It’s week 16 of the NFL season and the 4-10 Washington Commanders will be facing a 9-5 Eagles team at home at Northwest Stadium on Saturday at 5:00 pm ET. The Eagles started the season extremely strong, going 8-3 to start the season, but lost 3 of their most recent 4 games before recovering with a blowout/shutout win against the Raiders last week.
On offense, the Eagles are in their first year with Kevin Patullo as OC and their fifth year of offensive-minded HC Nick Sirianni. The Eagles offense this
year has been very up and down, with six games scoring fewer than 20 points and three games scoring more than 30 points. One of the biggest problems for the Eagles offense has been penalties and negative plays, as this year’s Eagles team currently has the most offensive penalties (47) and the highest zero-or-negative play percentage (33.6 percent) of the Sirianni era. Recently, the Eagles have used more under-center plays and RPOs to play to the strengths of QB Jalen Hurts and run more heavy packages with an extra TE or OL to try to kickstart their stalled run game. They have also used more play action and crossing routes to open up the middle of the field, which has resulted in increased production from TE Dallas Goedert, who has received 17 targets over the last 2 games. Overall, the Eagles offense ranks 22nd in passing yards, 19th in rushing yards, and 18th in total points.
On defense, the Eagles are in their second year with Vic Fangio at DC. Fangio typically runs a 3-4 front and 2 deep safeties to limit explosive plays. He also typically runs a light box, relying on stout defensive lineman to stop the run while dropping most of his players back in coverage. This worked well last year, but ran into issues this year after the departure of DT Milton Williams and EDGE Josh Sweat in free agency and the retirement of Brandon Graham. The Eagles have managed to fortify their DL midseason by trading a 3rd-round pick to the Dolphins for talented EDGE Jaelan Phillips and convincing Brandon Graham to come out of retirement midway through the season, though the defense has remained vulnerable to the run. Overall, the Eagles defense has remained one of the NFL’s better defenses, ranked 9th in passing yards allowed, 22nd in rushing yards allowed, and 5th in total points allowed.
I asked Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation five questions to better understand the state of the Eagles and what to look for in this game.
1) How has the offensive scheme and play-calling changed under OC Kevin Patullo and how much of the offensive design should be credited to him vs Nick Sirianni vs. Jalen Hurts?
Sirianni and Hurts definitely have significant input on the offense. It’s not like Patullo is bringing his vision to the table without them being heavily involved.
With that in mind, it’s not always simple to parse through who deserves credit/blame. And there’s certainly been more blame than credit going around this season. The Eagles have the most expensive offense in the NFL by a significant margin … and it’s a group that’s largely underperformed. Entering Week 15, the Eagles were in a five-game stretch where they scored just eight touchdowns. Only the Las Vegas Raiders had fewer in that same span.
The Eagles obviously looked better against those Raiders this past weekend. How much of that was genuine improvement on their own? How much of that was the fact that the Raiders are atrocious?
I know you’re the one asking me the questions but we’ve yet to see the answers in that regard. I think it’s fair to say that game was a step in the right direction for the Eagles. It could serve as a much-needed confidence boost.
But we previously saw the Eagles make some strides on offense in wins over the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants before then only managing to score just two touchdowns in wins over the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
So, I need to see more to truly believe the offense is on the right track. If they go out and stink again against Washington, that’ll be discouraging.
It’s easy to target Patullo since he’s the new variable in the equation. I don’t think he’s done an amazing job this year (except for in goal-to-go situations, where the Eagles have been really efficient). But I also think he’s hardly the only problem with the offense.
2) The Eagles offense has been really up and down this year. What seems to be the common factors through the Eagles good offensive games and the common factors through the Eagles bad offensive games this season?
We can dumb it down to Jalen Hurts playing well (or not) but I don’t even think that’s necessarily true. Hurts had a perfect passer rating against the Minnesota Vikings, for example, but I don’t think the offense as a whole really functioned well as much as he made big plays out of structure.
Quality of opponent has definitely been a factor. The Eagles’ two biggest games in terms of yardage gained were against the teams currently picking top two in the 2026 NFL Draft order: the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders.
Then again, an optimist could point out that the Eagles gained their third-highest yardage total against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 14. Meaning that two of their three highest games have come over the past two weeks. Maybe they’re turning a corner. I still need to see more to truly believe it.
And that’s because the bad has been really bad. The Eagles have led the league in three-and-out percentage. The offense can go through really long stretches where it looks like moving the ball is an impossibility. It’s a bad combination of lacking schematic answers and poor execution in the form of missed throws, poor blocking, dumb penalties, or all of the above.
