It wasn’t pretty but a win on the road in Washington helped keep the Philadelphia Eagles alive in the NFL postseason chase. Rodney McLeod’s interception sealed a 20-16 victory in Week 17. Next up, an evening of scoreboard watching.
The Eagles have a three-hour bus ride home from Maryland to see if they clinch a playoff spot. They’ll be rooting for the San Francisco 49ers and Carolina Panthers in the afternoon games, then the Green Bay Packers in the nightcap. The hardest part was gutting out an ugly win and living to fight another day. The Eagles remain cautiously optimistic.
“It was ugly today, I think we had a sloppy first half and ended up finding a way to win in the second half,” right tackle Lane Johnson said. “I just know if we get invited to the dance, it’s time to dance. We need some stuff to play out tonight and tomorrow.”
“We did our job,” tight end Dallas Goedert said. “Ultimately, we took care of what we could take care of and whatever else happens tonight and tomorrow, we’ll be going back to work and getting ready for Dallas.”
The Eagles fell behind 10-0 after the first quarter and trailed the entire first half. Philadelphia grabbed its first lead with 11:41 in the fourth quarter following a 42-yard field goal from Jake Elliott. He added a 41-yarder later in the frame to provide the final margin of victory. Washington was driving into the red zone when McLeod impossibly sniped an errant pass from Taylor Heinicke in the end zone. Game over.
“I knew I caught it once I secured it, really. That was the biggest thing,” McLeod said. “I let one slip away the first time we played them. I wanted to make sure I just closed this game out the right way – to be able to finish a play, make a big catch, play for this team, and gotta give credit to God obviously for putting me in this position.”
.@Rodney_McLeod4 on his game-winning interception
The latest Eagles news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Eagles newsletter here!
Sticking to Nick Sirianni’s Five Core Values
Head coach Nick Sirianni has been gaining popularity for NFL Coach of the Year. If the Eagles make the postseason, those calls are only going to grow louder. Why has he been so successful in his first year on the sideline? It all goes back to the five core values he brought to the locker room: compete, accountability, football IQ, fundamentals, connect.
.@LaneJohnson65 on Coach Sirianni
Sirianni doubled down on those core values when the Eagles started 2-5. The players never doubted him or the process. They even defended him after his infamous “flower speech.”
“Just resilient, what were we 2-5? Or whatever our record was, it wasn’t looking good,” Johnson said. “He just stated about doubling down on the core values that we have. That’s really what he’s been preaching the whole year.
“And not every game is going to be pretty and there’s going to be a lot of tough games, especially in the NFL where everything’s tight. But that’s what he preached, just doubled down on it, and here we are.”
Jalen Hurts went 17-of-26 for 214 yards (no touchdowns) against Washington in a performance that won’t be making any highlight reels. However, the second-year quarterback was a calming influence in the huddle who made big play after big play when he needed to. His Houdini hand-off to Boston Scott on a fourth down play in the third quarter was the play of the game. That pulled the Eagles to within two points at 16-14.
The pitch from Jalen Hurts to Boston Scott while falling down and then the dive!
Incredible! 👏👏👏
“We connected, we communicated, we’ve grown, we put the work in, and we’ve just grown one percent better every day,” Hurts said. “And that’s been our goal, that’s been our true identity, that’s been who we are.”
Getting Ready for Dallas Week
No matter what happens in the late games, it’s Dallas Cowboys Week in Philadelphia. The Eagles will host their hated NFC East rivals in the regular-season finale at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I’ll let everybody else reflect on how far we’ve come as a football team,” Hurts said. “For me, the job isn’t done for us. It’s not done. We’re not done yet.”
Tons of boos in the stands. Fight? Between @Eagles and @WashingtonNFL fans? Nope. Just a guy wearing a @dallascowboys jersey 🤣
Playoff seeding may be on the line, so it will count and guys will finally get a full week to heal up. Remember, Philadelphia had played three games in 12 days. McLeod was still on the mend from offseason knee surgery, his second in three seasons.
“We trusted the process. We prepared the same way, and had that same level of focus, and we got better,” McLeod said. “Look forward to another week, and getting the leg stronger, and getting ready for Dallas.”
A year ago today I had ACL surgery. I took some time today to reflect on what it took to get back to this point. Along the way there were many highs and lows, moments of joy and doubt.
Comments
‘Getting Ready for Dallas’: Eagles Await Playoff Fate After Ugly Win