For the second week in a row, the Philadelphia Eagles are heading to primetime for an NFC East showdown against a heated division rival, even if, once again, this probably isn't the sort of marquee matchup the NFL was hoping for when the schedule was announced.
Before the season, sure. The Eagles have made the playoffs in every season they've had Nick Sirianni as their head coach, and the Washington Commanders were an interesting squad as well, with Jayden Daniels expected to return to full strength after a 2025 season hampered by injuries. But now? With the Eagles and Commanders both well below .500 and the NFC East one of the worst divisions in the sport period, it's hard to imagine NBC is too excited for this clash of the not-so-Titans hoping to see if they will have one, two, or three wins by the end of the night.
Fortunately, it doesn't particularly matter what NBC thinks about the game, as at this point, the schedule is locked in, and football fans mostly on the East Coast will get to see a pair of teams fighting for relevance duke it out on national television.
From an Eagles perspective, the game presents a unique opportunity for fans to see which direction the franchise is heading before the 2026 NFL trade deadline. If the Eagles lose and extend their streak to six, then that's pretty much that. Howie Roseman should trade Riq Woolen, Moro Ojomo, Hollywood Brown, and maybe even Saquon Barkley too, and turn the page fully to player development, seeing if players like Tanner McKee, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Ty Robinson, and Eli Stowers can become quality performers heading into 2027.
But if they win? Well, at 3-5, the division somehow isn't lost, and if Sean Mannion and McKee can figure out a system that works, things could get a whole lot better in a hurry.
And as for the Commanders? Well, if Dan Quinn's squad doesn't turn things around in a hurry, he might be out at head coach, and other major changes could happen around the organization too as they prepare for a premium draft pick in 2027, making Amik Robinson's declaration that the game is a “must win” far from hyperbole.
In a game where a win or a loss could immediately change the fates of both teams, there's plenty to be excited about for Week 8's edition of Sunday Night Football
The Eagles run the ball early and often against a mediocre Commanders defense
In Week 7, the Eagles did something they haven't seen all the way back in Week 1: run the ball for more than 120 yards.
That's right, after long building their offense around a strong ground game, the Eagles' offense has really moved away from the run during their losing streak, going from 107 against the Chicago Bears, to 104 against the Los Angeles Rams, to just 22 against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London and 35 back in South Philadelphia in Week 6.
Granted, some of that could come from losing Jalen Hurts and replacing him with a non-runner in Tanner McKee, but in Week 7, the Eagles made an effort to put in work on the ground regardless of whether Barkley was able to go from snap to snap, with the 2,000-yard rusher combining with Dameon Pierce for 121 yards on the ground.
Now granted, the Eagles didn't win the game, so they couldn't exactly ride the run to victory, but on Wednesday, Nick Sirianni noted that he liked what he saw on the ground and hopes to commit to it moving forward.
“We did a couple things that we’ve done. We did a couple new things that will be an addition to what we will do. I think it was a good step for us offensively with the game that they played,” Siriani said. “That’s no secret that’s been the secret to our success here and my time here. When we’ve been really good to a point where you get to Super Bowls, we’ve run the ball really well. When we made that turn in 2021, I mean, we ran the ball really well.
“Our best stretches of football were happening when we were pounding the football, being efficient in the pass game and being able to create explosives in the pass game. I think that, again, there is no moral victories, as we know in this, but there was a lot to build upon on offense. We’re pissed that we lost. We’re pissed about the outcome, but there was a lot to build upon offensively for the next game going ahead and so on and so forth.”
Is it somewhat concerning that the Eagles forgot that running the ball was their bread and butter? Yes, and when it was clear that the outside zone Mannion wanted to incorporate wasn't working, he should have shifted back to a between-the-tackles attack far earlier, but hey, if the Eagles can pick up yards on the ground once more and really force the Commanders to stack the box, it can only spell good things for their overall offensive success in Week 8.
The Commanders follow the Cowboys' lead with a Week 8 run-fest
While the Eagles' run game was a welcome surprise in Week 7, one alarming aspect of the game was how easily the Cowboys, one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL, was able to rack up a season-high 204 yards on the ground.
Despite employing one of the NFL's premier nose tackles in Jordan Davis plus a collection of linebackers headlined by heat-seeking missile Zack Baun, the Eagles didn't record a single tackle for loss on Monday Night Football and allowed Javonte Williams to record the best rushing game of his career.
Article Continues BelowIn Week 1, the Eagles already allowed the Commanders to run for 132 yards on the ground, their highest mark on the season heading into Week 7, but after watching the Cowboys go for triple digits two times over? Goodness, it's safe to assume David Blough will have a collection of run plays ready to go in the hopes of catching Vic Fangio unprepared once more coming off of their bye week.
With Daniels back to full strength and his 8.5 rushing yards per attempt leading the team by a good margin, if Washington wants to set up the pass game with Stefon Diggs and Treylon Burks on the injury report and Terry McLaurin on IR, the best way might be to take a page from the Eagles' playbook and run the ball early and often against Philadelphia.
Tanner McKee finally gets another win in an Eagles uniform
Can both of these teams lose in Week 8? No, as the Commanders learned all too well, ties are alive and well in the NFL, and that outcome could be in play in this game as well if neither team can score or, for that matter, stop a score.
If, however, a winner must be picked, then why not give it to the Eagles? Sure, they have lost five straight, and there aren't very many wins left on the schedule when evaluating it objectively, but this might just be the most winnable game of the lot, as the Commanders can't do much of anything right. Marcus Mariota somehow has more wins than Daniels, sitting at 1-1 versus 0-3-1, and Blough's offense might be less inspired than Mannion's, if that's even possible.
Would the Eagles be better off losing to the Commanders? Yes, but after they couldn't win game after game when things were close, it would only make sense for them to win a game they should lose, making the conversations heading into the 2026 NFL Trade Deadline all the more interesting.