Eagles Preview: Five on the WFT Part II
PHILADELPHIA - Typically two games in 12 days with a division foe is going to create all kinds of issues but not necessarily Sunday in Landover, MD. for the Eagles, who will have an opportunity to do their part to inch ever closer to what was presumed by most as an unlikely playoff berth at the start of the season with a rookie head coach and a first-year starting quarterback.
The Eagles need three dominoes to fall Sunday to punch their ticket and the first is the most straightforward: beat the WFT.
From there Nick Sirianni's team needs New Orleans to lose at Carolina or San Francisco to top Houston. If that lever clicks all that's needed is a heavily-favored and No. 1 NFC seed Green Bay to beat flailing Minnesota on Sunday night, something virtually a fait accompli now that unvaccinated Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has been ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19.
If all that happens, voila, the Eagles are in the postseason and don't even have to worry about a Week 18 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.
First things first with Washington, however, which will be a completely different team than the COVID-hampered mess that lost to the Eagles, 27-17, on Dec. 21 at Lincoln Financial Field in one of a trio of games pushed back as the league worked with the NFLPA to shift virus protocols in advance of the postseason due to the more contagious but less serious Omicron variant.
In many ways, that will take care of the familiarity aspect of the equation but in other areas, the WFT is just as up against it, losing star playmaker Antonio Gibson to the COVID list on Friday as well as Ereck Flowers, a key component on the offensive line.
What is back is potential competency at the quarterback position with emergency starter Garrett Gilbert giving way to the two top options Ron Rivera currently has: Tyler Heinicke and Kyle Allen.
Both are expected to play as Washington's faint playoff hopes give way to evaluation over the final two weeks.
THIRD-DOWN BLUES
Washington is near the bottom of the league in third-down defense, 31st overall to be exact and it's hard to win consistently when you lose the situational-football battle.
Opponents have converted over 50 percent (50.5) of their third-downs with the Los Angeles Chargers being the only team in the NFL that gets off the field less than the WFT.
Opposition QBs have a gaudy 108.8 passer rating against the WFT on third downs and seven yards or more, the exact scenario every defensive coordinator strives to get into.
Washington allows 34.5 percent of passes in those situations to be converted into first downs, an almost unforgivable bottom line.
TWO MEANS NONE
When it comes to the QB position, two is never better than one and WFT head coach Ron Rivera has said he wants both Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen to play against the Eagles.
It might just be a little gamesmanship and Washington has since walked things back a bit, but it does highlight that the WFT doesn't have a concrete answer at the position because you certainly don't mull things over like that when you have an Aaron Rodgers.
Remember the original play in Washington was veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick and injury forced the WFT to go with Heinicke over Allen until the emergency option was needed in Gilbert.
The real answer to Washington's QB woes is not yet in the organization.
MC-UH-OH
Terry McLaurin is one of the more underrated receivers in the NFL but without Gibson, which is more likely than not with a COVID hit this late, whoever is playing QB for the WFT will not exactly have a stable of playmakers.
Washington's top-tier receiving threat out of the backfield, J.D. McKissic (43-397-2), is already on injured reserve as is Logan Thomas, the former Virginia Tech QB turned tight end and the player who the Eagles hope Tyree Jackson can replicate someday.
That leaves competent slot receiver Adam Humphries (38-368) as the top receiving option outside McLaurin (66-899-5) and he's strictly a chain mover.
With Darius SLay available to make things difficult for McLaurin this serves as a good matchup on paper for Jonathan Gannon's defense.
THE RUNNING GAME
The Eagles held Washington to 63 yards on the ground in Week 15, the WFT's worst mark of the season with Gibson, who the Eagles were obviously keying on with Gilbert under center, accumulating just 26 yards on 15 carries.
Next up is presumably undrafted rookie Jaret Patterson or perhaps journeyman Jonathan Williams, who has a Gilbert-like 26 transactions on his resume.
Any improvement in the run game will almost certainly come from the QBs having to be more respected and the return of star right guard Brandon Scherff.
TAKING ON WATER
The WFT made a nice midseason run to get itself back in the playoff picture before the COVID issues and now the wheels have seemingly come off.
Star defenders Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, teammates dating back to their days at Alabama, got into a highly-publicized fight on the sidelines during an embarrassing blowout loss to Dallas last week.
Meanwhile, Rivera is also dealing with tragedy off the field in the form of Deshazor Everett's car accident which took the life of a passenger in the vehicle, Olivia Peters, and the shooting death of Montez Sweat's brother Anthony earlier this week.
That's a lot for any team and expecting Washington to show up with its A-Game may be asking a bit too much.
PREDICTIONS:
JOHN MCMULLEN (12-3, 10-5 vs. spread) - For the hand-wringing Eagles fans, the worries in this one are the standard tropes of playing a division foe twice in 12 days, the fact that Washington will fight hard after being embarrassed by Dallas, 56-14, last week, and the realization that while Heinicke and Allen may not be Joe Theismann or Mark Rypien but they might as well be compared to Gilbert.
Whether it's the continuing COVID issues, the off-the-field tragedies, or the in-fighting, Rivera certainly has his hands full trying to keep his team fighting to the finish line with a negligible 7 percent shot in the dark of making the postseason.
When you throw all of that into the predictive hopper maybe it's not a blowout but it is a logical win for the Eagles.
EAGLES 24, WASHINGTON 16
ED KRACZ (9-6, 8-7 vs, spread) -Very tempted to pick an upset here, because I truly think it will happen. I think the difference could be a heavy pro-Eagles crowd, which will make this feel like a home.
EAGLES 23, WASHINGTON 17
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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.
