Commanders fight, but ultimately flail against Eagles as trade deadline looms

FEDEX FIELD — In a series that seemingly always goes down to the wire, Washington played its best game in a month and still came up short in a 38-31 loss to Philadelphia.

Sam Howell and the Commanders offense flipped the entire script from the previous seven weeks. Howell wasn’t sacked the first three quarters of the game after taking 40 in the first seven games and surrendering five sacks in the first half last week.

As a group, the Washington offense performed at a highly productive rate. At halftime Howell had just one incompletion and two touchdown throws. All of the things that were awful last week against New York - protections, Howell’s accuracy, play calling questions - suddenly changed.

But eventually the magical carriage turned back into a Halloween pumpkin. Carved up.

Howell threw a fourth quarter interception that gave the Eagles possession inside the Commanders red zone. Two plays later and an incredible catch from Julio Jones, Philly took their first lead of the day at 31-24.

Prior to Howell’s interception, Washington and Philadelphia traded fourth quarter touchdowns on impressive drives to set the stage for a tough finish. Howell hit Logan Thomas for a near perfect touchdown throw and catch, and Eagles QB Jalen Hurts responded with a 38-yard touchdown throw to DeVonta Smith that tied the game at 24.

Even before the killer interception, it wasn’t all perfect.

Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown torched the Commanders secondary. Again. In the Week 4 overtime loss in Philadelphia, the Commanders made the mistake of leaving first-round rookie corner Emmanuel Forbes matched up against Brown. It was a one-sided affair as Brown finished the game with 175 yards and two touchdowns.

Based on that, logic would suggest Forbes no longer covers Brown, and certainly not without help. And yet, it happened again. Brown finished with eight yards and two touchdowns.

If that strategic mistake wasn’t enough, Ron Rivera also suffered from a curious mental lapse. Late in the third quarter, the Eagles went for a gutsy fourth down play. Quarterback Jalen Hurts dropped back, scrambled and eventually fired to WR DeVonta Smith, who caught the ball for a 17-yard gain. Apparently.

The refs ruled a catch and the Eagles offense smartly hustled to the ball and ran a play. But even in real time the catch looked suspect and the entire Commanders sideline jumped up and down screaming incomplete. Three plays later, Hurts connected with Brown to tie the game on a 25-yard TD.

To not challenge that fourth down play seems an egregious oversight, not just in hindsight where it’s clear as day Smith didn’t catch the ball, but in realtime too. It was worth the risk even if the definitive video had not yet emerged to the Washington booth.

Late in the game as Washington tried to score one more touchdown to tie it up, Terry McLaurin had a pair of uncharacteristic drops on key plays. Neither pass was easy to bring in, but McLaurin will undoubtedly be mad about not making the play when it was there.

There was also another bizarre challenge situation where Rivera did throw the red flag just prior to the final two-minute warning, only that also backfired. The referee microphone wasn’t working and the situation seemed like pure chaos, but eventually, the challenged call on Dotson’s catch was overruled.

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts did not look 100 percent in this game but still proved devastatingly effective. He finished 29 of 38 for 319 yards and four touchdowns.

There’s a harsh reality soon to set in for Washington. They can play the Eagles tough, but they can’t beat them. The Eagles are a championship contender, and Washington definitely isn’t.

The trade deadline looms. There will be questions about staff changes. The answers aren’t pretty.