Eagles And Hurts Fly Past Washington

Washington Football Team quarterback Garrett Gilbert could only watch from the sideline as the Philadelphia Eagles kept marching. Slowly, the clock ticked away, putting pressure on the offense to score often. 

Short run, first down. Deep pass, first down. Third-and-long, converted. Nick Sirianni's offense didn't falter in the final 45 minutes Tuesday night, propelling the Eagles to a 27-17 win at Lincoln Financial Field.

Don't blame Gilbert or COVID-19 protocols or the weather. Washington's loss is on its poor defensive play up front. Philadelphia's Jalen Hurts had time to throw. The Eagles had ample of lanes to run through. 

"What we're not going to do today [is] make excuses," defensive lineman Jonathan Allen said postgame. "They just played better than us. There's really not much else to say."

The NFC East showdown was originally set for Sunday afternoon. Much has changed in the NFL due to the Omicron variant. WFT lost its two quarterbacks -- Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen -- due to COVID-19 protocols. 

Washington was forced to add a quarterback and signed Gilbert from New England's practice squad. 

Much like Cleveland Browns' Nick Mullens, Gilbert had little time to work with the first-team offense. Running back Antonio Gibson was limited after the first quarter due to a toe injury. 

The WFT defense didn't have such issues. Allen, Da'Ron Payne, Matt Ioannidis and Montez Sweat all started after clearing the reserve list.

The Eagles (7-7) didn't care, rushing for 238 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"I don't think we did anything well today when you give up however many yards we did today on the ground," Allen said. "We got our ass kicked. They were just the better team today."

It wasn't just one player that torched the defense. It was a team effort. 

Hurts averaged 11.4 yards per throw and another 4.8 on the ground. Running back Miles Sanders tallied his second 100-plus yard game, breaking free for four runs of more than 10 yards. Both tight end Dallas Goedert and receiver Jalen Reagor averaged over 19 yards per catch.

“We could [expletive] and moan about COVID,” said Allen. “[But] nobody cares. Nobody cares. It really doesn't matter. If we do our job, we win the game. We didn't do our job, and we got embarrassed.”

Sweat said the run defense was "unacceptable." The message echoed throughout the locker room as the team headed home. 

"I've got to play better. If I play better, I give our team a better chance to win," Allen said. "If the defensive line plays better, we give our team a better chance to win. This game is on the D-line."

Washington (6-8) now owns a nine percent chance to make the postseason, according to FiveThirtyEight.

It's a win-out situation for Washington, starting with the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington on Sunday.