3 final takeaways as Eagles turn focus to Colts

Getting Off The Field On Defense

In this copycat league, teams saw Houston have success running the football against the Eagles two games ago and Washington came right out and ran the ball, ran the ball, and on third-and-short situations, converted for first downs. The Eagles can expect to see a lot of that, as defensive end Brandon Graham said after Monday’s game.

“They are going to run,” he said, “until we stop it. We’ve got to fix our issues.”

With that, the Eagles know they are going to see a lot of running back Jonathan Taylor against the Colts. He’s one of the best in the game and is healthy after some weeks during which he struggled. In the Colts’ win on Sunday over Las Vegas, Taylor rushed for 147 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown run. Four times this season, he has carried 20 or more times, so the Eagles can expect a heavy dose of Taylor.

Negative plays help. Winning on first and second down makes it much harder for offenses on third downs, of course. Washington had a lot of third-and-short snaps that it converted on Monday night – the Commanders had three plays of third-and-4+ they converted as well – and ultimately possessed the ball for more than 40 minutes. They wore out the Eagles’ defense, and as a by-product they kept Hurts and Co. off the field.

“We were out there for a long time,” cornerback Darius Slay said. “That is on us. We kept allowing them to get in manageable downs to convert and that is on us. We have to do better than that. We know we are better than that.”