State of the NFC East: Ranking the Eagles defense vs rival units

Opposing offenses have not been able to score much on Washington’s defense.

It’s hard to imagine that the Commanders would rank ahead of their rivals at anything, but through the most recent two weeks of NFL action, Washington has indeed been the division’s best and most consistent defense statistically. They have also passed the eyeball test.

These past two games, the Commanders have held the then-high-flying Eagles and the Houston Texans to an average score of 15.5 points.

Washington was the first team this year to hold a lead at the end of the first half versus the Eagles. Their strength has been in stopping the run. Now, they were given a nice alley-oop pass by Philadelphia as the Birds only ran the ball four times during the first half of their most recent meeting on Monday Night Football. Still, the numbers don’t lie, and the Commanders have only allowed an average of 57.5 rushing yards these past two weeks to go along with two touchdowns.

During their 23-10 win over the Houston Texans, they clogged all of the running lanes as the Texans were only able to manage a measly 21 yards. Davis Mills beat them for a four-yard touchdown run in the late minutes of the fourth quarter in Week 11, but other than that, they’ve been solid.

Their passing defense isn’t horrible. They’ve given up an average of 172 yards with two total touchdowns in their last two games. That’s the second-best mark in the NFC East.

As far as turnovers and pressure go, they’ve had the magic touch there too. They’ve recovered three fumbles. They’ve grabbed three interceptions while racking up six quarterback sacks. Kendall Fuller returned one of those interceptions for a touchdown. Former Eagles Casey Toohill returned a fumble for a score versus Philly in Week 10.

The Atlanta Falcons will be another test for the surging Washington defense as Marcus Mariota looks to keep his team alive in the race to win the NFC South.