‘TNF’ Takeaways: Eagles stay in first place; Commanders’ Jayden Daniels struggles again

The Eagles needed that sort of performance as quarterback Jalen Hurts and the passing game were unable to really find a rhythm at any point in the game.

Here are four other takeaways from Thursday’s game. 

Eagles defensive turnaround continues

The Eagles are officially on a roll, and one of the biggest factors in their climb back to the top of the NFC East has been the remarkable one-year turnaround of their defense.

After finishing 30th in the NFL a year ago and playing a significant role in their second half meltdown, the Eagles entered play on Thursday night with the No. 5 defense in the league this season. They played like it against Washington, completely shutting down what had been one of the top offenses in the NFL.

The most impressive part of their performance was the way they completely took away and eliminated star wide receiver Terry McLaurin, limiting him to just one catch for 10 yards on only two targets. 

In the end they held the Commanders offense to just 264 total yards, only 18 first downs and just 18 points. 

Going into their Week 10 game the Commanders were averaging 29 points and over 392 yards per game. Over the past two games they averaged less than 250 yards and scored just 43 total points. 

Jayden Daniels does not look right 

The competition has become significantly tougher for Daniels the past two weeks, and he has played like a rookie in those games.

After completing just 17-of-34 passes for only 202 yards a week ago in a 28-27 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Daniels was even worse this week against the Eagles.

He finished the game 22-for-32 for only 191 yards, with his only touchdown coming with less than 30 seconds to play when Washington was already trailing by 16 points. 

It was also the second week in a row where he was a complete non-factor in the running game. 

Is it the fact he played back-to-back outstanding defenses? The rib injury from a few weeks ago still bothering him? A combination of both factors? Whatever the case, Daniels has not looked like the same quarterback he was earlier in the season, and until he gets back to that level the Commanders are going to struggle to get back to their winning ways. 

Eagles might have a kicking problem

The only negative for the Eagles on Thursday night was the poor showing from kicker Jake Elliott. The usually reliable Elliott has missed more kicks than the Eagles are accustomed to seeing from him, and he had a dreadful night on Thursday missing two field goals, an extra point and barely sneaking another extra point inside the goal posts. 

That is seven points that he left on the field. It did not hurt the Eagles in this game, but in a closer game that could have been a costly showing. 

Commanders are still learning how to win

The Commanders are one of the biggest surprises in the NFL this season, and that remains the case even after back-to-back losses. But what those two losses have shown us is that this team is still young, still rebuilding and still learning how to win consistently in the NFL. Especially when the competition gets better.

They had a 10-point second half lead against Pittsburgh a week ago and could not close it out. They were seemingly in control of Thursday’s game in the first half and had a chance to take a 13-12 lead midway through the fourth quarter if they had kicked a 45-yard field goal. Instead of taking those three points, they attempted to go for it on fourth-and-two and were stuffed in part due to a mishandled snap. 

From that point on the Eagles completely took over and scored 14 consecutive points. Those are games championship teams have to win. The Commanders are certainly a good team. Maybe even a very good. They still have some room to grow.