September 08, 2026
Bill Streicher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Eagles will face Jayden Daniels on Sunday after missing him in both matchups against the Commanders in 2025.
The Philadelphia Eagles are 5-0 in Week 1 games under Nick Sirianni, and will try to stay perfect against their division rival, the Washington Commanders. Here are our five things to watch.
The Eagles ran all over the Commanders in 2024, and in the one game the starters played against them in 2025:
• Week 11, 2025: 40 rushes, 228 yards (5.7 YPC), 3 TDs.
• Week 16, 2025: 39 rushes, 211 yards (5.4 YPC), 2 TDs.
• NFC Championship Game, 2025: 36 rushes, 229 yards (6.4 YPC), 7 TDs (lol).
• Week 16, 2026: 34 rushes, 207 yards (6.1 YPC), 2 TDs.
TOTAL: Four games, 149 rushes, 875 yards, 14 TDs.
The Commanders allowed 141.5 rushing yards per game last season, third-worst in the NFL.
So what did they do this offseason? They paid over $40 million in cash in 2026 to a couple of edge defenders in Odafe Oweh and K'Lavon Chaisson who should really only be playing on obvious passing downs. They also did not bring back Bobby Wagner, which is understandable as he became a liability in coverage, but he was at least still a good run defender and he had a deep understanding of what opposing offenses were trying to do.
Meanwhile, high-priced Javon Kinlaw gets pushed around in the run game, DaRon Payne is on the downside of his career, and fake tough Frankie Luvu is a situational pass rusher who has been masquerading as a three-down linebacker. (It seems the Commanders finally figured out that Luvu isn't that guy, by the way, based on their acquisitions of Leo Chenal in free agency and Sonny Styles in the draft.)
Meanwhile, I don't think I've seen a worse tackling secondary than what the Commanders were last season.
The success of the Eagles' offense in 2026 is going to be dependent on their rushing attack. If they can't get that going, it's going to be a long, frustrating season on offense, like it was in 2025. This Commanders defense offers an outstanding opportunity to get the run game going right out of the gate.
The Commanders' projected starting secondary in 2026 is Trey Amos, Mike Sainristil, Amik Robertson, Jeremy Reaves, and Nick Cross. Amos is widely considered the Commanders' top corner. He is on IR to start the regular season, and won't play. He'll likely be replaced in the lineup by old friend Rasul Douglas.
Here were the named players' coverage stats last season, via PFF. We'll also throw in Quan Martin, as he'll also have some kind of role.
| Commanders DBs | Completions/ Targets | Yards allowed | TD/ INT | Opp QB rating |
| Mike Sainristil | 67/94 (71.3%) | 767 | 9/4 | 109.7 |
| Trey Amos | 23/34 (67.6%) | 325 | 1/0 | 108.1 |
| Amik Robertson (w/DET) | 65/97 (67.0%) | 817 | 6/1 | 109.3 |
| Rasul Douglas | 41/75 (54.7%) | 410 | 3/2 | 72.6 |
| Nick Cross (w/ IND) | 50/69 (72.5%) | 567 | 4/1 | 110.0 |
| Jeremy Reaves | 22/34 (64.7%) | 211 | 1/1 | 79.4 |
| Quan Martin | 27/37 (73.0%) | 565 | 5/0 | 154.6 |
Interestingly, the two best performing players above were a career special teamer (Reaves) and a journeyman on his ninth (!) team (Douglas).
The Commanders swapped out defensive coordinators this season, with Daronte Jones replacing Joe Whitt, although ultimately this defense will still have Dan Quinn's stamp on it.
The Eagles' passing offense will look a whole lot different this season, as it will feature a lot of motion, a lot of under center snaps, and a lot of marrying the run game with the pass game via play action. I think everyone is curious to get a first look at a non-vanilla version of it when the real games begin. And, if we're being honest, it's hard to predict if it will look good or not.
But certainly, this trash Commanders defense is a perfect Week 1 opponent for the offense to try to get its sea legs.
Despite playing from behind all season in 2025 and finishing with a 5-12 record, the Commanders were the fourth-most run-heavy team in the NFL.
Of course, part of that is because their top two quarterbacks — Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota — run with the ball a lot. Still, that is a high percentage of runs for a team that absolutely sucked last season.
If the Commanders have any self awareness at all, they're going to understand that (a) they need to take pressure off their offensive line in pass protection (more on that in a moment), and (b) they are out-classed across the board, talent-wise, and would be wise to try to shorten the game.
They are going to run it.
