It was a disappointing result for Philadelphia Eagles fans, especially after what happened in the Chicago Bears game. Still, the Birds fell to the Washington Commanders 24-17 in the regular season finale and will now face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card as the third seed.
The big story of this game was the Eagles' secondary struggling with multiple penalties, as the team finished with nine for 123 yards. Philly had a 17-10 lead going into the fourth quarter, but in typical Eagles fashion, the defense couldn't keep carrying the offense anymore and allowed 14 straight points.
There were plenty of winners from this game, but it also had its fair share of performances that disappointed the Eagles.
Winner: DeVonta Smith, WR
Smitty got his 1,000 yards on the season and ended up being the leading receiver on the team with 1,008 yards, beating A.J. Brown by five yards. Smith ended the game with three receptions for 52 yards, all early in the contest, so it worked well for him, even if some Eagles fans wanted to see more of him at the end of the game.
Loser: Kelee Ringo, CB
This is a reminder of why Ringo didn't win the CB2 job before the season: the image of Josh Johnson rushing for a touchdown with Ringo turning the opposite direction sums it up pretty well. The Eagles' corner finished with five tackles, one pass deflection, and one tackle for loss. His only saving grace is that he's a great special-teams player; otherwise, he should have been cut a long, long time ago.
Winner: Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB
Trotter is a prime example of how insane the Eagles' linebacker room is, as he was all over the field and would start for many NFL teams. He led the team in tackles with 12 and also had four stops, three pressures, two quarterback hits, and one tackle for loss. Trotter was a lot of fun to watch, and I hope that he can get more snaps in the future.
Loser: A.J. Dillon, RB
Yeah, it's safe to say that was the last game Eagles fans will ever see from Dillon, because he's not going to dress out for the postseason. He didn't have a single carry and caught one pass for three yards. At least they won't need to give him a pink slip, as his contract will be up soon enough.
Winner: Tank Bigsby, RB
Kevin Patullo should take some notes on letting Bigsby run more often on the offense. With a backup offensive line outside of Tyler Steen, he ran 16 times for 75 yards and a touchdown while also catching the longest pass of the day with a 31-yard completion. For someone averaging 4.7 per carry with a backup line, Bigsby really needs to stop getting disrespected and get 10 to 12 carries per game.
Winner: Jalyx Hunt, EDGE
It might be time to have a conversation about Hunt being the best edge rusher on the Eagles, as he was great once again for the Birds. He finished with two tackles, one pass deflection, one interception, and one fumble recovery in the loss. Hunt actually made history as the first player in franchise history to lead the team in interceptions (three) and sacks (6.5) in the same season, so yeah, he's pretty good at football.
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Loser: Tanner McKee, QB
Look, it wasn't the worst performance of all time, but McKee didn't nearly play as well this year as he did in last year's season finale. He completed just 21 of 40 passes for 241 yards and one touchdown with one interception. It was a bit of a letdown for a young guy trying to prove himself to the NFL, but one that hopefully Eagles fans will stop with the insane conversation about whether he should start over Jalen Hurts forever.