Thursday Night Football Recap

Thursday Night Football: 

Eagles vs. Commanders

The Eagles Shake off A Slow Start That Included Two Missed Fields And A Touchdown Deficit To Toppled The Commander 26-18. A Late Touchdown From Jayden Daniels To Tight End Zach Ertz Made The Final Rendering Of The Score Far More Compelling Than What Transpired As The Eagles Rode A Deluge Of Three Straight Touchdowns Scores To Pick Up A crucial Division Win. No One Expected A “Punt A Thon” Al Micheals SaiD On The Broadcast But Fans Suffered Through The Booting Of Commanders Kicker Tres Way And Rained Boos On Jalen Hurts After Failed Field Goal And Fail Third Conversion After Another Piled On. 

Key Notes: 

The Eagles Survive Another Slow Start With Just Three Points On One Red Zone Drive-In First Half Before Rattling Off Three Rushing Touchdowns In The Fourth. 

The Commander's Running backs Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler Accounted For 63%, Whether On The Ground Or Through The Air, Of All The Commanders Offensive Yardage Output For The Game. The Commanders Made A Trade At The Deadline To Pick Up Corner Help In Marshon Lattimore But Failed To Secure Another playmaker As Philly’s Corner Lived Up To The Billing Erasing Terry Mclaurin The Commanders Had Few Options TO Turn To Until Late In The Game With The eagles Playing Soft Coverage. 

The Eagles Remain One Of The Wealest First Quarter First Half Scoring Teams In Football At One Time The Offense Earned “Boos” From The Crowd. Overcoming Slow Starts Against The Commanders Worked On Thursday and Against Teams like The Bengals and Cowboys But Against Stronger Teams Like The Lions Maybe Even The Falcons May Invite The Eagles To Start Slow And Ensure Philly Never Overcomes. 

Jayden Daniels And The Commanders Continue To Reign As The Surprise Effort Of The Football Season. At 7-3, Dan Quinn’s Team Has Blown Away All Expectations For A Team led by A Rookie Quarterback. The Commander's Surprise Appearance  In Playoff Picture Has The Met With The Most Dreaded Of Football Elements, Expectations. Football Fans View The Commanders as That “Long Shot”, The Team, Or The Figure With Less Talent But all Heart And Ingenuity To Succeed.  The Commander offense Has A Kick Starter In Terry Mclaurin, but no Defensive Scheme, Lack Of Talent Around Him, Or Even The Quarterback Throwing Him The Ball Has Slowed McClaurin Down Over The Years He Not Only Defines The Term “Quarterback Proof” But He Inspired The Term. He’ll See A lot Of Either Of The Eagles Two Corner Rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper Dejean. After The Eagles' Pass Defense Dropped To The Ground Last Season The Team Invested Heavily In The Secondary and These Two Draft Pick from The First and Second Round Bolster the Eagles’s GM

