Fly Eagles fly all the way to Super Bowl LIX.
The Philadelphia Eagles are punching their tickets to the Super Bowl for the second time in the last three years, while the Washington Commanders came just one game short of realizing their dream for the first time since 1991, are left thinking about what could have been if they did not have so many self-inflicted wounds.
The Eagles destroyed their division rival 55-23 in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game at Lincoln Financial Field to clinch a spot on the sport’s biggest stage. Running back Saquon Barkley ran magnificently for 118 yards and three scores, while Jalen Hurts threw for 246 passing yards and four total touchdowns.
“I ain’t gonna lie — I tried to downplay it in my head, but it’s just amazing, man. It’s amazing. We’re here. The Super Bowl,” Barkley said. “But the goal wasn’t just getting there. The goal is to win. And we’re going to celebrate and enjoy this and get right back to work.”
Speaking of potent offensives, the 55 points are the most any team has scored in a conference championship game since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger.
“How about our quarterback? How about our quarterback! He’s a stud,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “I knew he was going to play that way. I knew it. Don’t doubt him. All he does is win.”
Hurts’ counterpart, Jayden Daniels, continued his historical rookie season all the way up until end by throwing for 255 yards and one touchdown and using his elite athleticism scrambling for 48 yards and a score. However, the Commanders gave the ball away four times, showing their inexperience and committed nine penalties, many of which proved to be catastrophic as the Eagles put the hammer down.
“We believed that we belonged here,” Daniels said. “It was just another game for me. That’s how I treated it.”
Embed from Getty ImagesEveryone came into this game realizing that the Commanders would have to play a nearly flawless 60 minutes of football to win on the road in a hostile environment like Philadelphia, but it was far from it. In fact, self-destruction was the theme of the game for the visitors from the early going.
Several defenders could not wrap up or contain on obvious tackle chances during Barkley’s 60-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage for the Philadelphia offense. That was not the only blunder involving the defense and Barkley, as Mike Sainristil’s late hit out of bounds on the star running back on a third down kept a drive alive that ended in an A.J. Brown touchdown reception.
Not to mention a Marshon Lattimore pass interference in the end zone to set up a Hurts touchdown run from one-yard out, Dyami Brown losing a fumble to set up Barkley’s second touchdown of the day and Jeremy McNichols coughing up a fumble on a kickoff return to set up a touchdown, and it was a minor miracle that the Commanders were down by just 12 at halftime, 27-15.
That is largely because of Daniels’ brilliance, who maintained his poise and composure while many of his supporting cast did not and was a dual threat using his cannon of an arm and legs to consistently make plays against Philadelphia’s defense. The highlight was a 36-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin, but he also moved the offense into field goal range in the final seconds before halftime to build some momentum. Yet the 15-minute break in the action did nothing to change the pattern.
Daniels answered another Hurts touchdown run with a touchdown run of his own only for halfback Austin Ekeler to lose a fumble right when the Commanders had the momentum on their side and a chance to pull within one score.
The Eagles took advantage of the turnover and parlayed it into another Hurts touchdown but only after the officials warned Washington if they did not stop jumping offsides so many times at the goal line they could award Philadelphia with a touchdown.
The Eagles put the game on ice on their next touchdown when Barkley found the end zone one more time after yet another pass interference penalty moved the ball inside the Washington 10-yard line.
“I had a lot of confidence in what we would do and how we would play,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said.
The 2024 campaign was a memorable one for the Commanders as they advanced to the NFC Title Game for the first time since the 1991 season, but it will be a long offseason thinking back on all the mistakes they made Sunday.
The “E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!” chants began to rain down in earnest and it is sure to ring loud in the ‘Big Easy’.
The Eagles head to New Orleans for a February 9 matchup against the AFC champion, either the Buffalo Bills or the Kansas City Chiefs.
