Eagles grades: Kenny Pickett good enough in relief, but the coaching wasn’t in a loss to the Commanders

LANDOVER, Md. — Grades on the Eagles’ performance in a 36-33 loss to the Washington Commanders:

Jalen Hurts was ruled out with a concussion midway through the first quarter after a forward slide on a quarterback draw ended with Washington linebacker Frankie Luvu hitting Hurts’ head into the turf. He finished 1-for-4 for 11 yards but added 41 rushing yards on three attempts.

Kenny Pickett did well in his first series coming in cold for Hurts but had an uneven day overall. He went 14-for-24 for 143 yards, leading the Eagles on a scoring drive with three completions after replacing Hurts.

For the most part, Pickett didn’t overthink his situation. He targeted A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith for nearly the entire game, with his first target to someone else coming in the fourth quarter to Saquon Barkley. He threw a dubious interception when targeting Brown on a slant route, though, throwing a pass directly to Luvu to give Washington a short field. He was also responsible for a miscue in the red zone late in the third quarter, not accounting for a free rusher coming off the edge when the Commanders overloaded the Eagles’ offensive front.

The next series, Pickett was fortunate not to get charged with a fumble after the officials overturned the ruling on the field that the quarterback lost control of the ball while getting brought down by Bobby Wagner. It’s worth noting he was grabbing his midsection after taking a hard fall on the play.

Pickett wasn’t always stellar in relief duty, but he made enough plays to nearly win the Eagles the game. That’s typically all you should ask for from a backup quarterback.

Barkley’s performance was the inverse of what he has typically done this season, with a torrid start giving way to a stagnant finish.

The running back had 109 rushing yards in the first quarter alone, but entered the fourth quarter with 133 and finished with 150 yards. It’s hard to knock him given the final numbers, but the lack of rushing production late in the game gave the Commanders life to mount the comeback even with five turnovers and facing a late deficit.

The final stat line for the Eagles’ star receiving duo won’t tell the story on either side of things.

Smith finished with six catches for 51 yards, but had a costly drop late in the fourth quarter that forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal just before the two-minute warning. The Eagles wouldn’t have been in that situation if not for Smith pulling off a clutch fourth-down grab earlier in the fourth quarter, but the miscue will likely be the one that’s remembered.

Brown’s final stat line won’t necessarily reflect how dominant he was for most of the afternoon, either. The wide receiver drew several pass-interference penalties primarily working against Washington cornerback Marshon Lattimore while finishing with eight catches for 97 yards and one touchdown. His biggest play came midway through the fourth quarter with the Eagles facing fourth-and-7. Pickett found Brown on a shallow crossing route short of the sticks, but the receiver reversed course and turned upfield to get the first down.

Aside from the two star wideouts, there wasn’t much to write home about for the Eagles receiving corps and tight ends. C.J. Uzomah had a few key blocks to spring Barkley in the run game, though.

Pickett was sacked three times, but a few of those fall on the quarterback rather than the protection. In general, he had time and space to operate for most of his drop backs.

The run game was a different story, with the group stalling out for most of the second half against an aggressive Washington defensive front. Similar to Barkley, the final numbers make it difficult to place too much blame on the run game, but the late-game disappearance stands in stark contrast to how the Eagles have been able to kill off games for most of this season when leading late in the fourth quarter.

Jordan Davis and Josh Sweat combined for a fourth-down run stuff to stall the Commanders’ opening drive after an errant kickoff from Braden Mann gave Washington favorable field position.

The group did reasonably well against the run, holding Washington to 113 rushing yards, with Jalen Carter playing his typical role as the bull in the china shop. Carter forced a first-quarter fumble by Washington running back Brian Robinson that was recovered by Nolan Smith near midfield.

Against the pass and especially late in the game, though, the group failed to make a significant impact. Smith logged the team’s lone sack of the afternoon and the pass rush wasn’t consistently effective getting to rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. Sweat missed part of the game with an ankle injury but returned in the second half with modest stats nonetheless.

Zack Baun continued his tendency to make timely plays when the Eagles defense needs them, forcing a fumble in the third quarter to set up a scoring drive for the offense. Baun also logged two tackles for losses in addition to the timely turnover, one of five forced by the Eagles defense.