3) What has the Eagles special teams been like this year and are there any players on special teams particularly worth highlighting?
KICKER: Jake Elliott has had some struggles; he’s missed five field goal attempts and one extra point. It’s worth noting that all of his misses were with Cal Adomitis filling in at long snapper. The Eagles waived Adomitis last week and activated veteran Charley Hughlett from injured reserve. I don’t think Elliott’s misses were only about the long snapper change because he also had struggles in 2024. But Hughlett’s returned is welcomed nevertheless.
PUNTER: Braden Mann ranks fourth in punts this season with the Eagles going three-and-out way too often. His 42.7 net punting average ranks seventh in the NFL. He’s solid.
LONG SNAPPER: Already touched on this in the kicker section. Hughlett > Adomitis.
PUNT RETURNER: The Eagles originally had former Washington draft pick Jahan Dotson as their PR but he didn’t have a great feel for it, which makes sense given his lack of experience in that role. They then went with Xavier Gipson, who got cut by the New York Jets for fumbling issues. Gipson then had a really bad punt return in the Eagles’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys where he fielded the ball at the 2-yard line and then fumbled. The Eagles moved on from Gipson and signed Britain Covey, who had been on the practice squad all along, to the roster. Covey has been one of the best punt returners in the NFL over the past few seasons, so, it’s not exactly surprising to see that he’s having success once again with a 12.1 average. Just weird it took this long for the Eagles to go back to him.
KICK RETURNER: The Eagles rank 29th in kick return average. Not a strength.
ST COVERAGE: Special teams tackles numbers vary depending on the source but Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Kylen Granson, Kelee Ringo, and Cameron Latu are the Eagles’ leaders in that category. I especially enjoy watching Latu play because he looks like a beast out there. Latu is on the injury report this week, so, we’ll see if he plays … but if he does, don’t be surprised if you see No. 36 make a big hit on special teams.
PUNT/FG BLOCKS: Latu blocked a punt in the Eagles’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that got returned for a touchdown. Jalen Carter blocked a field goal in the Eagles’ win over the Los Angeles Rams … and so did Jordan Davis, on the Rams’ game-winning attempt.
4) Who is one Eagles player on offense and one player on defense that Washington fans probably don’t know much about, but should?
OFFENSE: Darius Cooper. The undrafted rookie free agent wide receiver was a summer standout, which helped him make the roster as a long shot. Cooper was a prolific pass-catcher for Division II Tarleton State but he’s done well to carve out a role as a dirty work player in the NFL. His blocking efforts and special teams contributions have led to him earning more playing time on offense, where he’s starting to show up a bit more. Cooper logged just two targets for seven receptions in his first eight games. He’s since had three targets for three catches and 48 yards in the past two games. Cooper also drew a pass interference penalty in Week 15. With Jahan Dotson set to be a free agent after this season, Cooper could be a contender to take over the WR3 role in 2026.
DEFENSE: Are Commanders fans super familiar with Jaelan Phillips? He’s a former first-round pick … but he played in a different conference before the Eagles traded for him. And he’s actually never played against Washington. So, to answer my own question: yes, I’m counting him. I think Phillips could be a huge factor in Saturday’s game. He’s been very disruptive and him going up against rookie right tackle Josh Conerly Jr. seems like a huge mismatch in Philly’s favor. Only nine players have generated more pressures than Phillips this season, according to Pro Footabll Focus.
5) How should Washington go about game-planning this matchup on both sides of the ball?
Vic Fangio will likely prioritize shutting down the Commanders’ run game in an effort to make Marcus Mariota throw the football a lot. The Eagles have stifled opposing rushing attacks more often than not but they have had two really bad games where they got bullied on the ground. Those came in losses to the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears. Both of those games were played with the Eagles on short rest (one Thursday, one Friday). The Commanders should look to see if they can bully the Birds. Might not work but worth a shot. Also, as a general rule, I would advise against Mariota throwing to whoever is being covered by Quinyon Mitchell. Adoree’ Jackson has played well recently but he’s much more gettable than Mitchell … or Cooper DeJean, who’s also great.
The Commanders’ defense should be looking to get after the Eagles’ right tackle. It looks like Lane Johnson is going to miss another start and his backup, Fred Johnson, has also missed practice time this week. If third string option Matt Pryor has to start at right tackle, well, that’s a pretty concerning development.
A companion article to this with my answers to Brandon’s questions will be linked as soon as it is available.
Thanks again to Brandon Lee Gowton for taking time out of his day to answer our questions about the Eagles.
