The Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles will meet up on this upcoming weekend’s NFC Championship recreation, with a visit to Tremendous Bowl LIX on the road.
Assembly one among these groups on the Caesars Superdome in downtown New Orleans will likely be both the historic three-peat chacing Kansas Metropolis Chiefs or the Buffalo Payments. A ton of web ink will likely be spilled about both of these Tremendous Bowl matchups, however for now, the NFC Championship recreation between these two franchises that date again to 1932 (Washington) and 1933 (Philadelphia) will pack greater than sufficient punch to cowl advert nauseam.
Eagles-Commanders is an enormous recreation, indubitably. Any championship recreation is, in fact, however these are two NFC East groups going in opposition to one another for the suitable to play within the Tremendous Bowl. It provides you with chills if you concentrate on it sufficient.
Rivalries within the NFC East are deep and heated, and that may be stated for nearly any rendition of them. The Dallas Cowboys usually appear to be on the middle of it — as they had been as soon as “America’s group,” and so they nonetheless are most NFL fan’s favourite group to look at lose — however there is definitely loads of historical past between the Eagles and Commanders as nicely.
We’re speaking about two of the 4 unique members of the NFC East, in any case. The New Orleans Saints had been the fourth within the unique version of the NFC East, however ever since then, it has been the Cowboys, Eagles, Commanders, the New York Giants, and (randomly) the St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals (from 1970 to 2001).
No, the NFC East hasn’t all the time caught to proximity, however there is definitely shut proximity between the Eagles and Commanders, which has led to loads of heated matchups between the 2 franchises. The Eagles, in fact, play in Philadelphia, whereas the Commanders — who characterize Washington D.C — really play in Landover, Maryland.
There are 133 miles between these two areas, which is simply over a two-hour drive (not together with the wild East Coast site visitors). So sure, these two franchises have seen one another rather a lot, and so they could even run into one another in passing — their fanbases actually do.
So far as the historical past of this recreation between the Commanders and Eagles, it goes all the way in which again to October twenty first, 1934, when the Boston Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 6-0. The Redskins gained 4 of the primary six matchups with the Eagles, however the first time followers noticed a recreation between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins was in 1937, when the Eagles gained 14-0.
This rivalry remained between the Eagles and Redskins till 2020, when the Redskins had been rebranded because the Washington Soccer group. Philly gained each video games in opposition to the Washington Soccer group, and so they additionally gained their first matchup with the Washington Commanders. That was a 24-8 win in September of 2022 that noticed Jalen Hurts throw for 340 yards and three touchdowns, with 169 of these yards and two touchdowns going to DeVonta Smith.
The Eagles and Commanders break up their video games this season, with Philly profitable 26-18 in November and the Commanders profitable 36-33 simply earlier than Christmas. Notably, each residence groups gained, and this NFC Championship recreation will likely be within the Philadelphia Sports activities Advanced in South Philly.
Although the Eagles have been a lot better as of late, Washington really owns the all-time sequence, 90-85-5.
The final time these two franchises met within the playoffs was within the 1991 NFC Wild Card spherical. That was a recreation that Washington gained, 20-6. Randall Cunningham was the quarterback for the Eagles, whereas Mark Rypien was the quarterback for Washington.
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That recreation was the one time these two groups have met within the playoffs, so this upcoming NFC Championship recreation goes to be uncommon, and particular.
Operating again Saquon Barkley is the engine that retains this Eagles offense operating, and the wild factor is he appears to be getting higher and higher because the playoffs go on. He rushed for 119 yards in opposition to the Inexperienced Bay Packers within the Wild Card and adopted that up with 205 yards and two touchdowns within the Divisional Spherical in opposition to the Los Angeles Rams.
The Commanders are giving up 151 yards per recreation on the bottom within the playoffs, so Barkley developing subsequent to the plate might be unhealthy information for them.
Zach Ertz is the Commanders X-factor
Tight finish Zach Ertz has been within the NFL since 2013, and he is aware of the Eagles nicely. The truth is, they chose him with the thirty fifth decide in that yr’s draft and he had three Professional Bowl seasons in a row for the Eagles from 2017 to 2019.
Ertz is now a wily outdated veteran, however he is performed a particularly vital function as a security valve and constant goal for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. Ertz caught 66 passes for 654 yards and 7 touchdowns within the common season, and he caught a landing within the Commanders’ upset over the Detroit Lions.