Washington held off the Philadelphia Eagles, taking advantage of a Mark Sanchez interception with under two minutes to go en route to a 27-24 win.
Eagles vs. Washington 2014 final score: 3 things we learned from Washington’s 27-24 win
Washington took down the NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday, 27-24.
It was a tie game and the Eagles were driving, when Sanchez, who had already thrown for two touchdowns and over 370 yards, threw a pick to Bashaud Breeland. Washington took advantage, with a couple big plays to set them up in Philadelphia territory with just over a minute to go. A couple big runs and another first down burned through Philadelphia’s timeouts, and Kai Forbath managed the 26-yard field goal for the lead and the win.
For Washington, the win could mean a number of things. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding quarterback Robert Griffin III, and whether or not he’ll be the starter heading into next season. Whatever his performance means for the team overall, he certainly helped himself with strong play through most of this game, even if a fourth-quarter interception put the game in jeopardy.
It’s also probably nice to play spoiler to a division rival in whatever way possible, though the Eagles are not out of things yet. If the Dallas Cowboys lose on Sunday, then Philadelphia is still in the playoff race.
Three things we learned:
1) Bradley Fletcher can't keep up with DeSean Jackson
It’s probably a safe bet that DeSean Jackson was pretty motivated to play against his former team on Saturday, even if it wasn’t for the first time. In the first game earlier this season, he caught five passes for 117 yards and a touchdown, and he eclipsed those numbers on Saturday. That’s thanks to a pair of huge plays against Bradley Fletcher, who couldn’t keep up with Jackson deep:
That pass went for 55 yards and set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Darrel Young. Earlier in the game, Jackson beat Fletcher for a 51-yard gain, which led to a 28-yard touchdown run by Alfred Morris. Clearly, he had Fletcher’s (and possibly the Eagles’) number. Jackson finished with four receptions for 126 yards.
2) Don’t read too much into practice reps
Eagles running back LeSean McCoy was not the starting running back during a practice session earlier in the week, and there were some wondering if he'd lose some touches, for whatever reason. It didn't make any sense whatsoever, but it was discussed regardless. McCoy did what he usually does on Saturday: carried the ball a bunch of times, put up big yardage and put points on the board. He finished with 88 yards and a touchdown on the ground, with another 28 yards in the air.
3) Making graphics for Saturday is too much work
Of course, the NFL is all about branding, from the very top all the way to the bottom. Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football are actual names of actual programs that the NFL airs, and they put a lot behind those names. So much so, that when NFL Network plays host to a football game on a Saturday, they use the Thursday Night Football branding ... and call it “Saturday Edition.” In some roundabout way, this all makes sense, but it’s also very silly.
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