Commanders offense woke up vs. Eagles
Running game came to life, eventually wearing down Philadelphia’s defense
PHILADELPHIA — In a booth high above Lincoln Financial Field Monday night, Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Scott Turner orchestrated a brutal ballet. He radioed in run play after run play, and on the field below, a veteran group of linemen bulldozed ahead, opening little lanes for bruising running backs.
Turner toggled between two main run-blocking schemes, gap and zone, and both bludgeoned the Philadelphia Eagles’ front. Turner’s unit seemed to find increasing success with outside zone — one play in zone scheme — because, as running back Brian Robinson Jr. put it, “Some of the guys on the defensive line was just soft on the edges.”
Turner’s strategy was not flashy. It rarely produced a run longer than five yards. But the Commanders defied the odds by sustaining several drives of double-digit plays. In the first quarter, one ate up 7 minutes 21 seconds; in the second, 6:30 and 7:04; in the third, 8:23. Washington’s rushers were physical, purposefully inefficient, devastatingly effective at keep-away. They trampled an undefeated division rival as 11-point road underdogs despite pulling very few surprises.
“They knew we were running the ball,” left tackle Charles Leno Jr. said. “They knew, like … this is not no pitch-and-catch type stuff. This is coming downhill. And they couldn’t stop us.”
Washington’s 32-21 upset of Philadelphia was a complete team effort, impossible without timely defensive turnovers and excellent special teams, but most notable was the offense zapping to life for the first time in two months. Even though some of what the unit did felt unsustainable — 40:24 time of possession, a 57% conversion rate on third down — it was exactly the game plan Turner had drawn up. It was probably more effective than the coordinator ever dared hope, and as
the Commanders imposed their will again and again and again, it stole the breath of a normally rowdy crowd.
“You can hear them get silent,” quarterback Taylor Heinicke said. “It’s a beautiful noise.”
Usually, Washington’s players learn the game plan for their upcoming game at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. For this game, Heinicke said, they saw Philadelphia’s weaknesses against the run highlighted nearly a week earlier, in a Thursday matchup against lowly Houston. Washington noticed the absence of rookie run-stuffer Jordan Davis, who’s on injured reserve, and saw two ends who’d rather rush the passer than stop the run.
Under Heinicke, Washington has been run-heavy on early downs. But during the week, several linemen said the plan to run even more excited them. Right tackle Cornelius Lucas fist-pumped, and tight end John Bates, who’s often a key blocker, said, “We feel like we’re a really good team when we
run the ball.”
After a disastrous first possession Monday, Washington started marching. Robinson ran inside for three, then six, then four. The steady, throwback approach created short third downs, and Washington converted three of them on the way to an Antonio Gibson one-yard touchdown run. It was the Commanders’ first touchdown in the first quarter since the first drive of Week 1, and on the sideline, players gained confidence.
On the drive after the initial touchdown, Washington converted three more third downs and kicked a field goal. The team’s average distance to convert on third down Monday was just 4.6 yards, according to TruMedia, which wasn’t too far off from its average distance to convert in the previous three weeks: 5.6, second-best in the NFL. But before, Washington converted 31.7% of the time, fifth-worst in the league. Monday, it couldn’t miss. Gibson and Robinson plunged through the line, or Heinicke completed an intermediate pass.
If the Commanders ran the ball, Turner mixed blocking schemes between gap — when some linemen block down, or away from the hole the running back is trying to hit — and zone. Sims said the team used gap schemes to take advantage when the Eagles’ ends lined up too wide.
“We just had to adjust, keep them guessing, not be so one-sided with our schemes,” Robinson said. “We mixed up based on what they had trouble adjusting to.”
Late in the second quarter, Robinson dragged several defenders for an 11-yard gain, which would prove to be his longest in 26 rushes. Two plays later, he plowed into the line again, spun away from two defenders and churned his legs until he could extend his arm over the goal line. It was the encapsulation of why Washington had used a third-round pick on him and illustrated the complementary skill sets he and Gibson possess.
Often this season, Philadelphia’s talented offense has built small leads, then crushed teams in close games by going run-heavy late. Logan Paulsen, a former Washington tight end who is now a broadcast analyst for the team, compared it to “watching a snake choke a mouse.” But on Monday, Washington was the snake. In the third quarter, Turner called nine runs in 14 plays, and even though the Commanders stalled out for a field goal, the drive took 8:23 off the clock and let the linemen continue slamming defenders who were spending the moments between each drive on the sideline gripping oxygen masks.
“It’s an offensive line’s dream,” center Tyler Larsen said.
In the fourth quarter, Philadelphia was able to slow Washington’s rushing offense, but it was too late. Washington knelt out the clock. After the game, Coach Ron Rivera said the team had found a core part of its identity.
“We can run the ball,” Rivera said. “We have to commit to it, and we have to stay with it.”
“Scott Turner did a good job calling it,” Eagles Coach Nick Sirianni said. “They stuck to their game plan and kept us on the field for an awfully long time.”