Philadelphia Eagles fans might have seen a team that won another close game like they did a lot of the time last year, but things felt different in this contest thanks to what new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion did.
In his debut as the play caller, Mannion was able to help the Eagles pick up a 24-22 win over the Washington Commanders. The Eagles finished the game with 318 total yards of offense and generated four plays of over 30 yards.
There will be a lot of commentary on how Mannion's offense looked for the Eagles and whether it went well. This game, while fully acknowledging that it wasn't perfect, should be a passing grade given to him, which is more than what most people could have said about Kevin Patullo in 2025.
Sean Mannion showed things the Eagles offense didn't have with Kevin Patullo in 2025
One of the biggest positives for the Eagles' offense was their running game and how consistent it was. They ran for 136 yards and averaged 5.4 yards per carry.
Saquon Barkley looked more comfortable and ran better with more zone runs to the outside, rushing for 83 yards and averaging 5.5 yards per carry. There was even an explosive 43-yard run from Barkley that showed what made him so good in 2024.
Another nice change of pace was Jalen Hurts running the ball more and doing it efficiently. He had 46 yards on seven carries, but looked more elusive and fast with the football in his hands.
While the passing game has some work to do, the Eagles were willing to push the ball downfield more. Mannion needs to get rid of these Makai Lemon screen passes, as they didn't work. What did work, though, was the deep balls Hurts was throwing to Dontayvion Wicks and DeVonta Smith. Also, getting Dallas Goedert involved after his two touchdowns was a nice sight to see.
Also, that offensive line has some work to do in pass protection, as Hurts bailed them out with some great plays to escape. They did very well in run blocking, though, so they have something to build on from the game.
After the game, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni gave the ultimate assessment of how Mannion played. Sirianni felt good about where the offense stands under his new play caller.
"I thought he did a good job of getting the play in," Sirianni said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "The operation’s the first thing you always look at. I thought we were pretty balanced in our situations of the way we kind of break it down. I thought we were able to be explosive. We would’ve liked to finish the third one in the red zone because those are always big, but we were two-for-three in the red zone. Even in some tough situations, we got behind the sticks in the red zone on both of our first two scores, and I though he did a good job calling it on that one to try to get us back. Then the guys, obviously. Sean’s calling the plays, guys are out there making the plays happen."
With a Week 1 game, execution is key, and since Mannion was making his calls from the booth, it was good to see that whole process work out well. There were a lot of moments when the offense stalled, but they came through with big plays that helped the Eagles win.
Compared to Patullo, this offense was much better, especially in last year's opener against the Cowboys. Hurts spread the ball around better in the 2026 opener, and the Eagles ran the ball much better, averaging 1.2 more yards per carry in 2026 than in 2025.
Read more: Myles Garrett being placed on IR completely changes Eagles' strategy in Week 4
There will be moments when Eagles fans poke holes in what Mannion did, which is fair since it wasn't a perfect performance. After what we saw, though, Eagles fans should have every reason to believe things will go up and not stay the same as they did all of 2025 under Patullo.
Add us as a preferred source on Google