The Philadelphia Eagles are returning to the Super Bowl for the second time in the Jalen Hurts era.
Hurts again leaned on a prolific performance from Saquon Barkley, but the star signal-caller did his part, too, in Sunday’s NFC championship game, silencing the critics and defeating the Washington Commanders, 55–23, to send the Eagles to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.
Hurts had three rushing touchdowns and a touchdown pass, brushing off two sluggish playoff outings against the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers. Hurts appears ready to finish what he started two years ago in Glendale, Ariz., where he went toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes before falling short against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. Back then, Philadelphia wasn’t armed with Barkley, who’s headed to his first Super Bowl 10 months after leaving the New York Giants in free agency.
The Eagles got out to a perfect start when Barkley broke loose for a 60-yard touchdown on their first offensive play. Hurts even had a few downfield connections with star wide receiver A.J. Brown. The 55 points scored by the Eagles were the most ever in a conference championship game in NFL history.
Jayden Daniels and the Commanders found themselves down three scores midway through the third quarter. There was no comeback from the league’s biggest Cinderella story of the season.
Here are the key points that decided the outcome of the game.
Hurts appears ready to finish what he started two years ago
Hurts earned plenty of respect after giving the Eagles a chance to win the Super Bowl before the Chiefs added a late field goal to escape with a 38–35 victory.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that was Hurts’s best career performance, which put him in the conversation for being a top-10 quarterback and earned him a hefty contract extension in Philadelphia. But Hurts has been inconsistent since, especially as a passer. He often leaned on Barkley this season to mask the struggles of the passing game.
On Sunday, Hurts and his pass catchers appeared to be in sync. Hurts (20-of-28, 246 yards, one touchdown, zero turnovers) had a few key completions to his receiving duo, including a pretty sideline throw to DeVonta Smith and a rainbow shot to Brown to convert a fourth down during the first half. Brown finished with six catches for 96 yards and one touchdown, and Smith contributed four receptions for 45 yards. Also, tight end Dallas Goedert had an impactful game, recording seven catches for 85 yards.
Despite Hurts’s passing struggles, his mobility has made life easier for Barkley and vice versa. Hurts punished the Commanders’ defense with runs inside the red zone and the unstoppable Brotherly Shove for touchdowns. Having two creators as good as Barkley (15 carries, 118 rushing yards, three touchdowns) and Hurts was extra beneficial on a day the Eagles’ offensive line was dealing with injuries.
Philadelphia’s line showed plenty of toughness after center Cam Jurgens was asked to play despite a bad back because Landon Dickerson, who moved from guard to center, sustained a knee injury early in the game.
Hurts is back to being a playmaking machine and once again on the same page with Brown, who had three catches for 24 yards in the first two playoff games.
Commanders beat themselves with costly turnovers
The Commanders ultimately lost the game because of killer turnovers or bone-headed penalties before the game turned into a blowout.
Washington made the final few minutes of the first half seem like an eternity after a series of mistakes led to Philadelphia adding a touchdown and increasing its lead to 27–12. Running back Jeremy McNichols fumbled on a kickoff return that gave the Eagles that ball on Washington’s 24-yard line with 1:36 left before halftime. Just when it appeared Washington was going to limit the damage, rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty after hitting Barkley out of bounds. Hurts capitalized on the extra set of downs, throwing a four-yard touchdown to Brown and increasing Philly's lead to 15 points.
The Eagles did catch a break after officials missed an apparent holding call by Barkley before Hurts found Brown for a 31-yard reception on fourth-and-5 in the second quarter. Commanders fans should be mad about that, especially because it led to a Hurts touchdown. But it’s hard to argue with the end result because of the Commanders’ three fumbles that turned into three touchdowns.
Quinn’s fourth-down decision leads to early double-digit deficit
Commanders coach Dan Quinn went away from the team’s aggressive offensive identity and immediately suffered the consequences in the first quarter.
Washington was on the verge of producing the perfect opening drive after converting two fourth downs, but Quinn then made the strange decision to pass on a fourth-and-3 from the Philadelphia 16-yard line and settled for a 34-yard field goal from Zane Gonzalez. It didn’t take long for the Commanders to lose the 3–0 advantage after Barkley scored on a 60-yard rushing touchdown on the Eagles’ first play of the game.
That was followed by Philadelphia turning a Dyami Brown lost fumble into a second touchdown for Barkley—a four-yard run for a 14–3 lead. Washington needed 18 plays to generate a field goal, but was down 11 points after Barkley’s second touch and seven total plays from Philadelphia.
Quinn stopped the bleeding, calling a fake punt that saw punter Tress Way complete a 23-yard pass to tight end Ben Sinnott on fourth-and-6 for a new set of downs. But the Commanders were again kept out of the end zone, forcing a 46-yard field goal from Gonzalez to trim the deficit to eight points.
Washington managed to climb out of this early hole, but this game got out of hand by the third quarter.
The legend of Barkley continues to grow in Philadelphia
Barkley might be a Super Bowl victory away from receiving a statue in front of Lincoln Financial Field.
Eagles fans erupted after Barkley broke a few tackles to gallop for the 60-yard touchdown and early 7–3 advantage. He extended his NFL record with his seventh rushing touchdown of 60 yards or more, including in the postseason. The first-year Eagles running back had two last week against the Rams. He's also gone over 100 rushing yards in each of the three playoff games before the Eagles punched their ticket to New Orleans.
Barkley set the bar high for himself after recording 2,005 rushing yards in the regular season, but he’s in the midst of one of the greatest playoff runs ever for a running back.
As a reminder, the Giants let Barkley walk in free agency to help an NFC East rival advance to the Super Bowl.
Eagles’ defense deserves plenty of credit for stopping Daniels
The Eagles’ defense flipped the script on the Commanders, who won the turnover battle 5–0 last week against the Detroit Lions.
Vic Fangio’s defense produced four takeaways, including three fumbles and a late interception. Outside of the takeaways, Philadelphia had a standout game plan for taking away most of Daniels’s weapons. The Eagles were content with letting Terry McLaurin (three catches, 51 yards, TD) get his catches and yards. But the duo was generally kept in check, and the three lost fumbles didn’t help the cause. Tight end Zach Ertz provided 11 catches for 104 yards, but most of that occurred with the Commanders down big in the second half. Daniels finished 29-of-48 for 255 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Philadelphia held Washington to 99 rushing yards.
The Eagles have studs in all three levels of the defense. Jalen Carter again created havoc in the trenches, rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean deflected passes and All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun had a key punchout on one of the fumbles. This championship-caliber defense now awaits Mahomes or Josh Allen for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFC Championship Rapid Reaction: Eagles Headed Back to the Super Bowl.
