The Philadelphia Eagles reached a new low Sunday night, losing by three scores to the Washington Commanders, one of the NFL’s worst teams, once again in front of a national audience. As always, whether you win or lose, we’re giving away 10 rewards.
1) The “Stopped Pretending” award 🎭: Nick Sirianni
Normally, in these “10 Awards” post-game articles, we recap the events of the game before getting to the post-game reactions from the players or coaches. But in this case, the most notable takeaway from the night was Nick Sirianni’s post-match acknowledgment that nothing was working.
A reporter asked Sirianni about the sequence at the end of the first half where the Eagles had the ball with a chance to score points, but they gave the ball back to the opponent, who instead scored a few points late in the half. The journalist pointed out that this was the second week in a row that this had happened.
“I mean, I don’t think we were really accurate at any point in this particular moment,” Sirianni said, with a hint of laughter, almost abandoning all defensiveness and acknowledging how true his statement is. Sirianni’s tone then deliberately became more sullen, and he continued. “I think it’s just a product of who we’ve been, all along. Not this particular stretch, it’s just who we’ve been. And like I said, it’s not good enough and that falls on my shoulders.”
Every time the team – perhaps especially the offense – has gone through tough times, Sirianni has remained positive. Some go-to phrases might include “We’re close” or “We need to build on the things we do well.”
But not after this match. Not after this six-game losing streak. Sirianni couldn’t muster any positivity. His frankness was refreshing in a way, but perhaps also a confirmation of what many have seen from this team all season long…that no one has answers, and it doesn’t seem like there are any at all.
2) The “For Whom, For What” Award 🤷♂️: Saquon Barkley
One of the few likeable characters in the Eagles’ 2026 season is Saquon Barkley, who has dealt with various injuries for a rudderless team. His routine involves rehabbing all week, working hard to get his body as ready as possible to play on the weekend, and then dealing with the pain that comes with each carry.
Above we mentioned the end of the half where the Eagles had a chance to score a few points, but instead blew it away, and the Commanders got points instead. Well, on a 2nd and 6 play during this sequence, Elijah Mitchell caught a pass in the flat and had some room to run down the sideline. When a defender approached, he went out of bounds. If he had tried to run by contact, he would have gained an extra mile and any contact would have forced him out of bounds to stop the clock anyway. A possible 6-8 yard gain instead became a 4 yard gain, setting up a 3rd down.
On 3rd down, McKee threw an incomplete pass and the Eagles punted. Washington then got a long punt return, followed by a long passing play, followed by a Jayden Daniel scramble, and they scored a field goal with 12 seconds left in the half.
On the final play of the half, the Eagles brought Barkley, injured and counting throws, into the line before heading to the locker room for halftime.
The postgame explanation was that Sirianni hoped Barkley could break off a long run and score or get enough yards to call a timeout and score a field goal.
Barkley has been a trooper this season, but it’s only a matter of time before he sees this season for what it is and how his body is compromised for teammates who are no match for his strength, and he concludes, “For who, for what?”
3) The (mostly) invisible prize 🫥: The defensive line
The Eagles had two sacks, but again, for most of the game an opposing quarterback had all day to throw. There were simply too many:
The Commanders have an objectively bad offensive line, and once again, the Eagles’ passers couldn’t consistently make the plays they should make.
4) The Cut, Print, Ballgame Prize ✂️🖨️: Eagles’ Crucial Fourth Quarter Points Wasted
Trailing 6, facing a 4th and 4 from the Washington 13 yard line with a little over 9 minutes to play, Sirianni decided to go for it. And then… False start, Markel Bell.
Now 4th and 9th, Sirianni chose to score a basket. A Jake Elliott kick was good, but… Illegal formation, Jordan Mailata.
Now on 4th and 14, Elliott lined up to kick again, but the snap was high and Elliott’s kick hit the left upright, his first miss of the season.
No points. The Commanders then set up a field goal to go up nine, which is pretty much insurmountable at this point for this Eagles offense.
5) The “Proooobably Not a Starter” award 🙅♂️: Tanner McKee
McKee is playing behind a makeshift offensive line and the team’s top two receivers are out. But also, he did not step up to the plate and make the most of his opportunity to start.
6) The “Salt in the Wound” Award 🧂: Commanders and every other team that bullies the Eagles
I once saw a documentary about bears. I don’t remember its name, but the filmmakers followed a group of bears for a long time and studied their interactions. There was an alpha bear, who was a bully. He towered over the other bears, sometimes almost because he seemed to enjoy it. But when age caught up with the tyrant bear, he became vulnerable to younger and ascendant bears, who in some way took revenge on the tyrant bear, to the point that the tyrant bear went away on his own and died alone. At least, that’s how I remember it.
Either way, the Eagles are that bully bear this year, and teams like the Rams, Cowboys, Commanders, etc., take pleasure in beating the bully bear while he’s weak.
I thought a particularly demoralizing moment in this game was when the Commanders scored a touchdown to take a late 25-10 lead. With the game then out of reach, the commanders opted for two, which they easily converted.
Maybe the analytics say the right call was to go for two to get a three-point score, but anyone who watched the Eagles this season — or especially in this game — knew they weren’t scoring two touchdowns and two two-point conversions in less than two minutes. Opposing teams enjoy beating the Eagles, and I imagine that will continue.
7) The ‘Q Word’ Award 😤: The Eagles’ vocabulary
In the locker room after the defeat, Moro Ojomo had words for his teammates.
“No one feels sorry for us,” Ojomo said of his post-match speech. “Why are we doing this? If you have a child, a sibling, whatever, do you want to look them in the eye and let them know you stopped? You wouldn’t want that. So this is how we have to approach it every day. Don’t approach it like a quitter. Show up every day.”
To be clear, Ojomo wasn’t accusing his teammates of quitting.
“I don’t feel like that’s happening,” he said. “I just encourage everyone to keep going.”
Ojomo is a leader, but it’s obviously not great when the “Q word” is mentioned among his teammates, even if it’s a proactive measure.
8) The ‘Basement’ Award ⬇️: The Eagles, in the NFC East
NFC Ranking Is updated:
- Giants: 4-2-1
- Cowboys: 3-5
- Commanders: 2-4-1
- Eagles: 2-6
If the season ended today, the Eagles would be selected fifth in the 2026 NFL Draft.
9) The ‘Looooong Way To Go’ prize 🛣️: The rest of the season
I mean, they still have nine games to play!
10) The “Sell” Award 🎣🎣🎣: Howie Roseman
The trade deadline is November 10, two days after the Eagles’ likely loss next Sunday at home against the Giants. The Eagles’ clear course of action is that they should trade players who are no longer part of the team’s long-term plans for future assets who can help with the rebuild.
Sirianni seemed to understand after the match that this team was done. The same goes for Howie Roseman, Jeffrey Lurie and everyone else who has watched this team over the last couple of months.
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