PHILADELPHIA – Ron Rivera always acts as a pillar of strength for command in their chaotic world. In the midst of their never-ending circus, he was their rock, their stability, the one who always found the right words to keep his team from falling apart.
However, he was there on Monday night, less than a week after he attended his mother’s funeral, and just minutes after his team finished. Philadelphia Eagles‘ perfect season and maybe, hopefully, started a special season of their own, can’t find anything to say at all. His lips began to tremble. Then tears started to flow.
“My mother would be so proud,” he said, just before walking away.
There’s a lot of pride from everyone in the Washington organization for what the Commanders (5-5) did on Monday night, beating the Eagles 32-21 at Lincoln Financial Field in an equal performance. , tenacious and tenacious. They beat the Eagles (8-1) in their own game, slamming them to the ground at 152 yards, then were forced to reverse and capitalize on fourth-round mistakes.
It was their biggest win of the season. It was perhaps Rivera’s biggest win in two and a half years in Washington. And for the midfielder Taylor Heinickewho certainly saved his job for at least another week, “It’s probably the biggest win of my career.”
Yes, it was that big.
“You can see how much that means to him,” receiver Terry McLaurin told his teammates after Rivera left. “It means so much to everyone in this dressing room. We’ve set the damn tune. We’ve done it with them. We don’t have to take anybody’s ***. chief.”
“It meant a lot, just because they were able to focus on what’s important,” Rivera said after he was finally able to make it to the interview room. “It resonates with these guys. The hard work is starting to pay off. Things are starting to hit the alley and pay off.”
That may be true, because even though the Commanders are still in the NFC East basement, they’ve now won four of the last five — and they’re still hurting for the game they gave away. Minnesota Vikings last weekend. They believe they are a rising team, and they are playing with confidence.
Rivera wants them to eat that. That’s why his pre-match message to his team was “Don’t be surprised. Don’t be surprised after the game.”
Oh, that’s not it. But they were certainly happy. The post-match dressing room is a party, with loud music playing and players standing on stools, dancing and rapping long after the game is over. But it was a party they absolutely saw coming. When they went to work last week, what did they research? Houston Texas almost made it with the Eagles last Thursday night, when they ran 168 yards in a 29-17 loss closer than expected. The Texans were able to stay there until the fourth inning, but they had no attack to support their ground game. And let’s face it: They’re not a good team.
The Commanders can take down the Eagles because they’re better than Houston. And they have a weapon in the passing game – the special bond between the quarterback Taylor Heinicke (17 of 29, 211 yards) and Terry McLaurin. In the first half, when they raced for 100 yards and took a 20-14 lead, McLaurin helped open things up with six catches for 76 yards, en route to eight for 128.
And while the Eagles didn’t miss nearly as many tackles against Washington as they did against the Texans – and indeed, a lot of other teams this season – give Rivera some of the credit. He ignored his “Riverboat” instincts and stuck with what was working on the ground, giving the Eagles a heavy rookie potion to run back Brian Robinson (26-86-1) and veterans Antonio Gibson (14-44-1).
“What you have to do is you have to stick with it,” says Rivera. “You have to smash it.”
The valve is multi-active. Just look at this dominance: After fumbling in their first drive – literally, when surrounded by the Eagles defense Josh Sweat forced to turn around and set up Philly for an encounter with the Eagles – the next five rides of the Commanders are under penalty. Four of them made an average of 14 plays, 70 yards and 7 and a half minutes. The other game was an eight-goal, 30-yard strike that lasted only 1:06 because that was all that was left in the half.
Washington dominates in possession time, 40:24 to 19:36. In the first half, they had more possession of the ball than the Eagles to 17:38 – the largest first-half margin of that genre in their franchise’s history.
“The boys did what the coaches set out to do together,” Rivera said. “The boys stuck with the plan. The coaches stuck with the plan.
“We found one of the best ways to slow down Jalen Hurts down – keep him off the field.”
They certainly did. Hurts’ MVP candidacy was impressive as he completed just 17 of 26 175-yard passes with two touchdowns and one interception in limited time. He made one touchdown, but only six from 28 yards.
And the Hurts didn’t really do much until late in the third and early fourth quarters, when the Commanders started with a 23-14 lead. And that’s where the Eagles, facing adversity for the first time in a season, fell apart. After an Eagles encounter and was intercepted by Philly Safety CJ Gardner-Johnson seemed to have arranged a heartbreaking end for Washington, fortunes took a dramatic turn.
First, the Commanders were forced to fumble from the end of the Eagles Dallas Goedertgoal setting on 55 yards by Joey Slye. Then, after a 51-yard pass from Jalen Hurts to Quez Watkins, wing-back Benjamin St.-Juste was forced to find another way. After that, Washington’s defense was back in action, forced to receive three-pointers by the fourth-ranked offense in the NFL.
And in the next Commanders possession, when Heinicke slides down to grab a sack in third, the Eagles finish defending. Brandon Graham hit him while he was on his knees for a rough penalty to the passer who had just finished the game. They had one more encounter, as the Eagles defeated their last trenching attempt for a miracle and ended the defense. Casey Toohill pick up a loose ball that the recipient Eagles DeVonta Smith has returned to its own end.
But that’s just the signal for the party to begin. And now the Commanders hope that they can move on.
“We’re playing really well right now,” Heinicke said. “To get a win like this, it’s a huge boost for our team.”
“This is a team that has been resilient all year,” added McLaurin. “We had our ups and downs, but we never wavered. We never abandoned each other.”
That’s what Rivera tried to get them to do, through all of their problems and injuries and the ongoing investigations into the Commanders’ owners. He begged them to stop the noise, scrap their 1-4 start, to believe they were a better team than they had been for most of the year.
And on Monday night, spectacularly, they absolutely did it.
“You feel like you’re right,” Rivera said. “In a situation like this, we have people in that dressing room who can do things. And we’re starting to see that come together.”
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFC East correspondent for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants. He’d spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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