The other day, a colleague of mine who’s more of a baseball fan than a football fan asked me if the Washington Commanders reminded me of a team that won all road games to eventually become world champions.
I answered the Giants, in reference to the 2007 season in which Eli Manning quarterbacked New York to all road game wins as a wild-card playoff team before defeating the New England Patriots 17-14 to win Super Bowl XLI.
“No,” he replied. “The Washington Nationals in 2019 won all road games to win the World Series.” Ah, this was true but that was baseball and as the Commanders travel to Philadelphia to play the Eagles this Sunday for the NFC Championship, football was the first thing on my mind.
And why did the Giants upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII and ruin the first perfect regular season for the Patriots since the 1972 Miami Dolphins? Other than the amazing David Tyree “helmet catch” with 59 seconds remaining in the game, it was primarily the Giants defense and pressure they placed on Tom Brady.
The real question my friend should have asked was what Washington team—emphasizing Washington—won all road games to become Super Bowl champions. It’s a trick answer because a Washington football team has never won an NFC Championship game on the road–ever.
Long time fans remember the only NFC Championship road game ever played by a Washington football team. It was following the 1986 season on a cold and windy January day in Giants Stadium. Another elite Giants defense shut out the Redskins, 17-0. That one key offensive play, a long pass to an open Gary Clark running down the sidelines never materialized because Clark dropped the ball.
That’ll happen during championship game losses and the Redskins lost that game.
Despite a 12-4 record by the Redskins that season, including two losses to the Giants, New York had a 14-2 record and earned home-field advantage.
On Sunday, two NFC East teams face each other in the NFC Championship game with the Commanders on the road again at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Unlike 38 years ago, however, the Commanders have beaten the NFC first-seeded team to play the Eagles the Commanders beat the Eagles once during the regular season in a 36-33 comeback with seconds remaining.
If the Commanders are going to make a Super Bowl appearance this February, they will need to play yet another level higher against a solid Eagles defense.
The Commanders have been breaking records this season that have gone back to the glory days of the 1991 season, 33 years ago, this winning on the road in an NFC Championship game would be a franchise record.
The Commanders offense has broken some franchise records this season, including wide receiver Terry McLaurin’s 13 touchdown catches and Daniels breaking an actual NFL rookie record with most offensive yards in a seaon, including in the playoffs.
Last week against the Lions, Daniels passed for 299 yards and rushed for 51 yards for a total offensive production of 350 yards. Most likely the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, he has 5,112 total yards entering the NFC Championship game on Sunday, including 3,568 yards passing and 891 yards rushing during the regular season.
But to earn a franchise record as the first Washington football team to win an NFC Championship game on the road to go to the Super Bowl, Daniels, McLaurin, Austin Ekeler, Zach Ertz, Brian Robinson, Jr., and other position players, including an offensive line without top guard Sam Cosmi, will need to make as many plays as possible without penalties or turnovers and turn red zone visits into touchdowns rather than field goals.
Time of possession is another form of defense to keep the ball out of Saquon Barkley’s hands and to give the Washington defensive line some rest against an Eagles offensive line with three player in the Pro Bowl—Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens. The Commanders overcame a banged-up defense that lost Amik Robertson early in the game and they’re not going to have that luxury against the Eagles.
Likely the most formidable defense the Commanders have faced in the post season, Commanders will need to use one of the most formidable offenses in the NFC to counter it for a change at the Super Bowl.
Looking at the Eagles defense, it includes All-Pro defensive tackle Jalen Carter and first-team All Pro Zack Baun at linebacker. How do you neutralize those two defensive players and still account for the remaining talent on the defensive line and in the backfield? If I knew that, I’d be on an NFL general manager’s rolodex.
From a fan’s perspective, it will likely require a game plan that includes the ability to run the ball with individual efforts on each play from Robinson, Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols and possibly Chris Rodriguez, Jr., although Rodriguez was inactive in the previous game against the Lions. Expect more flat passes to Ekeler and McNichols and short five-yard passes that supplement the running game if necessary or as part of the mix.
With cornerback Quinyon Mitchell’s shoulder injury, Daniels may be throwing downfield early to test Mitchell’s coverage against the Washington receivers. With time, Daniels might be able to look off safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson or Reed Blankenship to go to Mitchell’s side of the field. But even then, rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean, like Mitchell, is a finalist for AP Rookie of the Year, and Darius Slay, Jr., is no slouch either.
That leaves little to no margin of error for McLaurin, Ertz, Dyami Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus, who will need to catch any ball touching their hands and bring it in as they have been doing for the majority of the season. And, of course, Daniels will need to make the plays on key downs as he has done all season despite Carter, Baun Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith Jr. chasing him down.
But if that isn’t enough, Vic Fangio, in his first season as defensive coordinator, has coached the Eagles to first in the NFC in yards allowed, first against the pass, first in first downs allowed, first in three-and-out percentage, second in overall points allowed, third on third downs allowed and tied for fifth in points allowed in the red zone.
To overcome the Eagles defense is for the offensive line to play above their heads for 60 minutes and to overcome the monstrous challenge in providing pass protection for Daniels. The line will need to also open holes for at least an adequate running game and if the line can tire out the defensive line, there is a chance at the end of the game.
As Daniels and the Commanders repeat every week, “on any given day” any NFL team can beat another team and Sunday is the NFC Championship. It’s only one game and like any NFL game, there are intangibles. The ball bounces in strange ways, mistakes happen even for NFL players proven to be the league’s best, and sometimes games are won and lost by only inches.
If defenses win championships, the Eagles should be the favorites—and they are. In fact, the Commanders going against the Eagles defense is almost like “Daniels vs. Goliath” in a week after the Lions’ den.
But if it’s a tight margin and Daniels slings the ball downfield to hit a receiver in just the right place for a miracle catch late in the game, then that, too, can win an NFC Championship. It’s been done before.
And Daniels has done it in historical fashion.
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