Nakobe Dean led the team in tackles with 12 and had a relatively blemish-free afternoon despite the Commanders' late charge. He missed time midway through the game after suffering an injury but returned shortly thereafter.

Darius Slay started strongly with two pass breakups and a tackle for loss in the first half, but he also gave up a 51-yard completion to Dyami Brown early in the second quarter. He was also part of a miscue in the fourth quarter that gave the Commanders a free play that resulted in Olamide Zaccheaus scoring on a 49-yard touchdown catch partially due to the Eagles subbing late and having 12 men on the field.

Quinyon Mitchell gave up an explosive pass play of his own. After pocketing Washington receiver Terry McLaurin in the first meeting between these teams, Mitchell got beaten deep by the veteran wideout for a 32-yard touchdown catch midway through the second quarter. Seemingly sitting on an in-breaking route, Mitchell got beaten to the outside as McLaurin worked up the sideline and made a catch in the front corner of the end zone with the rookie cornerback trailing behind.

Cooper DeJean seemingly had a mental lapse in the first half as well, working away from Commanders receiver Jamison Crowder in the end zone in what appeared to be a miscommunication with safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson as the nearest defender to Crowder. After the 6-yard touchdown catch, Gardner-Johnson went to DeJean, seemingly upset by the mix-up.

Gardner-Johnson went from hero to zero on Sunday. He came up with a timely interception in the second quarter but got ejected the next quarter after picking up his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in a skirmish with Commanders players.

Gardner-Johnson’s pick came after Daniels overthrew Luke McCaffrey on an in-breaking route a few yards in front of Gardner-Johnson over the top. He double-caught the errant pass and worked upfield to set up the Eagles at midfield with less than two minutes remaining in the half. The broadcast didn’t show what led to Gardner-Johnson getting tossed, but the first penalty he was charged with came after he got in the face of Dyami Brown and said something that led to the receiver shoving his helmet off in retaliation. On his way off the field with Eagles security czar Dom DiSandro, Gardner-Johnson gave the double birds to a crowd that consisted mostly of Eagles fans.

Coming in for Gardner-Johnson, 25-year-old Tristin McCollum had a costly missed assignment of his own, leaving Zaccheaus alone in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown catch at the start of the fourth quarter. And while Reed Blankenship came up with a fourth-quarter interception that stalled the Commanders’ comeback efforts for a time, he was also the nearest defender on Crowder’s touchdown catch in the final seconds of the game.

Jake Elliott’s struggles from 50 yards and beyond persisted for most of the day at Northwest Stadium, with a missed 56-yard field goal at the conclusion of the first half making him 0-for-6 from 50-plus this season. Elliott’s kick seemed to die in the wind, which swirled around the stadium on a cold, blustery afternoon.

He got redemption in the fourth quarter, hitting a 50-yarder to put the Eagles ahead with 3 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in regulation. Still, Elliott’s miss earlier in the game looms large given the Eagles’ final margin of defeat.

The kickoff unit, particularly Mann, couldn’t have gotten off to much worse a start as well. The punter’s opening kickoff fell short of the designated landing zone, resulting in the Commanders getting the ball at the 40-yard line. The following timeout, Mann’s kickoff made it into the landing zone but floated enough to give McCaffrey the opportunity to return it 47 yards into Eagles territory. The Eagles defense bailed Mann out both times, but the shaky start isn’t a good omen for how Mann might fare as the weather conditions worsen late in the season.

Elliott’s 56-yarder falls partially at the feet of Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, who elected to let roughly 40 seconds run off the clock at the end of the first half with the team facing fourth-and-4 at midfield. Sirianni used his second timeout with 11 seconds remaining and, after Pickett found Smith to convert on fourth down, sent Elliott out for the long field goal on a windy afternoon.

Sirianni was also notably conservative on fourth-and-short situations without Hurts at the controls. He sent the punt unit out facing fourth-and-1 from the Eagles’ 34-yard line and again when the offense faced fourth-and-1 from the Eagles’ 36-yard line a series later.

On defense, the Eagles were penalized twice for having too many men on the field. The second one gave Washington a free play, which exposed a blown coverage from the Eagles’ secondary on a 49-yard touchdown reception for Zaccheaus.