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(This story has been updated)
Trailing 12-10 halfway through the 4th quarter, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn rolled the dice.
“4th-and-2 at the 26 – bold call. But, I would also say we were prepared for that moment,” Quinn said after the game.
With the ball on the Eagles 26-yard line, and after Brian Robinson was stopped on two straight running plays, Quinn decided to go for it on 4th and two. Get a first down and the drive would continue towards a go-ahead touchdown. Get stopped short, and the game might tip toward Philadelphia permanently.
It was never close.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels didn’t get a clean snap from under center and never had a chance to outrun the Eagles defense, he was stopped short and the ball went over on downs.
The game ended there.
“Didn’t love the execution,” Quinn said. “But we’ve been an excellent fourth down team. So going into it, we knew we would have to take our shots against a tough division team on the road. We thought that was an appropriate one. Certainly didn’t like the execution or the result, but we were prepared for that. And being bold in those moments, knowing we’d have some fourth downs. But that’s one we could fix. The third down on both sides was tough, especially offensively tonight. And, like I said, a game like this puts you through the resilience.”
It took Philadelphia just five plays to break the game open when Saquon Barkley scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to make the score 19-10.
Daniels’s next play was even worse.
On first down from their 30-yard line, Daniels dropped back looking to complete a 16-yard pass to Noah Brown. He started the receiver down the entire route which let Reed Blankenship intercept the ball on the Washington 46. Two plays later, Barkley scored again, on a 39-yard run.
“I’ve got to be louder with the cadence,” Daniels said in his post game press conference. “So, I take fault on that. [Commanders C] Tyler [Biadasz] probably didn’t hear me, so it was delayed with the snap. It gets loud down there. We’re under center, especially in that type of situation at that part of the game. So, I just have to be louder.”
The final score: 26-18 Eagles.
The Commanders offense was stymied most of the night. The Eagles defense, particularly the front seven, stayed in Daniels face, seldom giving him time to make a play. Daniels finished the night 22 of 32 for 171 yards, one touchdown, and one interception by far his worst performance of the season.
“I have to play better,” he said. “There are some throws I want back for sure. I think we all just have to look at ourselves in the mirror and say how can we get better moving forward?”
Terry McLaurin was held to one catch for 10 yards on two targets. Daniels was rushed in the pocket all night and seemed to be throwing off his back foot often, causing several passes to fall short or behind receivers. In addition to nursing his rib injury, Daniels suffered a cut on his right hand, although he said it didn’t affect his performance.
Washington took a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter as an Austin Eckler 34-yard catch and run keyed a 5-play scoring drive that ended with a Brian Robinson 1-yard touchdown. Washington would stretch the lead to 10-6 in the third quarter before the Philadelphia comeback. Daniels threw a five yard touchdown pass to tight end Zac Ertz in the closing seconds to make the score respectable even if most of the fourth quarter was not.
The loss drops the Commanders to 7-4 one and a half games in back of Philadelphia in the division. For the first time this season, Washington has lost two straight games.
“We knew that adversity would come. It just does,” Quinn said. “That’s our game. That’s why we love it so much. There’s hard parts, and tonight’s hard. And in fact, I even said that. The last two games were tough. They test your resolve, and they build some of your resilience. It’s a difficult four or five game stretch, whatever it is. And it also emphasizes the ability to go close it, be there at the end and go win it. Those are the lessons for us to say to be the team we can be.”
Despite that, Washington remains in an position when it comes to post-season play.
The Commanders have a two-game lead over San Francisco for the final wildcard spot and have a favorable schedule for the next few weeks with home games against Dallas (3-6) and the Tennessee Titans (2-7) before the team’s bye week. The defense will most likely get a boost next Sunday when newly acquired defensive back Marshon Lattimore should be healthy enough to play.
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