Quinyon Mitchell has coming-out party as Eagles defense stifles Jayden Daniels and the Commanders

Quinyon Mitchell didn’t know the number of times he lined up opposite Terry McLaurin.

But the rookie cornerback was aware of one number from his breakout performance in the Eagles’ 26-18 win over the Commanders.

“I knew,” Mitchell said, “that I didn’t really get thrown at.”

How about never? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels didn’t target McLaurin on the 20 routes his best wide receiver ran when matched up against Mitchell on Thursday night, according to NextGen Stats.

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On paper, Mitchell’s evening didn’t look special. No pass breakups. No turnovers. Just one assisted tackle. But for those who witnessed him lock down his side at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles fans who knowingly watched on television, and the millions who caught their first glimpse on the national broadcast, Mitchell was extraordinary.

He’s no longer a local secret. The rest of the country now knows, as does the rest of the NFL: Mitchell is playing as well as any cornerback in the rookie class. He may just be playing as well as any first-year defensive player.

“He’s a good corner,” McLaurin said. “I think he plays well. He doesn’t really play like a rookie.”

Mitchell didn’t shut down McLaurin, who overall caught just one pass for 10 yards, on his own. It was a collective effort, as was keeping Daniels — another standout rookie — and the Washington offense in check for most of 60 minutes.

The Eagles’ defensive front sacked the quarterback three times and pressured him out of the pocket on multiple occasions. The off-ball linebackers helped keep the mobile Daniels from scrambling for big gains. And Mitchell and the secondary kept McLaurin and Washington’s receivers from explosive catches.

“This is a team effort defense here,” Eagles cornerback Darius Slay said. “For the time that I’ve been here it’s been a D-line-driven defense. But right now, I feel like we got a great front, great linebackers, and great back four, and we playing all together as one.”

Vic Fangio’s defense has just gotten better and better with each week since the bye. There was often a “but” that came after praising the unit.

But the offenses they pounded were weak. But the quarterbacks they stifled — aside from Joe Burrow — were inferior. But … but … but …

But how about the Eagles defense now? Washington entered with one of the league’s most efficient offenses. Daniels had been playing like a savvy veteran and not a rookie. McLaurin had 47 catches for 711 yards and six touchdowns through the first 10 games.

Surely, Fangio’s young group would wilt?

It did not. Until the Commanders’ last possession, Daniels averaged just 5.9 yards per pass attempt. His receivers had only a combined two catches for 13 yards. He was lured into check-down after check-down as the defensive backs denied opportunities downfield.

“We knew he was great at doing that,” Slay said of Daniels. “He’s got a strong arm, very accurate, as you saw on film. So when a quarterback’s good at doing that, you just try your best to take it away from it. And that’s why you saw him check it down.”

» READ MORE: Fan-genius! Vic’s defense, Saquon Barkley’s greatness leave Eagles as NFC’s second-best Super Bowl contender

It was a master class from Fangio and it was his much-imitated scheme at its best. Limit explosives when necessary with two-high safety shells. Accept runs into light boxes and short passes and trust your off-ball linebackers to tackle.

There were some early miscues. Linebacker Zack Baun was late to cover Austin Ekeler on two catches out of the backfield. A few defenders struggled to bring down running back Brian Robinson.

But Fangio didn’t panic even as the Eagles offense kept stalling or Jake Elliott missed field goals. He stuck to his plan, which was mostly to keep Daniels in the pocket and force him to throw short and in the middle of the field.

“Make him play quarterback,” Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson said, “and understand that when he becomes an athlete, he becomes very dangerous. And tonight, I think we did a great job making him play quarterback.”

Daniels was essentially a nonfactor on the ground. He ran for only 13 yards on six carries before Washington’s final, meaningless drive. Fangio didn’t dedicate a defender to spy on the quarterback, per Baun, but the linebackers did keep their eyes fixated on him in their drops.

With the Eagles clinging to a 12-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Washington was just 1 yard shy of a new set of downs at the Eagles 25. But defensive end Brandon Graham and Baun teamed up to drop Robinson for a loss on third down.

And when Commanders coach Dan Quinn passed up a 44-yard field goal and went for it on fourth down, the Eagles got the stop. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter shot into the backfield as Daniels bobbled the snap, safety Reed Blankenship forced the quarterback to the sideline, and Baun was there to clean up.

“We’re an athletic defense that flies around and hits,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “As that play got strung out, you could see the effort to the football and also you could see the athletic ability to the football to make that play.”

The Eagles scored on their ensuing drive when running back Saquon Barkley motored into the end zone from 23 yards out. And when Daniels finally threw downfield on his next pass, Blankenship made a diving interception to essentially seal the outcome.

It was only the second pass the quarterback threw that traveled more than 15 yards. Fangio favored his deep shells. He also mixed in some man coverage. But he kept going back to one particular zone.

“There definitely was one call that we leaned on more than most in zone,” Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean said before declining to give more detail. “We were just trying to match their routes in our zones, with the underneath guys creating tight windows. And then there were a couple of drives in there where we mix in a good bit of man.”

Mitchell said the secondary bracketed its coverage on McLaurin only a few times. But mostly he played the receiver, who caught passes for 100-plus yards four times in 10 previous meetings against the Eagles, straight up. McLaurin’s lone catch Thursday came with DeJean in coverage, but the slot corner was nearly Mitchell’s match.

The two rookies have been a revelation. The Eagles went years without expending high draft picks on corners. That could partly explain why they mostly whiffed in the latter rounds. But they selected Mitchell and DeJean in the first two rounds in April and the early returns suggest they hit on both.

“Their ceiling is so big,” Slay said.

Neither is basking in the limelight.

“My approach is staying the same, each and every day, coming into work, studying on my own, studying with the coaches,” Mitchell said. “I feel like everybody on the team is real hard on me. They expect better from me, and I appreciate it.”

Mitchell is still waiting for his first interception. He dropped a few would-be picks earlier in the season. After the game, he had a long conversation with future Hall of Fame cornerback Richard Sherman, who was part of the Prime Video broadcast crew. What did he say?

“To catch the ball,” Mitchell said.

He didn’t get many chances on this night. And that was a good thing.