These aren’t the Niners of old. They aren’t even the Niners of two years ago.
That’s good news for the Eagles, who moved one step closer to facing San Francisco in the opening round of the playoffs after the 49ers fell to the Seahawks, 13-3, on Saturday night. Seattle’s victory in the first batch of Week 18 games brought the NFC playoff picture into clearer focus. The Seahawks have clinched the No. 1 overall seed, thus earning themselves an opening round bye and a home game in the divisional round against the lowest-seeded team to survive. That team will not be the Eagles, who cannot face Seattle until the NFC championship game.
This was the outcome Birds fans should have been rooting for on Saturday night. Had the 49ers won, the Eagles would be standing on the precipice of an opening-round matchup against the Seahawks or the Rams, the two most impressive teams in the NFC during the regular season. The only other scenario would have required them to beat the Commanders and the Bears to lose to the Lions, thereby giving the Eagles the No. 2 seed and an opening round matchup against the seventh-seeded Packers. (That scenario remains on the table entering play on Sunday.)
The Eagles could still face the Rams, who outplayed them in the regular season before the Eagles pulled out a 33-26 win on Jordan Davis’ blocked field-goal return for a touchdown at the buzzer. In order to avoid them, they need the Rams to beat the Cardinals today, thereby clinching the No. 5 seed and knocking San Francisco down to No. 6. A Rams loss to the Cardinals would mean an Eagles-Rams rematch at Lincoln Financial Field next weekend. Keep in mind, the Cardinals have lost eight straight games and 13 of 14 since a 2-0 start.
To recap the three scenarios in play:
Scenario 1: If the Eagles win and Bears lose, the Eagles get the No. 2 seed and an opening-round game against the Packers.
If the Eagles lose OR the Bears win, then the Eagles get the No. 3 seed and …
Scenario 2: If the Rams beat the Cardinals, the Eagles face the 49ers.
Scenario 3: If the Cardinals beat the Rams, the Eagles face the Rams.
The 49ers are the clear preference over the Rams. San Francisco has been ravaged by injuries on the defensive side of the ball, with all-world linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa both lost for the season. The Niners suffered two more injuries Saturday night, in fact, with linebackers Dee Winters and Tatum Bethune both leaving and not returning.
Middle linebacker Fred Warner is among the key 49ers who are injured with the playoffs set to begin.
The 49ers are still dangerous. They showed that with their 42-38 shootout win over the Bears in Week 17. But they also showed Saturday night that they can struggle against a top-tier defense. San Francisco gained just 173 yards and posted nine first downs against the Seahawks. A big variable is All-Pro tackle Trent Williams, who missed Saturday’s game with a hamstring injury after being questionable to play.
The 49ers were no match for the Seahawks’ power running game, allowing 180 yards on the ground. It was the sixth time this season they allowed an opponent to gain at least 360 yards of total offense.
The Eagles certainly wouldn’t be looking past a playoff game against the 49ers. But it was and is the best of the likeliest options.
Eagles legend Billy Ray Barnes, the three-time Pro Bowl halfback, who aided in the team’s 1960 NFL Championship, died on Wednesday in his hometown of Landis, N.C.
He was 90.
Mr. Barnes was a second-round selection in the 1957 NFL draft out of Wake Forest and spent five seasons in Philadelphia.
“He was 90 and had a fabulous life,” said Mr. Barnes’ daughter, Billi Barnes Akins, via statement.
In his first year, Mr. Barnes led the Eagles in both rushing and receiving. He would go on to end his career in Philly with 2,391 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns, and had eight more scores on 120 receptions.
Mr. Barnes had stints in Washington (1962-63) and Minnesota (1965-66). After his playing career, he served as an assistant coach with the Saints and Falcons.
He was inducted into the Wake Forest Hall of Fame in 1975 following his stellar college career, where he earned All-America honors, and in 1956, became the first player in the Atlantic Coast Conference to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a single season.
