November 08, 2022
It's Week 10 and the Eagles are still undefeated, still leading the NFC East, and still the heavy favorites going into their next game.
Round 2 against Washington is on deck, this time back at the Linc on Monday Night Football, but minus the Carson Wentz-Philly reunion fans and the schedule makers were hoping for.
For Wentz's sake, that might be for the better considering he got sacked nine times when these two teams last met back in Week 3.
Anyway, the Eagles are off to their best start ever at 8-0 and the Commanders fell just shy of winning four straight in a near upset of Minnesota on Sunday.
Will the Eagles remain perfect or will a "1" finally enter the loss column?
Here's what our writers are thinking for Week 10...
TV: ESPN, 6ABC (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters), ESPN2 (Peyton and Eli Manning)
RADIO: 94.1 WIP (Merrill Reese, Mike Quick)
| Book | Spread | Money Line | Total (O/U) |
| DraftKings | PHI -11 | WSH +390 PHI -490 | 44 |
| FanDuel | PHI -10.5 | WSH +390 PHI -510 | 43.5 |
| BetMGM | PHI -11 | WSH +375 PHI -500 | 44 |
| UniBet | PHI -11 | WSH +400 PHI -560 | 44 |
| PointsBet | PHI -11 | WSH +375 PHI -500 | 44 |
In the Eagles' first matchup against the Commanders Week 3, the Birds dominated in the trenches, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, sacking Carson Wentz nine times. Wentz will avoid having to hear boos from his former admirers at Lincoln Financial Field on Monday night, since he is on injured reserve with a broken finger. Instead, Taylor Heinicke will start for the Commanders.
Heinicke does not possess a single above-average tangible trait for a starting NFL quarterback, in my opinion, though he does seem to have sparked the Commanders' offense a bit with his feisty style of play. Feistiness isn't going to beat an Eagles defense that has been excellent at getting after opposing quarterbacks and forcing a league-leading 18 turnovers.
In Heinicke's three starts, the Commanders managed to put 23, 17, and 17 points on the board. Some of those points came when Heinicke just chunked the ball up in the air and said a prayer that his guy would come down with it. That's not a sustainable way of playing quarterback in the NFL. Meanwhile, the Eagles have scored at least 20 points in six of their eight games, before halftime, and have very clearly been the best team in the NFL so far this season. The Commanders have a few nice pieces, like Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne on the interior of their defensive line, or Terry McLaurin on offense, but their impact players are few and far between, while the Eagles are absolutely loaded. There's no need to overthink it. Eagles, comfortably.
Another primetime NFL game, another stinker of a matchup. The fact that this is an NFC East divisional battle I guess gives it a little juice, but the Eagles' secondary and pass rush against Taylor Heinicke should be a winning battle for Philadelphia, and one that gets the team to 9-0.
I am looking forward to the upcoming stretch in a few weeks that will have them facing the Packers and Titans, and soon after the Giants and Cowboys — those will be true tests. But against Washington (and dumpster fire Indy next week) the Eagles should breeze to victories.
I feel like my Eagles picks are increasingly unhinged, expecting total domination. The team, in their defense, has done little to dissuade me from continuing to do so.
A Monday Night Football home game against Taylor Heinicke in front of a well-lubricated crowd? Smells like a rout. The Birds will handily win the battle in two out of the three phases of the game (special teams, oof) and have this one sealed up before the second half starts.
For the sake of pageviews, it's a shame that this isn't Carson Wentz's return to Philadelphia.
The Commanders have been competitive each week and are 2-1 with Taylor Heinicke at starting quarterback, so I don’t want to make this seem like a walkover game by any stretch. But simplicity has been the key for picks this season, so give me the undefeated team playing at home on Monday Night Football. Very original, I know.
The Eagles are at a point where even if things don't look entirely right, they're going to figure something out anyway. There's just way too much going for the roster and coaching staff not to. It happened against Houston last Thursday and I suspect it'll be the same against Washington, especially with this week's game being at home. I don't think the Eagles are going to blow the doors off the Commanders like they did back in Week 3, but I do think they're going to be in control pretty much the entire time.
Washington has looked a bit more competitive in the past few weeks with wins in three of their last four games, but then you look at who they beat: Chicago (who couldn't move the ball at all until a couple weeks ago), Green Bay (who's in total free fall), Indianapolis (who put their season in the drain), and Minnesota (who, even while leading the NFC North, is liable for a complete clunker at any time).
At this rate, it's hard to think of reasons not to pick the Eagles.
They can’t win them all, right? This will be the toughest divisional game played to date for the Birds. It’s not even their actual opponent in Washington, as it is the NFL itself. It’s not easy winning 12 or 14 games in an NFL season, even with the addition of a 17th game. We’ve seen domination by the Eagles as well as barely getting by, right down to escaping with victory. They’ve been better than each of the teams they’ve faced, but not for an entire football game.
This is the week where those prior mistakes will catch up, this is the week where complacency – no matter how many times people want to counter it with coach or player-speak – sets in. The Washington Commanders made an underrated and under-discussed – unless you have been watching PhillyVoice Sports Bets where I was all over this a month ago – change in their secondary. That has proven to be much more of a difference than the swap at QB. The Eagles' season won't change despite a rare hiccup.
Plenty has changed since the Eagles' 24-8 Week 3 beatdown of Washington at FedExField. Taylor Heinicke is at quarterback in place of the injured Carson Wentz, Chase Young is likely about to return to a very formidable front and Brian Robinson is leading the ground attack for the Commanders. What hasn't changed is that the Eagles have kept winning, extending to a franchise record 8-0, with Washington about to take its second shot at the NFL's best team on "Monday Night Football."
Heinicke hasn't been great since taking over for Wentz, who is on IR with a fractured right ring finger. In fact, the Washington backup is graded as No. 39 of 39 eligible QBs by Pro Football Focus, but he does bring an energy and moxie that the former Eagles starter does not. A sequel to the nine sacks the Philadelphia defense recorded against Wentz is unlikely because Heinicke is savvy enough to not just hold onto the football when the protection falters. The Old Dominion product is limited from a skill set standpoint, however, and it's hard to imagine Heinicke throwing the football consistently against the Eagles' secondary.
The lone significant worry for Philadelphia is the defensive front Nick Sirianni raved about in Week 3 without Young, who has missed the first nine games while returning from a serious knee injury suffered last year. There might be some ugly moments for the Eagles but there will be enough big plays to keep the train moving forward.
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