Postgame Report: McLeod Seals Win Over Washington

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles entered the half losing a game that should be the biggest of their season.

Instead of prepared, they looked like they had never seen this team before. The defense made zero stops in the first half and managed to get their one interception called back on a useless penalty.

The offense was more of the same with Jalen Hurts making just enough plays to pad his stat sheet with underthrows and missed receivers that ended all bot one drive in the first half.

At least the defense stepped up in the second half to shut down Washington’s offense and let the struggling Eagles offense garner just enough yardage to squeak out a win.

Unsurprisingly, Jordan Howard was ineffective, almost like having two injured running backs on the roster and not calling one up from the practice squad so you can use one of the injured guys is poor roster management. As such, it was Boston Scott who had to do any and everything between the downs that the team wasted on an injured Howard. His rushing numbers don’t seem great, but he was limited on two plays where he got short touchdown runs to keep this team in the game. He was also great in the passing game, despite multiple doomed play calls thrown his way. He had 39 yards through the air and 47 on the ground.

McLeod sealed the game, but it was Sweat who kept the Washington offense in check the most. He was the only defensive lineman who brought pressure AND brought down the QB rather than letting him free to scramble for positive yardage. He registered not only one and a half sacks, but numerous pressures, five tackles and deflected two passes.

• Great to see McLeod seal the win. With just under 30 second left, he made a catch better than any Eagles receiver made in this contest for an interception in the endzone. He’s a leader on and off the field for this team and has been a steady presence for the Birds on the back end this entire season. Read about the sneaker ball he and his wife just hosted for their charity here.
• Greg Ward Jr. showed he was a solid WR3 once again this week with two catches, neither on target, for 35 yards. He should get more playing time and probably start in the slot as Reagor, who had a similarly underthrown ball, failed to make the catch that Ward did.
• Not sure who on the Eagles coaching staff decided Jordan Howard was good to go, but they should be fired immediately and should not be welcomed back to Philadelphia. The power rusher was weak and ineffective, serving only to waste downs. He was getting tackled by his own poor foot placement. There’s no reason that another running back shouldn’t have been elevated, especially with Kerryon Johnson having been re-signed to the practice squad. Through three quarters he had six carries for eight yards. He did break off one solid seven yard run in the fourth, but once the team took Scott out on their offensive drive that lasted until about two minutes left in the game, the drive failed to garner any first downs. Otherwise, he ran 10 times for 19 yards.
• The defensive line was dealing with COVID issues earlier in the week, but every single defensive linemen on the COVID list returned and was active for this game. That didn’t seem to matter much as through three quarters, only Josh Sweat seemed to get pressure against an offensive line of Washington missing multiple starters. When they did, they just let the QB go and run for positive yardage. It seemed like Sweat was the only player on the defensive line willing to touch the Washington QB and prevent him from running right by.
• Hurts had a few good plays on scrambles in this one, but underthrows to Reagor and Watkins twice along with overthrows to Goedert and Smith ended drives and resulted in an offense that managed to hit paydirt just two times in the contest. Overall, it was play unworthy of a win because there was really only one complete drive he managed to put together on his own.
• On the other side of the ball, a defense that came out with no ability to stop a drive until the half, particularly against this squad, is awful coaching, yet somehow there are those mentioning the Eagles DC as a head coaching candidate.

Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Football Team – January 2, 2022