This is very obvious to say, but it's still worthy of saying: The Washington Commanders are playing their biggest game of the 2024 season this week.
The Philadelphia Eagles are both a division rival and the NFL's hottest team. Winners of 10 straight games, they can wrap up the NFC East with a win over Washington.
Dan Quinn and co. are fully aware of this, so he made sure his selections for this game's captains pulled the weight, in a sense, for a matchup such as this.
"Captains - we said we needed to be heavy-hitters, and we certainly [are]. So Terry McLaurin, Bobby Wagner, and Jeremy Reaves are the captains for this game, and those guys, they could, they could lead me anywhere," Quinn told reporters Friday. "I'd be pumped about that. They've meant a lot to our team and what we stand for and what we want to be about, and so I though [that's] great recognition for them...
"...If you want to go from contender to heavy-hitter, you have to beat some heavy-hitters... In terms of Philadelphia, they've shown this season, in the NFC East, they are the heavy-hitter. You have to show that if you want to do that, you've got to beat teams that are capable of doing that. So that's really where the focus is... really, in this matchup for the NFC East."
If the Commanders win, not only will it be their first victory over an opponent with double-digit wins in 2024, it'll pretty much lock in their playoff hopes. The slim chance of winning the NFC East also remains alive since the Eagles will have three losses to their five with two games remaining and if the Eagles lose out and the Commanders win out, then Washington would win the division record tiebreaker at 4-2 over Philly's 3-3 record.
If the Commanders lose, though, they'll potentially face a must-win against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17 that will either take them out of the playoff race or solidify their status. Depending on what happens this week against the Giants, of course.
The last time these two teams played, the Commanders stood their ground for most of the game. Saquon Barkley's two big fourth quarter touchdown runs ultimately made the difference in that game, which made the final score looking more distant than the game really was.
Either way, the Commanders are going to be more than ready this time around, which should make for a very exciting matchup.
