Eagles-Commanders takeaways: What to make of 4th-quarter defense; does the secondary need reinforcements?

The Eagles remained undefeated through four games for a second consecutive season by beating the Washington Commanders, 34-31, in overtime on Sunday.

Here’s what we learned:

At the quarter pole, the Eagles have yet to play a truly complete game and are none the worse for it.

It was imperative that they stack up wins in this easier portion of the schedule and they’ve done just that without playing their best football. The gauntlet of midseason games against several Super Bowl contenders looms and will require more from them, but the Eagles are talented enough to win the games they’re supposed to win even when they’re not at their best. That shouldn’t be taken for granted; teams across the league lose games they shouldn’t every week (see: Cowboys vs. Cardinals or Bills vs. Jets).

» READ MORE: By the skin of Reed Blankenship’s forearm, Eagles defense survives vs. Washington

There are areas for concern. Jalen Hurts is making progress but still lacks the steadiness that made him special last season; the defense has gone through fits and starts and hasn’t faced an elite quarterback yet; and injuries are starting to add up in key positions. Still, the Eagles are right where they should be through four weeks: unbeaten and unfinished.

After rewatching the 10-play, 64-yard touchdown drive Sam Howell orchestrated to force overtime in the final seconds of regulation, it’s harder to assign blame than I expected.

There were a handful of calls that defensive coordinator Sean Desai would surely like to have back — the secondary bounced between soft zone coverages and more aggressive man-to-man calls with no avail.

The most pivotal sequence of plays in that series started with a third-and-17 from Washington’s 40-yard line with just over a minute remaining. The Eagles defensive backs were about 10 yards off the line and Howell took advantage of the soft zone, finding Byron Pringle for a 15-yard gain to set up a manageable fourth down. On the fourth-and-2 that followed, the Eagles lined up with cornerback Darius Slay 10 yards off again, giving an easy underneath option to Howell, who hit Dyami Brown for a 16-yard gain.

It’s only fair to acknowledge that Howell made some lights-out throws, including the one to Jahan Dotson in the end zone a few plays later with Josh Jobe in good coverage but simply out-leveraged against a perfectly placed pass. Desai had a handful of nice third-down calls and the defense made enough plays to win the game behind the formula the group has followed all season: Get pressure and hope the back end holds up long enough to make it count.

Howell’s impressive fourth-quarter showing shouldn’t be cause for panic, but there are certainly some instructive moments to take from that last-gasp drive.

On this topic, it’s becoming apparent that the Eagles could really use another defensive back between now and the Oct. 31 trade deadline.

Whether it’s a slot cornerback or a safety — or a hybrid of the two — the secondary is starting to lose some of the versatility that made last year’s group so effective. The inclusion of Jobe at outside cornerback and James Bradberry in the slot when the Eagles are in nickel packages has been fine through two games, but the lack of depth at safety left the Eagles with nowhere to turn Sunday even as Terrell Edmunds struggled through the game.

» READ MORE: Yes, the Eagles are 4-0, but they can be better. And they’ll have to be.

Reed Blankenship has become a quality starter at one safety spot, but the Eagles will need to identify a steady running mate to shore things up. Justin Evans looked like he could be that guy — and perhaps he still can be once he returns from a neck injury — but it would still make sense to add someone at the position.

At slot cornerback, the current trio of Bradberry, Slay, and Jobe is sufficient but the current arrangement leaves a lot riding on Slay, 32, and Bradberry, 30, staying healthy for the entire season. An injury to either of them and the Eagles will be turning to rookie corner Kelee Ringo or backup slot corner Mario Goodrich.

Surveying bad teams with quality defensive backs, Panthers safety/slot corner Jeremy Chinn, Raiders slot corner Nate Hobbs, Colts nickel corner Kenny Moore, and Cardinals safety Budda Baker stand out. Whether any of those teams will be looking to move a starter at the deadline is less obvious, but there should be a few options and the Eagles should be exploring them to steady things on the back end.

The Eagles were the beneficiary of two very dubious decisions from Washington’s coaching staff on Sunday.

The first came during the week of preparation, when defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio devised a plan centered around rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes following A.J. Brown in single coverage for large parts of the game. There are very few corners capable of handling themselves with such a matchup, let alone a 22-year-old playing in his fourth NFL game.

The broadcast caught Forbes visibly upset on the sideline after Brown’s second touchdown catch. Hard to blame him considering the difficult job he was tasked with even as Brown started to dominate the game. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown had six of his nine catches with Forbes in coverage and logged 147 of his 175 receiving yards on those receptions.

The second questionable call was Commanders coach Ron Rivera opting to kick a PAT to tie things at 31 rather than go for the win in regulation. The old adage is you go for the win on the road and play for overtime at home. Rivera said after the game that the offense was “gassed” from the 10-play drive so he didn’t like their chances to convert on the two-point conversion. If your offense is so tired, wouldn’t you want to finish the game in regulation rather than play an entire extra quarter against a more talented home team?

Olamide Zaccheaus made a play that should go a long way toward cementing his role as the No. 3 receiver behind Brown and DeVonta Smith even when Quez Watkins returns from a hamstring injury.

His lone catch, an 11-yard reception on third-and-8 to sustain the Eagles’ go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter was impressive, but the effort to get downfield and spring Brown for his first touchdown, a 59-yarder in the third quarter, was even more convincing.

Zaccheaus busted it down the field to throw the final block as Brown weaved through Washington’s defense and into the end zone. The former St. Joseph’s Prep standout even celebrated as if he’d scored after the play.

That’s the type of thing that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet but that coaches notice and appreciate. In an offense with so many mouths to feed, a player like Zaccheaus is a perfect member of the supporting cast.

The next time the Eagles are in a two-minute situation in field goal range, I wonder if Nick Sirianni would choose to play things differently.

Taking a successful shot to the end zone from 29 yards out and just under two minutes left in the game felt like the decisive blow at the time, but it also took the game out of the Eagles’ hands once the Commanders answered with a touchdown of their own.

Washington had all the control in the moments between Dotson reeling in the last-second touchdown catch and Rivera inadvisably sending out his kicking unit instead of going for the win.

Sirianni said after the game that he likes to stay aggressive in those situations; there’s also a chance it was Hurts who checked to the shot play at the line. Either way, there’s at least a chance the Eagles handle that type of situation differently down the road.