NFC Championship – Commanders at Eagles game recap: 2nd quarter summary – 2 turnovers give Eagles 27-15 lead at the half

Second Quarter

After an incomplete pass, the Commanders faced 3rd & 10 at the Philly 28-yard line. On the 3rd down play, Daniels, under pressure, threw the ball away to bring out Zane Gonzalez for his second field goal attempt of the game. He hit the 46-yarder from the right hash mark, splitting the uprights to make the score 14-6 Eagles just 18 seconds into the quarter.

The Eagles started their 3rd offensive drive at the 29-yard line.

Jon Allen started things off with a 3-yard tackle for loss on Saquon Barkley, though Hurts followed that up with a 15-yard completion to AJ Brown on the right sideline with Jeremy Chinn in coverage.

On the next play, Johnny Newton nearly caused a strip sack on Hurts, but the QB held onto the ball, scrambled and got rid of the ball.

After a penalty, it was 2nd & 15 at the PHI 36-yad line. After a short pass completion, Philly faced 3rd & 7 at the 42.

On 3rd down, Hurts hit Goedert at the line to gain. The TE broke a tackle and ran for a 15-yard gain to the Washington 41-yard line.

Two plays later, it was 3rd & 1 at the 32 yard line. On the third down play, Hurts got the yard on a tush push to get a fresh set of downs.

Two plays later, the Eagles faced 3rd & 6 at the 27-yard line. On the 3rd down play, Frankie Luvu broke the hearts of Eagles fans by sacking Hurts cleanly for a loss of 9 yards.

Nick Sirianni sent Jake Elliott out for a 54-yard attempt which was NO GOOD!!

After a 12-play, 35-yard drive, Philadelphia comes away with no points. The Commanders offense takes over at the Philly 44-yard line, trailing by 8 points.

After a Jayden Daniels scramble for 6 yards, the QB hit John Bates for 7 yards and a first down.

A 7-yd run by Brian Robinson was followed by a failed screen pass on a bunch formation right. Just not a good play call.

On 3rd & 3 from an empty formation, Daniels hit Terry McLaurin on an inside rout about 7 yards downfield, and Terry breaks a tackle and takes it to the house for a touchdown!

The Commanders tried a 2-point conversion, but, despite completing a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Ekeler, the RB was pushed out of bounds for a failed conversion attempt. The scoreboard reads PHI 14 – WAS 12 with just over 7 minutes remaining in the half.

Following the kickoff, the Eagles started their 4th offensive drive of the game at the 28-yard line. The Eagles scored all 14 of their points in the first quarter.

After a gain by DeVonta Smith on a pop-pass and a run by Saquon, it was 3rd & 1 at the 37-yard line. The Eagles lined up in tush push formation and got the needed yard for the first down.

The Eagles earned a first down with a short scramble by Hurts and a 10-yard run by Barkley. With the ball at midfield, a scramble by Hurts and a short run by Barkley brought up 3rd & 5 at the Washington 45-yard line.

On the 3rd down play, Hurts, under heavy pressure from a blitzing Jeremy Chinn, scrambled right but threw incomplete to Barkley.

On 4th down, Hurts broke the hearts of Commanders fans by hitting AJ Brown deep down the left sideline (covered by Lattimore 1-on-1) for a 31-yard gain as the two-minute warning was given.

Following the timeout, Washington started burning timeouts in hopes of giving JD5 a chance at another offensive drive before the end of the half.

An incomplete pass to Goedert in the end zone with tight coverage from Lattimore brought up 3rd & 8 with 01:51 on the clock. A false start penalty turned it into 3rd & 13.

On the key 3rd down play, from the 17-hard line, Hurts was under heavy pressure from the entire Commanders defensive line. DeVonta Smith was unable to hold onto the pass in the end zone, but the official flagged Marshon Lattimore for defensive pass interference in the end zone to give the ball to the Eagles 1st & goal at the 1-yad line.

Jalen Hurts, unsurprisingly, scored a touchdown on another tush push play, but Lattimore was flagged for unnecessary roughness after the play. Lattimore is having another rough day against the Eagles.

The Eagles lined up at the 1-yard line for the 2-point conversion attempt, which FAILED on the tush push play.

With 01:44 on the clock, the score is 20-12, and the Commanders will get the ball back with a chance to cut the lead or tie the game.

OR NOT.

McNichol was the return man, and he FUMBLED the ball when he was hit, and Philly recovered the ball at the Washington 24-yard line. What a disaster!!

It appeared as if Hurts scored a TD on 2nd & 3, but a holding call against Dickerson negated the run and forced 3rd & 13 at the Washington 24-yard line.

Hurts had to throw the ball away on first down under very heavy pressure from the Commanders defense. His 2nd down pass was complete to Saquon Barkley, but Mikey Sainristtil hit him a yard out of bounds, drawing a personal foul penalty.

The Eagles got a fresh set of downs at the 10 yard line with 52 seconds on the clock.

Dan Quinn again used a timeout in an attempt to give his quarterback another shot at scoring before halftime, but things are feeling a little desperate — remember that the Eagles will get the ball to open the second half.

On 3rd & goal from the 4 yard line, with 43 ticks left in the half, the Eagles scored a touchdown on a pass reception by AJ Brown on the right side of the end zone with Sainristil in coverage.

Following the PAT, the Eagles had a 15-point lead, 27-12. The 7-play scoring drive covered 24 yards in less than a minute.

The Commanders offense will try to cut into the lead with 00:39 on the clock and the ball at the 30-yard line and no time outs.

The key play in the drive was a 19-yard scramble by Jayden Daniels to put the ball on the Philadelphia 35-yard line, in long field goal range for Gonzalez, leaving 13 seconds on the clock.

Zach Ertz caught the ball 5 yards downfield, then ran for another 5 and stepped out of bounds at the 25-yard line to give Gonzo a makeable field goal.

Gonzalez put the ball right down the middle to make the score 27-15 with 2 ticks left on the clock.

The half ended with a short return by Gainwell on the kickoff.

Washington’s two turnovers have been the difference in the game.

Halftime Stats

Statistics via ESPN