Mr. Barnes returned to Philadelphia in 2010 for the 50-year reunion of the 1960 NFL championship team.
“The biggest thing was the friendships that he had made there,” Akins said. “They were lifelong. He talked to a bunch of guys on the phone for years. He enjoyed everything about Philadelphia.”
The Eagles will host the Washington Commanders on Sunday evening as they wrap up the regular season and prepare for their Super Bowl defense.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game …
How to watch
The game will kick off on CBS from Lincoln Financial Field at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday. Kevin Harlan and Ross Tucker will call the game from the booth. Meanwhile, Penn State alumna Melanie Collins will report from the sideline.
If you’re on the move and want to listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick call the game, then you can tune into 94.1 WIP. And if you’re planning an outing with friends, here are some of the best places to watch an Eagles game in Philly.
The Eagles will be resting most of the starters heading into Sunday’s game. In terms of the injury report, several Eagles did not practice Friday, including Jalen Carter (hip), Nakobe Dean (hamstring), Marcus Epps (concussion), Dallas Goedert (knee), Lane Johnson (foot), and Jaelan Phillips (ankle). None of those players will play Sunday.
Jihaad Campbell was a full participant despite back and shoulder ailments.
Earlier in the week, the Eagles were 6.5-point favorites at FanDuel, and 7-point favorites at DraftKings. Once it was announced that the Eagles were planning on resting their starters, the odds changed. Now, the Eagles are heading into Sunday’s game as 3.5-point favorites at FanDuel and 4.5-point favorites at DraftKings.
The total is set at 39.5 and 38.5 points at FanDuel and DraftKings, respectively. For more betting props, check out our betting guide here.
Eagles playoff picture
The Eagles have already clinched the division with a Week 16 win over the Commanders. Now, with a win on Sunday and a Chicago Bears loss to the Detroit Lions, the Eagles will be the No. 2 seed in the NFC. However, if Philly loses or Chicago wins, the Eagles will enter the playoffs as the No. 3 seed.
Storylines to watch
Can the Eagles get it done with most of their starters resting this week?
They’ll be competing against a banged up Washington Commanders team that will be relying on third-string quarterback Josh Johnson. With a win on Sunday, the Birds still have a chance to clinch the No. 2 seed in the NFC if the Bears lose to the Lions.
The Eagles have managed to take care of business the last three weeks. Can they do it again to close out the regular season?
2: The Eagles could potentially claim the No. 2 seed with a win on Sunday.
Our Eagles vs. Commanders predictions
Here’s how our beat writers are predicting Sunday’s game:
Jeff Neiburg: Games like this are really hard to predict. Who plays? And for how long? But the Eagles have the advantage at quarterback, and they’re the team with more football to play beyond Week 18. I’ll take that combination in this one. Will there actually be a quarterback controversy? McKee will probably play well enough that the sports radio callers will engage in the absurdity. Happy New Year. Prediction:Eagles 27, Commanders 16
Olivia Reiner: The Commanders aren’t exactly operating at full strength. Center Tyler Biadasz went on injured reserve this week and left tackle Laremy Tunsil isn’t expected to play, either. While the Eagles will be motivated to win, the banged-up Commanders have more experience playing together this season. Plus, they may still have a bad taste in their mouths given the scrum that occurred late in the Week 16 game at Northwest Stadium. Prediction: Commanders 21, Eagles 17
Here’s how the national media is predicting Sunday’s game:
What we’re saying about the Eagles
Here’s a look at the latest from our columnists, starting with Mike Sielski, who broke down the Eagles’ passive offense.
Sielski: “If you’re complaining about the Eagles’ impotent offense and unimaginative play-calling both from Sunday’s second half and from several previous games this season, if you’re waiting for Sirianni and coordinator Kevin Patullo to have some eureka moment and suddenly start dazzling everyone with their play designs and a wide-open style of offense, you’re missing the key to understanding the 2025 Eagles.
