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And then, there were three, Philadelphia Eagles fans.
That's right, after splitting four games to start off the year, landing what ended up being a perfectly-timed bye in Week 5, and then ripping off ten-straight wins against teams ranging from very good – the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers – to very bad – the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers – and everywhere in between, the Eagles now have just three more games left to play before they make their triumphant return to the playoffs.
But where will they play? When will they play? And who will they play? Can the Eagles outlast the Detroit Lions to secure the number one seed, getting a week to get everyone's bodies right on the way to a divisional-round showdown? Or will disaster strike, and the Eagles end up going up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their sudden archrivals, losing their third game since January of 2024?
Needless to say, there are a ton of options and interesting ways the next few weeks could go, but before that can happen, the Eagles actually need to close things out down the stretch, with not one, not two, but three NFC East games left to play before the playoffs start.
Opponent number one? The Washington Commanders.
Coming off of their own bye in Week 14, the Commanders are on a winning streak of their own, defeating the Tennessee Titans in Week 13 and the New Orleans Saints in Week 15 after losing three straight to the Steelers, Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys from Weeks 10-12. They've been performing very well on the ground as of late, rushing for 549 yards over the last three games with the one-two punch of Jayden Daniels and Brian Robinson Jr., and are still airing it out depending on the game, with the Rookie of the Year favorite no longer an absolute force from an efficiency standpoint but still sitting at a completion percentage of 70.5 on the season.
Are the Commanders still a very good team? Yes, yes, they are, but so are the Philadelphia Eagles, and if they can put up a similar effort to their Week 16 performance, it's hard to imagine anyone beating this team moving forward.
1. Saquon Barkley takes another step towards Eric Dickerson's record
In Week 15, Saquon Barkley's pursuit of the all-time rushing record took a major setback when, after taking a nasty hit, he split time with Kenneth Gainwell on the Eagles' ten-and-a-half-minute drive to ice out the Steelers 27-13.
Now granted, over the course of the 21-play drive, Barkley still ran the ball seven times for 10 yards in a shockingly ineffective piece of action. But in the end, it was Gainwell who ended up being the star of the drive, picking up ten yards when the team needed him most to work through the Steelers' timeouts and set Philadelphia up for three kneels on the way to a win.
Suddenly 427 yards behind Dickerson's record with just three games left to play, the Eagles' lead rusher would have to run the ball for at least 143 yards per game to break the record, which he's done on five occasions in 2024 but is a tough feat to accomplish three weeks in a row.
Fortunately, the Eagles Week 16 foe isn't particularly good at stopping the run, allowing an average of 132.14 yards per game on the season for the 25th-ranked rushing defense in the NFL. Factor in that in the first time the Eagles took on the Commanders in 2024, in Week 11 to be exact, Barkley ripped off 146 yards on 26 attempts for two rushing touchdowns.
Factor in two more catches on three targets for 52 yards, and Barkley had a top-3 game in 2024 against the Commanders, right behind his efforts against the Giants – for sentimental reasons – and his game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 12.
With one game against Barkley already on the books in 2024, maybe Dan Quin and the Commanders will be ready for what the Penn State product brings to the table. But with defensive end Clelin Ferrell, defensive tackle Daron Payne, and strong safety Jeremy Chinn all questionable, plus star tackle Jonathan Allen on IR, it's possible Philly's top rusher could end up getting back on track for the record down the stretch.
2. The Commanders run on the Eagles, too, just not as well
While Week 16 has the potential to be a banner weekend for the Eagles' rushing game, especially with Jalen Hurts factored into the ground game, the Commanders have a chance to do some damage running the ball, too, which has been their strong suit as of late.
Now granted, attacking the Eagles on the ground isn't a new idea and is actually a pretty good strategy when you consider they have the best passing defense in the NFL versus just the seventh-best rushing defense. For the most part, Philadelphia has done a good job of holding opposing rushing attacks at bay over the last ten weeks, allowing just three 100-yard games since their bye, but the team hasn't played a rushing offense this good since Week 13 against the Baltimore Ravens who ran for 166 yards.
With Robinson Jr. averaging 4.4 yards per carry and Daniels actually performing even better at 5.5 yards per carry – amassing 705 yards and 656 yards on the season, respectively – the Eagles will have their hands full in Week 16 regardless of down and distance, which may lead to a bigger role for Jordan Davis in the game alongside his fellow Bulldogs Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith. Fortunately, Vic Fangio has to know that the Commanders have become a run-first team and will plan accordingly.
3. Jalen Hurts outduels Jayden Daniels on the way to an Eagles win
If Hurts turned in the exact same stat line in Week 15 across all 14 starts he recorded this season, he would be sitting pretty with 4,060 yards with a completion percentage of 78.1 plus 28 touchdowns, instead of his actual stat line of 2,892 yards with a completion percentage of 69.2 plus 18 touchdowns.
On paper, that's kind of a lot and part of why AJ Brown was so vocal about the Eagles' passing issues, but the numbers don't tell the full story. You see, the Eagles really didn't want to throw the ball all that often in 2024, ranking dead last in pass attempts at just 357. When Hurts does air it out, he has a pension for ripping off big gains, with Brown and DeVonta Smith both having multiple 40-plus yard gains on the season, but those shots were set up by strong efforts on the ground, with loaded boxes leading to single coverage on the outside.
Could Hurts put on another masterclass in Week 16, flirting with 300 yards while adding multiple touchdowns through the air? Sure, he threw for 221 yards against the Commanders earlier this year and might be riding high off of his first 30-plus passing game since Week 4. But considering the Commanders have the fourth-best passing defense in the NFL, feeling comfortable enough about their depth to release former first-round pick Emmanuel Forbes earlier this year, that might be tough.
Then again, throwing against the Eagles' passing defense is even tougher, with Philadelphia allowing 228 fewer yards than the Commanders in 2024. Considering Daniels has just one passing game of 230-plus yards over the past seven games, it feels like Hurts could get the edge over the Commanders QB in Week 16 and ultimately lead his team to their 11th win of the season. The NFC East pennant will belong to Philadelphia once more, and the race for the top seed in the NFC East will only grow stronger.
