Eagles vs. Commanders live updates

Sep 25, 2022 - 6:41 PM

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The Philadelphia Eagles are at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland to take on the Washington Commanders. It’s a Week 3 matchup between two NFC East rivals.

More than that, it’s also a matchup between Carson Wentz and the team that selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. For the first time since the Eagles traded Wentz in early 2021, he’s going up against his former franchise. Naturally, all eyes will be on how he performs.

The Commanders have experienced the highs and lows of Wentz thus far. While he’s already thrown for seven touchdown passes, he’s also committed costly turnovers. It’s up to the Eagles to take advantage of Wentz’s mistakes.

It’s also up to the Birds to exploit a Commanders defense that’s been weakened by injury. With Jalen Hurts surging and the Eagles boasting an effective rushing attack, Philly should not be struggling to move the ball.

If they win this game, the Eagles will advance to 3-0 while dropping the Commanders to 1-2. That would be a pretty nice result. A loss to Wentz would not.

Bleeding Green Nation will be covering this game with live updates in the form of highlights, commentary, analysis, etc. Make sure to follow along and refresh the page often.

(NOTE: This is NOT a game thread; it’s a live blog that will turn into a game recap. Use BGN’s designated game threads for each quarter to discuss in-game happenings. The first quarter thread is HERE.)

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PREGAME

• The Commanders were cowards and opted to introduce their defensive starters instead of their offensive starters. Wanted to avoid Carson Wentz getting booed by all the Eagles fans in attendance.

FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer to put Wentz on the field first. Wentz entered the field to boos. The first play of the game was a Curtis Samuel carry for 15 yards. But then the defense immediately tightened up. Jordan Davis tipped Wentz’s first passing attempt for an incompletion. On 3rd-and-5, Fletcher Cox and Josh Sweat combined to sack Wentz to force a punt.

• The Eagles took over at their own 12-yard line. Quez Watkins drew a pass interference penalty while running a deep route from the slot. Two straight Miles Sanders runs picked up another first. On 3rd-and-5, Hurts got blitzed, rolled right, and couldn’t connect with a tightly covered Watkins. Punt.
• Arryn Siposs’ punt from Washington’s 49-yard line went into the end zone for a net 29 yards. You’d like to see a better punt there. The defense stepped up, though, with back-to-back sacks on Wentz from Cox and then Javon Hargrave to set up 3rd-and-23. On third down, Charles Leno got called for a false start. On 3rd-and-26, Washington went with the coward’s draw to bring up a punt.

• DeVonta Smith (!) was back to return the Commanders’ second punt. Unexpected development, though he was a very good returner in a small sample size at Alabama. He gained 12 yards for the Eagles to take over at their own 44-yard line. Hurts took off running and slid to take a sack to avoid contact on first down. Then Hurts threw behind a tightly covered Smith in the middle of the field. On 3rd-and-13, Hurts had a pass short of the sticks to A.J. Brown knocked down.
• Washington drove 31 yards but then got stopped with Wentz getting sacked for a FOURTH time. Brandon Graham and Haason Reddick each got credited with half a sack. Wentz just holding on to the ball for forever, allowing the Eagles’ rush to get home.

• On 3rd-and-6, Hurts threw a nice ball to A.J. Brown for a first down. Much-needed. Then Hurts aired it out deep to DeVonta Smith, who made a FANTASTIC catch down the right sideline. Replay showed that Smith did not get both feet in with control ... but still an incredible effort to make it close. And the Eagles going hurry-up to get a play off so that Washington couldn’t successfully challenge worked! Ron Rivera threw his red flag after Hurts snapped the ball and threw to Dallas Goedert for a 2-yard gain.

SECOND QUARTER

• The Eagles got to 3rd-and-8 and Hurts targeted Smith in the end zone but he was tightly covered and throw hit a Washington defender for an incompletion. Eagles had to settle for a 32-yard Jake Elliott field goal. EAGLES 3, COMMANDERS 0.
• SACK NUMBER FIVE! Brandon Graham strip-sacked Wentz to allow Hargrave to recover at the Commanders’ 24-yard line. You knew it was going to happen.

• The Eagles took over with great field position and a tight end screen to Dallas Goedert went for 24 yards and the game’s first touchdown. Easy money. EAGLES 10, COMMANDERS 0.

• Washington drove to 3rd-and-10 from their own 40-yard line. On third down, Wentz aired it out deep to Jahan Dotson ... and the pass was considerably out of bounds.
• Britain Covey muffed a punt that he tried to field away from his body. He was able to recover it but the Eagles had to start at their own 6-yard line. Hurts gave Brown a chance to make a play on a 50-50 ball and the wide receiver Moss’d the Commanders defender. The Eagles drove into the red zone and got to 4th-and-2 after Hurts took off running on third down. The Eagles decided to go for it on fourth down and Washington burned a timeout. The Eagles came back with a tight formation where Zach Pascal ended up taking a handoff ... only to be stopped short. Don’t mind the decision to be aggressive there when you can try to make it a three possession game but not sure that’s the best play the Eagles have in that scenario.

• The Commanders picked up a first down on the ground but then had to punt after Wentz’s 69th career fumble. Strip-sack by Reddick.
• Hurts threw to Watkins deep and overthrew him ... due to a defensive pass interference penalty. The Eagles got to 3rd-and-5 at the Commanders’ 42-yard line and the offensive line gave Hurts good protection to find a crossing DeVonta Smith for a 31-yard catch-and-run. Hurts threw a little behind Brown for a Commanders pass breakup to bring up 3rd-and-8. The Eagles took their first timeout. Hurts connected with Brown short of the goal line and the receiver powered his way through contact for his first Eagles touchdown. Boom. Three possession game. EAGLES 17, COMMANDERS 0.

• The Commanders went three-and-out in 59 seconds.
• The Eagles took over at their own 12-yard line 1:57 on the clock and two timeouts to work with. Brown picked up 15 yards with some nice YAC. He’s pretty good at that. Hurts to Smith along the right sideline put the Birds in Commanders territory. Hurts took a deep shot to Smith, who made a great leaping contested catch to the put the Eagles at the 1-yard line. Smith was shaken up after the play, which required the Eagles to burn their final timeout as an injury timeout. Hurts running on 3rd-and-goal and getting stopped forced the Eagles to go for it on fourth down with no way to stop the clock ... and he responded by throw a pass to DeVonta Smith for a contested touchdown catch. WOW. Great play. EAGLES 24, COMMANDERS 0.

THIRD QUARTER

Updates to come ...

FOURTH QUARTER

Updates to come ...

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LINEUP NOTES

• Britain Covey returned Washington’s first punt before DeVonta Smith took over on the second punt. Covey seemingly was not injured as he was standing on the sideline.

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INJURIES

• Darius Slay got looked at in the blue tent midway through the first quarter. Zech McPhearson came in to replace him. Slay returned in the second quarter.
• Milton Williams got banged up in the second quarter. He slowly walked off the field and eventually to the locker room.
• Zach Pascal limped off the field late in the second quarter.
• DeVonta Smith was shaken up after his big contested catch near the end of the second quarter. He returned shortly after.