Philly pre-game

Eagles heavily favored to beat the Commanders in Week 4 (https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2023/9/27/23892147/eagles-commanders-nfl-week-4-odds-spread-line-betting-gambling-draftkings-sportsbook-game-favored)

Commanders confident QB Sam Howell's 'growing pains' will lead to improvement (https://www.espn.com/blog/washington-commanders/post/_/id/43161/commanders-confident-qb-sam-howells-growing-pains-will-lead-to-improvement)

my keys to the game:

Offense

Pass blocking. The offensive line must do better as Howell is getting hit way too much. however i read an article showing that on the 9 sacks that Howell took against Buffalo, 7 times he held the ball for 3 seconds or longer and 2 of them were when he held the ball for over 4 seconds. That, combined with the play of the offensive line is a recipe for disaster! Both have to do MUCH better or Philly is going to punish Howell!! We also need better blocking/chipping from the RB's and the TE's and better overall communication on the offense!!

Play Calling. The play calling in the Buffalo game as abysmal! We averaged 7 yards per carry and still wouldn't run the ball even though we were only down 16 - 0 after 3 quarters. We need to get the running game going and balance out the offense. This will help in pass protection as the defense can't just pin their ears back and rush the passer. We also need to adjust to what the defense was doing better. Buffalo overloaded one side over and over again during that game and we did nothing to stop it. No roll outs in the other direction, no QB runs (which IMO we need to call a few to keep the defense guessing), nothing different to negate the overload. You know its coning again. NFL analysts were talking about it during the preseason as something Washington needed to fix and they have not yet addressed it from what i can see.

Defense

Contained pressure. Not sure what happened against Buffalo, but the defensive line was not getting much pressure at all. Had their heads gotten too big from all the accolades they have been receiving? Not sure, but they need to do a better job of pressuring. And IMO Chase Young was a big part of this while he looked to be getting pressure more than the others it was due to he over perusing and losing containment. That cannot happen against mobile quarterbacks and Hurts is one of the most mobile QB's we will face. The Eagles have both a good offensive line and a very good mobile quarterback, so we have to get pressure with the front 4 and keep containment or we are in for another long day.

Communication in the secondary. This issue seems to rear its head at the beginning of every year. But the communication in the secondary leaves a lot to be desired. Blown coverages seem to be the norm and if we don't fix the communication issues on the back end they will not go away.

Linebacker play. Not sure what can be done about this group. Davis is playing serviceable. Barton has been a big step down and while his stats look ok, he has simply been bad. I would like to see more of Hudson and its time to start seeing what if anything Jabril Cox can add. Call him up!!

Thoughts?!?!

IMO its too much to right on the pass protection side and the Eagles are too good in that area. The Eagles will win 27 - 17.

Wake me up when we play the Bears.

Wake me up when we play the Bears.

C'mon.. We beat these guys in Philly last year! I at least expect a much better effort.

C'mon.. We beat these guys in Philly last year! I at least expect a much better effort.

The funny thing is that last year I thought we'd get blown out on MNF when we played Philly. We'll see how they react.

Bad news …. Eagles are getting better by the week. They know it. Their fans know it. They know what happened last year. It is in Philly. They are going to be hitting on all cylinders this week. It is just the way they are trending. They will not look past us because of last year. It has blood bath written all over it.

Good news…. We play the Bears next!

If we lose to the Eagles and somehow lose to the Bears Ron is getting fired. As well he should. Just a hypothetical. I fully expect us to beat Chicago and hope to hell we beat Philly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/09/24/commanders-bills-loss-reality-check/

9. Rivera’s teams can respond to blowouts. This was the fifth time in 193 career games that Rivera has lost by 30 or more points. The weeks after the four previous losses, Rivera’s teams went 2-2, and the two losses were both close — a 20-19 defeat to Detroit in 2018 and a 20-16 defeat to Philadelphia in 2021. All this means for Washington in 2023 is that Rivera is capable of getting his team to bounce back for a difficult game next week in Philadelphia.

I expect EB will be better, and he has to be for us to have a chance this week. If he's better, Howell will be better - put in better positions to succeed based on what we do (and he does) well.

You can run the ball on this team - you just have to stick with it and not get into a position where you HAVE to throw (i.e. down 2+ scores late in the game). I wouldn't suggest AG up the middle too often, but a heavy dose of BRob, some well designed screens, and the occasional over the top to our playmakers will work.

On D - gotta contain Jalen. Can't let him get loose like they did Josh Allen.

It's a winnable game, but they have to come out with a purpose.

Exactly ^

As far as the plan. It is winnable because any game is winnable. Upsets happen. We have to be pretty much perfect. Especially in the dreaded first quarter.

I need EB to be better. Bills knew what was coming and defended his scheme well.