A bizarre brawl broke out late in the fourth quarter during the Eagles’ 29-18 win over the Commanders on Sunday (AEDT), with three players ejected from the game as a result.
With just four and a half minutes remaining on the clock, Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley scored on a 2-point conversion to boost his team’s lead to 19 points.
What followed was a wild brawl; however, it was unclear exactly what sparked it.
Two members of Washington’s defence — Javon Kinlaw and Quan Martin — and one Eagles player — offensive lineman Tyler Steen — were disqualified after being flagged for unnecessary roughness.
There was a ton of pushing and shoving, and a lot of jawing, too, as the scrum spread across the grass. Six flags were thrown by officials as the chaos ensued.
Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders players fight. Getty
Eventually, order was restored, and Barkley, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, and Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner spoke to each other.
There was a noticeable break in the gap following the incident as referees and game officials worked with both teams to calm all tensions.
At the game’s end, Barkley admitted that his team “have to be smarter” to ensure that they do not find themselves in a similar situation ever again.
“I shouldn’t have put myself in that situation. It’s really not worth it,” Barkley said.
“Bobby Wagner did a really good job of making it make sense to me in that moment, too.
“You get two to three punches at a helmet, hoping that you don’t break your hand, just to say that you’re a tough guy? It’s not really worth it.”
As the percussive horns of Steve Wonder’s “Sir Duke” filled the air, Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni — wearing a black T-shirt bearing the words, “Been there, won that” — made the rounds in the locker room, offering hand clasps and back slaps to his players after they accomplished something that hadn’t happened in two decades: win a second consecutive NFC East title.
This was not a terrific performance by the reigning Super Bowl champions, from a fumble on the opening kick-off to a pair of penalties on the tush push to three wide-left field-goal tries to a half-time deficit.
Still, Barkley, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles eventually got going in the right direction and clinched their division yet again by beating the Washington Commanders 29-18.
Starting plays under centre far more frequently than he did earlier in the season, Hurts completed 22 of 30 throws — with 15 of those caught by A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith — for 185 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers.
He connected with Smith from 5 yards out in the first half and with Dallas Goedert from 15 in the third quarter to cap a 17-play, 83-yard, 10-and-a-half-minute drive.
“We’ve slowly been playing better and better on the offensive side of the ball,” said Goedert, whose tenth TD reception this season tied a record for Philadelphia tight ends that was first set in the 1960s.
Dallas Goedert catches a pass for a touchdown. Getty
Hurts also did plenty of damage on the ground, gaining 40 yards on seven carries for the Eagles (10-5), who have followed a three-game losing streak by winning two in a row.
They are the first team to top the NFC East in back-to-back seasons since Philadelphia did it every year from 2001 to 2004; the gap since then was the longest drought without a repeat champ for any division in NFL history.
Barkley added a 12-yard TD run for the Eagles, part of his 21-carry, 132-yard performance that raised his season rushing total above 1,000 yards.
With the Commanders (4-11), now losers of nine of their past 10 contests, already eliminated from postseason contention, there was plenty of green in the stands.
Mariota started in place of Jayden Daniels, the reigning AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, who led the Commanders to the NFC title game last season — where they lost 55-23 to Philadelphia — but has been shut down in 2025 after dealing with a series of injuries and appearing in only seven games.
The chilly match started inauspiciously for Philadelphia. Will Shipley coughed up the opening kick-off when he was hit by Mike Sainristil. But just as they have over the course of the season, the Eagles got through what wasn’t working and ended up in the right place.
“We’ve got a special team, and we enjoyed it,” Goedert said, “but we know there’s more work to be done.”
The Eagles’ Jake Elliott managed to send three field-goal attempts wide left in the first half.
Elliott hadn’t missed more than one in a game this season. But he was off on a 43-yarder in the first quarter, couldn’t get a 57-yarder to go through the uprights in the second, and after that was wiped out by a penalty on Washington, Elliot went wide left once more, from 52.
DE Brandon Graham, 37, whose two sacks last week made him the oldest Eagles player to record one, added another Saturday.
The Eagles will return to action against the Buffalo Bills on Monday, December 29 (AEDT), while the Commanders will host the Dallas Cowboys on Friday.