{"id":461248,"date":"2025-12-21T01:57:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T01:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/461248\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T01:57:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T01:57:21","slug":"philadelphia-eagles-beat-washington-commanders-to-win-nfc-east-for-2nd-straight-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/461248\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Eagles beat Washington Commanders to win NFC East for 2nd straight season"},"content":{"rendered":"

LANDOVER, Md. — This was not a terrific performance by the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, from a fumble on the opening kickoff to a pair of penalties on the tush push to three wide-left field-goal tries to a halftime deficit.<\/p>\n

Still, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and company eventually got going in the right direction and clinched a second consecutive NFC East title by beating the Washington Commanders 29-18 on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The game included a late brawl after Barkley tacked on a 2-point conversion to increase the Eagles’ lead to 19 points.<\/p>\n

Starting plays under center far more frequently than he did earlier in the season, Hurts completed 22 of 30 throws – with 15 of those caught by A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith – for 185 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers.<\/p>\n

He connected with Smith from 5 yards out in the first half and with tight end Dallas Goedert from 15 to put Philadelphia ahead 14-10 in the third quarter, capping a 17-play, 83-yard, 10 1\/2-minute drive.<\/p>\n

Hurts also did plenty of damage on the ground, gaining 40 yards on seven carries for the Eagles (10-5), who have followed a three-game losing streak by winning two in a row.<\/p>\n

They are the first team to top the NFC East in back-to-back seasons since Philadelphia did it every year from 2001 to 2004; the gap since then was the longest drought without a repeat champ for any division in NFL history.<\/p>\n

Barkley added a 12-yard TD run for the Eagles, part of his 21-carry, 132-yard performance.<\/p>\n

With the Commanders (4-11), now losers of nine of their past 10 contests, already eliminated from postseason contention, there was plenty of green in the stands. Chants of “E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!” frequently rang out and cries of “Cooooop!” greeted Cooper DeJean’s interception of Josh Johnson, Washington’s third-string quarterback, who came in when Marcus Mariota went out after the opening drive in the third quarter with an injured right hand while Washington led 10-7.<\/p>\n

\"Philadelphia<\/a><\/p>\n

Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cooper Dejean (33) celebrates after an interception against the Washington Commanders, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Landover, Md.<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Nick Wass<\/p>\n

Mariota started Saturday in place of Jayden Daniels, the reigning AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year who led the Commanders to the NFC title game last season – where they lost 55-23 to Philadelphia – but has been shut down in 2025 after dealing with a series of injuries and appearing in only seven games.<\/p>\n

The chilly evening started inauspiciously for the Eagles: Will Shipley coughed up the opening kickoff when he was hit by Mike Sainristil, and Washington recovered at Philadelphia’s 27, eventually getting a field goal.<\/p>\n

The Eagles went up 7-3 on a drive that was nearly all Hurts. He was 4 for 5 passing for 53 yards, including a 6-yard TD toss to Smith, and added a 14-yard run, too.<\/p>\n

That’s not to say Hurts was perfect. Hardly. He missed open receivers, including one particularly egregious overthrow of Brown and another miscommunication with Smith.<\/p>\n

Jake Elliott, leaning left<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Eagles’ Jake Elliott managed to send three field-goal attempts wide left in the first half. Elliott entered 17 for 22 on field goals this season and hadn’t missed more than one in a game. But he was off on a 43-yarder in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Then, 13 seconds before halftime, Elliott couldn’t get a 57-yarder to go through the uprights – but that one didn’t count, because Washington’s Tyler Owens was flagged for being offsides. Given another chance, now from 52 yards, Elliott went wide left once more.<\/p>\n

Eagles numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Philadelphia outgained Washington 385 yards to 220. … Goedert has 10 scoring receptions this season, tying the record for an Eagles tight end, set by Pete Retzlaff in 1965. … DE Brandon Graham, 37, whose two sacks last week made him the oldest Eagles player to record one, added another Saturday.<\/p>\n

Injuries<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eagles: LB Nakobe Dean (hamstring) exited in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Commanders: Mariota was evaluated for a concussion and cleared, but his hand sidelined him. … WR Jaylin Lane (ankle) left in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eagles: At the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 28.<\/p>\n

Commanders: Host the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LANDOVER, Md. — This was not a terrific performance by the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, from a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":461249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[210466,5229,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-461248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-210466","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115755080217505946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}