Instant analysis: Commanders badger Eagles in first NFC East win

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LANDOVER — Dan Quinn promised a completely revamped version of his team after a bye week.

Washington’s head coach knew that if he couldn’t fix the Commanders’ issues against Philadelphia — an organization reeling from five straight losses — there might be no saving this season.

And while Sunday night’s Commanders weren’t quite a different team, Quinn fixed enough of their woes to get a win.

Washington knocked off the Eagles 27-10, pitching a shutout in the second half.

Quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for 217 yards and a touchdown. Some of the same problems popped up, but Washington had its first divisional win of the season, moving to 2-4-1.

Here are three takeaways.

Pressure showing up

Washington invested heavily this offseason in getting players who could get to the quarterback. It finally showed up in November.

Washington continued to pressure quarterback Tanner McKee as he made his second start. The Commanders not only got to him but turned that pressure into Eagles mistakes.

Dorance Armstrong hit McKee in the third quarter to force a fumble, leading to a Washington score. The pass rush disrupted McKee on third downs, where Philadelphia was only 5-of-16. The defense collected five sacks, and the Eagles didn’t score after the first quarter.

The Commanders had a pressure rate of 51% on McKee — over 12 percentage points more than league average. They blitzed 35% of the time but also got into the backfield with a four-man rush.

This is what defensive coordinator Daronte Jones envisioned when he took this job and promised a blitz-heavy scheme. Washington hadn’t been able to implement it until this week.

Running game key

The Eagles defense spent the week fielding questions concerning the unit’s effort against the Cowboys after surrendering 204 rushing yards and 38 points.

The Commanders had success on the ground, too. But unlike Dallas, they didn’t fully commit to the run game early. Offensive coordinator David Blough kept asking Daniels to throw, with little success. Daniels was missing receivers and forcing the ball into tight windows. None of Washington’s first four drives went 30 yards as Daniels went 1-for-5 passing.

But in the second quarter, Washington doubled down on its rushing game. Washington averaged nearly five yards a carry from that point on and kept bringing in fresh legs with four different running backs. They finished with 135 yards.

And it opened up some shots for Daniels. He hit Treylon Burks for 53 yards and Stefon Diggs for 20. Tight end Chig Okonkwo had an acrobatic grab for 21, and Antonio Williams had a 30-yard grab late in the fourth.

The sloppiness continues

On a night when Quinn may have been coaching for his job, his team didn’t look like a clean operation.

The penalties and mistakes that plagued Washington all year were on full display in the first quarter. The Commanders’ opening drive stalled out thanks to back-to-back false starts. It pushed kicker Drew Stevens into a 55-yard field goal try, which he missed.

Two drives later, Washington ran only one play but managed to record three different errors. An ineligible man downfield wiped away a completion. Another false start pushed the offense back to first-and-long. And to cap it off, Okonkwo lost a fumble in Commanders territory to set up an Eagles touchdown.

Washington had seven penalties for 50 yards in the first quarter, plus the fumble. It was the team’s most penalized quarter of the year and helped Philadelphia build a 10-0 lead.

Later on, a roughing-the-passer penalty wiped away a Washington interception by Trey Amos.

In the end, it didn’t matter. Washington scored 27 straight against a beat-up Eagles team. But the game underscored a trend that the Commanders had routinely made it more difficult on themselves through seven weeks. It is tough to win consistently like that, and their record reflects it.