Howie Roseman's Claim To Operative Epithet Of “Genius”.  The commander passing attack And Jayden Daniels Wouldn’t Have To Test The Eagles' Corners Early Because The Running Backs Austin Ekeler and Brian Robinson Would Get The Offense Going Ekeler On A 34 yard Catch And Run Would Get The Commanders In The Red Zone where led Back Brian Robinson  Returning From Injury would Pick 19 Yards Over Two plays To Get The Eagles On The Board 7-0. The Eagles First Drive Would Get The Offense into Commanders Territory. Still, a Holding Penalty On Guard Mekhi Becton  Would Push The Eagles Back and Force Jake Elliott Into A Long 44 Yarder Which He Missed, and A 51 Yarder In The Second Quarter Which Elliott Failed To Convert. Jalen Hurts and The Eagles Would Get Elliott A Chip Shot Field Before Half.  The Eagles Red Zone Drive Stalls At The Foot Of The End Zone After Some Hurts Efforts To Pick a First Down On The Ground But The Eagles Can’t  Complete The Drive With A Touchdown. The Commander takes a 7-3 Lead Into The Half. Jayden Daniels Would Compete 8 Passes But Only One to A Wide Receiver Dyami Brown For Four(4) Yards. Austin Ekeler Caught Five Passes For  61 Of Daniels’s 83 Passing Yards. Usually Handed Ekeler Also Dropped A Pass But The Commander Made things Clear They Wanted to win Through their Backs. Ekeler Would Post Another Big Play In The Passing Game, 20 Yards To Help The Commanders Pick Up A Field Goal and Extend Their Lead 10-3. Robinson And Ekeler Would Account For all 42 Yards On The Drive on 8 Plays. Despite Nursing This Late Lead The Eagles would Produce Three Touchdowns In The Fourth Quarter On Some Explosive Plays To End This Game and Come with The Divisional Victory 26-18. Fourth Quarters Like The Ones The Eagles Produced Make Philly So Dangerous. Jalen Hurts On The Ground  For A One Yard Pick Up To Get Philly Over The Commander 12-10. Sensing The Pressure The Commanders Get Aggressive And Decide To Go For Fourth and One And Fail To Pick Up Any Yardage. The Eagles Would Capitalize On The Moment, Picking A big 32-yard Play From Tight End Dallas Goedert In a Pass Game Before Saquon Barkley Cashes In A 23 Yard Touchdown To Put The Eagles Over 19-10. The Eagles Would Pick Up A Third Touchdown On The Strength Of Two Runs By Saquon For 42 Yards On The Ground And A Touchdown Going Ahead 26-10. The Commander Would Get Their Second Touchdown On With a Late 15 Play 70 Yard Drive, With The Eagles Playing Zone As Jayden Daniels Capped Off His Night Five Yard Touchdown To Zach Ertz and A Two Point Conversion That Look Incomplete But Would Get Confirmed As A Two-Point Conversion.  Alas, The Commander's Late Attempt To Make A Game Of Things Would Fall Short 26-18. Daniels 22/32 For 191 Passing Yards, One Touchdown, One Interception. Austin Ekeler Leads the Team In Receiving 8 Catches For 89 Receiving Yards As The Eagles Locked Down The Commanders Receivers. Terry Mclaurin Just One Catch For 10 Late Making Him One Of Six Players To Record One Catch  On The Evening. At The Trade Deadline, The Commanders Made A Move To Improve Their  Defense With Saints’ Corner Marshon Lattimore Who Should Prove A Solid Pick Once He Suits Up. Still, The Commanders Needed Play Makers Opposite McLaurin And Didn’t Move Aggressively. The Jets Mike Williams Moved To Steelers and Caught A Game Winning Touchdown, The Commander Geographic (DMV) Neighbor and The Ravens Picked Up The Panthers’ Diontae Johnson. The Commanders Stood Pat and The Lack Of Weaponry Continues To Prove A Challenge In Jayden Daniels Developer. The Eagles Would Commit To Stopping The Commander's Run Game Not Wanting To Replicate The Game They Lost Two Seasons Ago When The Commanders Ran The Ball 49 times and Controlled The Clock. The Commanders Needed To Win This Game and Again Couldn’t Make Enough Plays. When Receivers Created Separation Daniels Just Dirtied Passes For Incompletions. Daniels Completed Just Three Passes At Or Above The Ten Yard line with Nothing Over 20 Yards Or Even 15 yards. The Commanders Offense Didn’t Have Enough Ways To Probe And Exploit The Eagles.  The Eagles’ Got Off To A Slow Start Before Consume the Commanders. Jalen Hurts A Potential MVP Candidate Garnered Boos From Fans Before Putting the Offense In Position To Rail Off Three Straight Scores. Hurts Finished 18/28 For 221 with No Passing Touchdown But the Quarterback Sneaked One and His Play In The Pass Game Set up One Of Saquon’s Touchdown. Hurts Also Picked Up 39 Yards On The Ground. Barkley 26 Carries for 146 And Two Scores Including Three Explosive runs and 52 Yards In  The Receiving Game. The Commanders Perform Well Against AJ Brown Until The Second Half When Brown Broke Free And Picked Up 5 Catches For 65 Receiving Yards, and Dallas Geodert 5 Catches For 61. 

Slow Starts Have Marred The Eagles This Season As Philly Remains With Just Two Offensive First Quarter Touchdowns. Slow Quarter Starts Haven’t Hurt Philly Against Teams Like The Commanders, The Cowboys, or Even The Bengals But Weightier Contenders Won't Suffer The Eagles Slumping Through The Start Of Games. Similar To The Chiefs The Eagles Trust That Their Team Can Over Come Opponents Late With better Execution And Talent. The Light Through The Missed Windows Earlier In Games Would Shine Brighter Opening The Way For Better Outcomes. However, When And If Philly Meets a Team with More Talent, And Better At Execution say The Lions Could Philly Count On Such Luck. The Score Shows The Commanders Losing Another Close Bout To A Good Team And While Thats Not Entirely True The Bengals In Week Two Remain Their Only “Good” Of Their Seven Victories. Their Trek To The Playoffs Still Looks Propitious With Only Two Games Remaining Against Playoff Team, One Of Those A Rematch With

Philly In Week 16. The Eagles Have Won Sox Straight Games Although Only One Win Versus A Team With a winning Record, The Commanders.