Eagles Overcome Two Turnovers to Forge 10-10 First-Half Tie with Washington
PHILADELPHIA – This was supposed to be the home-cooking part of the Eagles’ season, with three of their final four games in front of the sometimes-friendly, always-demanding fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
So far, it’s been a recipe that needs plenty of tweaking.
Two turnovers led to 10 Washington points as the Football Team ambushed the Eagles in the first half on Tuesday night. The home team, however, battled back to tie the score at 10-10.
Jalen Hurts was 11-for-14 with 169 yards, an interception and a passer rating of 87.2. Goedert had five catches for 98 yards while the NFL’s leading running game had 102 yards on 19 rushes, with Miles Sanders collecting 69 yards on 13 runs, Hurts 17 on four carries, and Jordan Howard 16 yards on just two rushes.
Mistakes early hurt them early.
In addition to the turnovers, the Eagles had two holding penalties to negate big plays. One was from Sua Opeta, playing left guard in place of rookie Landon Dickerson, who was put on the COVID list on Sunday. The other was from Jordan Mailata, which negated a first down un from Jordan Howard on fourth-and-two inside Washington territory.
Mailata’s penalty forced the Eagles to have to punt.
The loser of this game between NFC East rivals will severely damage their playoff hopes.
This looked like easy pickings with Washington having some key players on the COVID-19 list, including both starting QB Taylor Heinicke and backup Kyle Allen.
That left Garret Gilbert to make just his second career start in eight years in the league and was signed off the practice squad of the New England Patriots early last week. He completed nine of 13 passes for 105 yards.
RELATED: Washington's Garrett Gilbert Expected to Face Eagles Tuesday
Hurts, meanwhile, was making his first start in 23 days, since throwing three interceptions in a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants on Nov. 28. He missed only one game in that span because the Eagles were playing their first game since Dec. 5 after a bye week and a postponement from Sunday to Tuesday due to Washington’s COVID issues.
Hurts had two turnovers, though the first one wasn’t his fault. He threw a catchable pass to Goedert, who looked lackadaisical in trying to bring the ball in. It went through his hands and clanked off the back of his foot, where an alert Landon Collins grabbed it and raced into the end zone.
The play was blown dead, so the TD didn’t count. It didn’t matter. Taking over at Philadelphia’s 26-yard line, Washington turned Antonio Gibson lose for six runs and a six-yard reception. One of those runs was a 1-yard TD plunge and the WFT led 7-0 with 8:15 to go in the first quarter.
Hurts' second turnover was all on him.
Eagles warm up prior to Week 15 vs. Washington
Montez Sweat was credited with a strip-sack fumble after the Eagles had motored into the red zone and were facing a second-and-six from the 16. Helping them get there was DeVonta Smith, who made a dazzling catch on the sideline, getting both feet in bounds somehow. He was ruled out of bounds, but head coach Nick Sirianni won the challenge, and the play went for 28 yards.
Washington capitalized on the turnover, though, with the big play a 46-yard throw from Gilbert to Terry McLaurin with Darius Slay in coverage. That set the WFT up with first-and-goal at the 7, but the Eagles defense held Washington to a field goal.
Down 10-0, the Eagles offense got started. Jake Elliott got them on the board with 8:07 to play in the second quarter with a 20-yard field goal. The big play on the drive was a 45-yard catch from Goedert.
Hurts then scored his ninth rushing TD of the season, a 1-yard plunge with 1:29 to go in the half.
The half ended on a sack by Fletcher Cox, which was just the Eagles’ second sack at home this year.
The Eagles had 84 yards of offense in the first quarter, and 177 in the second quarter. Washington had 129 yards of total offense in the half.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
