The Washington Commanders dominated the first half of Monday night’s Week 10 showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles. Washington possessed the football for almost 24 minutes.
While the Commanders didn’t dominate the second half, they made plays when they needed to and pulled off the biggest upset of the 2022 NFL season by defeating the Eagles, 32-21.
The blueprint for Washington was to run the football, stick with the run and get the ball out of quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s hands quickly to avoid the same fate as Carson Wentz did in Week 3. Wentz was sacked nine times in Week 3. However, on Monday, Heinicke was sacked only three times, and he played a terrific game, outside of one throw, to lead Washington to the win — its fourth in its last five games to improve to 5-5 on the season.
The second half wasn’t without some controversial calls. Officials missed an obvious facemask penalty on Washington linebacker Jamin Davis when he tackled Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert. Davis had Goedert’s face mask when defensive tackle John Ridgeway came over to hit Goedert, forcing a fumble and giving the Commanders excellent field position.
The play was clearly a penalty, but officials could only review the fumble.
Washington appeared close to ending the game earlier in the fourth quarter when Heinicke found wide receiver Curtis Samuel down the left sideline for a big play. However, officials called rookie wide receiver Jahan Dotson for pass interference when it was clear that Dotson was running his route against man coverage.
Finally, on Washington’s final possession, the Commanders faced a third-and 14, when Heinicke saw nothing open and decided to kneel on the football with around 1:30 remaining. The Eagles would get the football back deep in their own territory with no timeouts remaining. However, Philadelphia defensive end Brandon Graham made contact with Heinicke after he gave himself up, clearly a penalty, giving the Commanders the first down and the win.
It was a gritty effort from Heinicke, who completed 17 of 29 passes for 211 yards. His lone mistake was on a deep ball to wide receiver Terry McLaurin where he left too much air under the ball, allowing Eagles defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson to pick him off. Fortunately for Heinicke, Washington’s defense got the ball back.
There were many heroes for the Commanders. Kicker Joey Slye made all four field goals, including ones from 55 and 58 yards. McLaurin caught eight passes for 128 yards. Washington’s ground game combined to rush for 152 yards, led by rookie Brian Robinson’s career-high 86 yards.
Washington’s defense held the high-flying Eagles to just 264 yards and forced four turnovers.
The Commanders improve to 5-5 on the season and travel to Houston on a short week to face the Texans in Week 11.
