage

Before halftime, Jalen Hurts was being evaluated for a concussion. It seemed like it could’ve happened on the offense’s last play when he went down face-first after he flicked the ball incomplete.

That doesn’t look all that bad compared to the damage that he took during the Eagles’ botched trick play, where he got slung down and his head bounced off the ground.

It’s kind of weird that no one came in after that and said, ‘Hey, maybe we should check Jalen out. That kind of hit can turn someone’s brain into cottage cheese.’ Maybe he didn’t have any damage after that play. Maybe he was just seeing stars. There’s no way that we’ll find out.

It would explain a lot if something did happen during that play though. After it happened, Jalen was inaccurate and there was a plethora of miscommunications between him and his receivers. Those are things that are pretty uncommon with his game. 

The drive after that, Jalen had a terrible incompletion to A.J. Brown on, what should’ve been, a sure thing on a third-and-four. It all just looked a little fishy. 

At his postgame press conference, Jalen said, “I guess I beat the protocol.” He’s normally very purposeful and deliberate with his language, and saying that he “beat” the concussion protocol seems just about as deliberate as it gets… Unless he was still concussed at that point. Then that word choice makes an ironically incredible amount of sense.