Eagles-Commanders takeaways: Birds’ place in NFC coming into focus; Jalen Carter becoming a talking point

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Eagles pulled off another statement win in prime time against the Washington Commanders on Thursday, as they surged to a 26-18 victory.

Now with a 1½-game lead over the Commanders in the NFC East entering the weekend, the victory will come in handy in a few weeks’ time as the playoff picture starts to come into focus.

Here’s what we learned:

We’re still a few weeks away from any true playoff picture crystallizing, but it’s safe to say the Eagles are beginning to separate themselves in the NFC with their win over the Commanders.

Outside of the dominant Detroit Lions, there aren’t many NFC teams with a resumé that measures up to the Eagles' through 10 games. The Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, and Falcons have the strongest cases with Atlanta having the evidence of beating the Eagles earlier this season to lean on. Still, the Eagles have readjusted their ceiling since Week 2 enough to feel good about a potential rematch with the Falcons and have a win against the Packers already this season.

The Vikings’ record — and their defense — puts them in a similar stratosphere as the Eagles, but there have been some signs of regression to the mean after a fast start. And according to tankathon.com, Minnesota has the ninth-hardest strength of schedule remaining compared to the Eagles’ coming in at 21st.

Getting back to the present, the sample size of the Eagles’ last six games has overshadowed the 2-2 start that featured an international trip as one of three road games in four weeks. Even when you look at the season as a whole, this team going into the weekend ranked second in the conference in point differential and third in the NFL at plus-80. Detroit leads the NFL, and the conference very well may end up going through Ford Field, but the Eagles have entered the race in earnest with their win.

» READ MORE: Eagles-Commanders stock watch: Saquon Barkley, defense lift Eagles to win

You might be interested to hear what Zach Ertz had to say about one Eagles defensive player in particular after the former Eagles star and current Washington Commanders tight end’s first time playing in Philly against his old team in unfriendly colors.

“Jalen Carter is going to be one of the best defensive players in this league for a long time,” Ertz said. “He’s the key cog on that defense, in my opinion.”

This Eagles defense is dominant enough for a handful of players to stake claim for the label of “key cog.” Quinyon Mitchell has become a rarity: A rookie cornerback opposing offenses are hesitant to even test because of how often he breaks up passes or blankets the league’s best wide receivers. Zack Baun has become the engine in the middle of the team’s defense, covering up space to break up passing lanes, making key tackles, and forcing turnovers on a nearly weekly basis.

» READ MORE: Commanders’ Zach Ertz scores TD in ‘emotional’ Philly homecoming: ‘I really wanted this one’

But the anchor of the defense, perhaps the true “key cog,” as Ertz suggested, might be the player who sometimes is hardest to quantify with the final stat sheet. Carter had four solo tackles, another three combined, one for a loss. What won’t show up is the attention the second-year defensive tackle is starting to command, how often he knifes into the backfield, and how often he shows up for the defense in the game’s key moments.

There was Carter, closing in on Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels on the pivotal fourth-and-2 late in the fourth quarter to flush the rookie signal caller to the outside, where Baun was eager to tee off on the former LSU standout. A few plays earlier, Carter was the one who quickly shed a one-on-one block to drag Brian Robinson to the ground short of the sticks on second-and-1.

» READ MORE: How Lane Johnson became Jalen Carter’s unlikely mentor on the Eagles

These are the types of plays that leave opposing teams talking about you in the locker room after the game. They’re the types of plays that beget a reputation, which begets being the focal point of opposing game plans, which begets opportunity for everyone else. Carter is well on his way, even if the stats don’t always suggest as much.

I’ve used the word “arrhythmic” to describe the Eagles passing game on more than one occasion this season, but it just seems to stick.

Zero turnovers is the stat that matters most (a bit more on that later), but the unsteady nature of the passing game was glaring for most of the night. Jalen Hurts finished 18-for-28 for 221 yards with a handful of missed opportunities either because of Hurts passing up open receivers or not seeing them at all. Hurts had a tendency to get jittery in the pocket and drop his eyes last Sunday against the Cowboys before settling in for a solid performance. Against the Commanders, he never truly got settled.

He missed DeVonta Smith on a shallow crossing route on the Eagles' second drive seemingly while preoccupied with the rush, and he had a few other miscues when A.J. Brown and Smith broke free in the intermediate areas of the field. Hurts also struggled with accuracy at times, sailing a third-down pass to Brown near the sideline in the second quarter.

Which version of the Eagles passing game will appear when the stakes rise — the opportunistic version that can leverage Saquon Barkley’s gravity for explosive shots downfield, or the uneven one on display against Washington — is one of the few lingering questions about how this team will fare. There’s still plenty of time to figure it out and evidence of what it can look like, but Thursday wasn’t a step in the right direction.

Up, Calcaterra: Remember at the start of the summer when it required some legitimate projection to picture Calcaterra as the Eagles’ No. 2 tight end? He has quickly become a glue guy for the offense. He does a lot of the dirty work in the run game, makes timely plays in the passing game, and was there to dive on Dallas Goedert’s fumble to save the Eagles’ scoring drive. Don’t get me wrong, Calcaterra isn’t immune from getting beaten as a blocker in the run game, but he plays with an edge that’s noticeable, even from the all-22 angle or from the press box most weeks. For a star-laden offense in need of role players who will play hard even with limited touches, that has real value.

Down, Smith’s usage: For a second week in a row, Smith was lightly featured in a game plan that revolved more around Barkley and Brown. Smith had six targets against the Commanders but managed four catches for 29 yards one week removed from logging two for 14 yards. The Eagles have typically corrected course whenever Smith has a quiet game over the last few years, and perhaps that’s coming after the mini-bye week.

» READ MORE: DeVonta Smith’s targets drop as Eagles turn into a running team: ‘It’s tough, but you can’t get down about it’

Up, Kenneth Gainwell: Gainwell had just four carries, but his 43 yards on those plays made a case that he should get a few more in relief of Barkley moving forward. Especially considering Barkley had 28 touches on a short week, Gainwell’s ability to keep shop in his stead will be an important development over the next few months.