With just two games remaining in the regular season, Washington was standing in the seventh playoff spot just four weeks ago. Much can change when you drop three in a row. Philadelphia is now in the playoff hunt and Washington would need a miracle to get into the playoffs. Today, Washington serves as a spoiler. If the WFT can win, we will look at all of the possibilities next week of making the playoffs if applicable.
Philadelphia is 8-7 overall and 5-3 on the road. The Eagles have won three straight games and five of six. The Eagles have a one-game lead for the seventh playoff berth in the NFC. Philadelphia is favored by 4.5 points at this time. Expect that line to move as the clock gets closer to its 1 pm kickoff at FedEx Field. Washington enters this game at 6-9. The best they could finish the season is at 8-9 if they beat the Eagles today and the Giants next week.
Rumors are swirling within the WFT camp as to whether Taylor Heinicke is essentially done with the team. While that seems like drama being stirred up, head coach Ron Rivera does see scenarios where Kyle Allen could play in this game. As to the future quarterback of Washington, that is certainly up in the air leading into this year’s 2022 draft and free agency.
On QB Kyle Allen playing Sunday:
“Well, the biggest thing more so anything else is, again, if the situation presents itself and allows for it, Kyle will play. And if it doesn’t, we’ll stick with Taylor [Heinicke]. It’s not necessarily about having to evaluate these guys. It is really just about giving them a chance to play if the opportunity arises. We’ll see. As I said, Taylor is the starter and he’ll play. If the situation calls for it, we’ll give Kyle the opportunity to play as well.”
— head coach Ron Rivera
With all of the COVID cases, the team has looked at several players who were low on the depth chart. This will give the team an opportunity to assess players for next year. Rivera named Dyami Brown as one of the receivers he wants to see get some more playing time.
Starting running back Antonio Gibson is on this week’s COVID list while Montez Sweat won’t play after his brother passed away this week. The secondary is dealing with multiple injuries, and CB William Jackson III has been ruled out with a calf injury with Kendall Fuller most likely out also. Look at this depth chart to see who is next up.
The inconsistent play of the defense all year has been a problem, and worse than that was the near-fight on the bench between Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne who were also college teammates. We will see how that plays out the rest of the season and into the off-season.
“…I talked to both [Allen and Payne] afterwards and had an individual conversation, and I’ll talk with them again. But for the most part, these guys have known each other for eight years. They played together collegiately. They played together professionally. And there’s a lot of pride. There was a lot of frustration [during the game] and things do tend to boil over.
I’ve been part of this before as a player. I’ve seen it happen on the sidelines as a coach. As a position coach, I saw it happen in Philadelphia. I saw it happen in Chicago as a coordinator, saw it happen in San Diego as a coordinator. And then I had it happen to me a couple of times in Carolina. I had it happen between two of our defensive linemen, Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy. I saw it happen between Cam Newton and Josh Norman.
It’s something that guys tend to work out amongst themselves without having to be told. One of the things that I really appreciated when I was in Carolina, I had players come to me and tell me we got this. You don’t need to address it. So I didn’t. In this case, I went to the two guys just because who they are and it happened so early to be honest. Usually something like this happens in a few more years, but this happened early.
I went and talked to them both just so they both understand where they are, who they are and what they mean to us as football players.”
— head coach Ron Rivera
All we can hope for is that 2022 is better than 2021 as we flipped the calendar. A win would go a long way towards righting the ship. A loss would just set up Washington for a more advantageous slot in the 2022 draft.
What: Philadelphia Eagles (8-7) vs. Washington Football Team (6-9)
When: Sunday, January 2, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. E.T.
Where: FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland
Radio: The Team 980, WMAL 105.9 FM, and ESPN 630 DC (Bran Weinstein, DeAngelo Hall, Julie Donaldson)
TV: FOX
TV Announcing Crew: Adam Amin and Mark Schlereth will be calling this game with Shannon Spake on the sidelines and Mike Pereira handling rules analysis.