The challenge for offensive coordinator David Blough is to disguise run vs. pass depending on which running back is in the game. The Commanders' RB1 is Jacory Crosky-Merritt, who had a decent rookie season as a rusher, carrying 175 times for 805 yards (4.6 YPC) and 8 TDs. However, he was a near non-factor in the passing game, making just 9 receptions for 68 yards and 0 TDs.
Meanwhile, the RB2 is Rachaad White, a career passing down back who has 205 receptions in four NFL seasons. It'll be interesting if Vic Fangio can get a bead on run-pass tendencies depending on personnel.
And then of course, Daniels is always a threat to run. The Eagles didn't face Daniels in either matchup in 2025, but in three games 2024 he ran 22 times for 147 yards and a TD. This could be a game where Fangio puts Jihaad Campbell's athleticism to use by spying Daniels.
The Commanders' top two receivers are Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs, a couple of aging players with something to prove.
McLaurin will turn 31 next Tuesday. He had his worst season in 2025, by far, after a contentious "hold-in." He missed seven games due to injury, and had just 582 receiving yards after five straight seasons in which he topped 1000 yards.
Diggs will turn 33 during the season. This is his fourth team in four seasons. He has bounced around, and has built a reputation as a bad locker room guy. But he has also been productive. In 2025, he was the Patriots' leading receiver, with 85 catches for 1,013 yards and 4 TDs.
McLaurin wants to rebound from a bad season. Diggs probably isn't thrilled that his former team gave up a first-round pick to acquire a receiver to replace him.
The Eagles will face far better wide receiver tandems this season, but McLaurin and Diggs have also combined for almost 20,000 career receiving yards, and shouldn't be slept on.
The Commanders' offensive line looks like this:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Brandon Coleman | Chris Paul | Nick Allegretti? | Sam Cosmi | Josh Conerly |
Man, this group is a mess. Let's review each spot one-by-one:
• LT Brandon Coleman: Early in training camp, Laremy Tunsil tore his triceps and will be out for a chunk of the regular season. He is arguably the best player on Commanders' roster. Earlier this offseason we had Tunsil on our "All NFC East team." He was the only Commanders player to make it, on offense or defense. If there were one player the Commanders could least afford to lose to injury other than Jayden Daniels, it was pretty clearly Tunsil.
When Tunsil went down, the Commanders didn't have much in the way of ideal replacements. They settled on Brandon Coleman, who was in a camp battle with Chris Paul for the starting LG spot. Coleman started 12 games for the Commanders at LT in 2024. He also started three games at LT when Tunsil got hurt last season. Massive downgrade.
• LG Chris Paul: The Commanders were likely hoping that Coleman, a 2024 early third-round pick, would win the starting LG job over Paul. Instead, Coleman had to move to LT, and Paul will have to start at LG. In other words, the Tunsil injury didn't just cause a downgrade at LT. It also caused a less than ideal outcome at LG too.
• C Nick Allegretti: This offseason the Commanders cut Tyler Biadasz, who certainly wasn't a world-beater but was a solid enough starting center. They then moved Allegretti to center, full-time. Allegretti wasn't really even a good guard (or a starting one at that), and yet the Commanders opted to put more responsibility on his plate.
On the first day of camp, Allegretti suffered a calf injury, and and has only recently returned to practice, meaning he hasn't been able to get much-needed reps at his new position.
It is to be determined whether Allegretti will be able to play Week 1. My guess, based on the Commanders' lack of roster moves at the position, is that they expect him to play. The only real center the Commanders have on the roster other than Allegretti is sixth-round rookie Matt Gulbin. He would start if Allegretti can't go.
• RG Sam Cosmi: Hey! Finally! A decent player. Cosmi is a solid starting RG.
• RT Josh Conerly: Conerly had a tough rookie season in 2025. Per PFF, he allowed 8 sacks and 43 pressures, and he committed 13 penalties (7 for holding, 6 false starts), which tied him for fourth most in the NFL. Here are those 8 sacks:
Those 👆 aren't cheapies. Conerly was getting beaten cleanly. My concern with Conerly coming out of college was that he was going to struggle anchoring against power. And certainly he did at times as a rookie. What I did not expect was that he'd get beaten by speed like his feet were in cinderblocks.
The Commanders are hoping Conerly improves drastically in 2026.
One of the positives coming out of Eagles camp was the play of the defensive line, which often dominated against a very, very good Eagles offensive line. Their D-line against the Commanders' offensive line is pretty clearly the biggest mismatch in this matchup.
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