“They want to play like this. They want to rely on their defense. They want to limit every and any available possibility that their offense and special teams might commit a turnover. It took some time and some trial and some error, but they’ve settled on an approach, and this is it.”
Marcus Hayes: “A win is a win is a win, but, really, is it too much to expect a greater degree of consistency and professionalism from the reigning Super Bowl champions? Is it ungrateful to believe a 10-5 team should look more like a 10-win team than five-loss team? Maybe. But, hey, we are Philadelphia.”
What the Commanders are saying about the Eagles
The Commanders have a banged up team heading into Sunday’s game as they expect to start Johnson at quarterback. Although the Birds plan on sitting most of their starters, including Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn is treating Sunday’s game like any other. When asked if the Birds’ decision to rest their starters changed anything, Quinn responded: “Not for us.”
“By no means are we at full strength, nor are most teams in the NFL during Week 18,” Quinn told reporters. “But, what I do love is the number of guys that are really hungry for this opportunity and chance to compete together. We had so many players miss time, they want to chance to express themselves and to prove it. So, when you miss games and stretches of games, you’re hungry for that competition and you’re hungry for that space. In our league, we practice way more than we play. So, they want to be able to go play and I love that about our guys. We had a hard battle with them two weeks ago and I expect another hard battle Sunday.”
Quarterback Josh Johnson: “It’s awesome,” Johnson told reporters. “We get to go into the lion’s den. I love it. I wouldn’t change it. It’s great to be able to have a game of this caliber versus this type of team to finish the season. So, I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited. Football is going to have to be played at the highest level. In order to beat this team, we got to play at a very high level and I’m looking forward to us going out there and playing at a high level.”
Center Nick Allegretti: “There’s a million ways to look at this game,” Allegretti told reporters. “Obviously, this is the last game of the season for us. But, everyone in this locker room in their life has dreamed of being in this situation. If you told me when I was 10 that I would get a chance to play in a Week 18 game, I think it would be the coolest thing in the world. So, understanding that. We get a chance to play against another NFL team. Go try to win that game. Who cares about what happened the week before or the week after.”
The stakes for the Eagles on Sunday are clear: If they beat the Washington Commanders and if the Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears, then the Eagles would secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.
It would likely make for an easier road back to the Super Bowl (easier on paper, anyway), because they’d be assured of having home-field advantage in at least the wild-card and divisional rounds, and the matchups they’d face in those games might be more favorable.
So the Eagles had a choice: They could play their starters against the Commanders, giving their most important players no rest ahead of the postseason, with no guarantee that, even if they beat Washington, that they’d end up with the second seed anyway.
Or they could sit their starters, banking that a well-rested team would be better off no matter who or where it plays. Nick Sirianni and his staff, as we now know, opted to rest the starters.
It was the right decision, for this reason: Given that Washington is 4-12 and will have third-stringer Josh Johnson at quarterback Sunday, there’s a decent chance that the Eagles will secure the best of all outcomes for themselves.
They can give their starters a week off, still win the game, and have the Bears lose to the Lions. After a regular season that raised some questions about the Eagles’ ability to repeat, that scenario would be a timely reassertion of strength from the defending champs.
Too hot for pucks
The entire premise and most of the appeal of the NHL’s Winter Classic, when it began in 2008, were based around the notion that hockey in its best and purest form was a cold-weather sport.
A pond or stream or lake froze over. Kids bundled up, grabbed their skates and sticks and a couple of rickety little goal nets, and just played. The sport was a natural and seamless part of life in Canada and in certain regions of the United States.
But not in Miami. Which is where this year’s Winter Classic, between the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers, was held Friday. How do you know a gimmick has gotten stale? When you’re playing an outdoor hockey game in early January in a place where it’s 70 degrees in the shade.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza (right) and Indiana routed Alabama on the way to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Hoosier daddy?
The benefit of the 12-team College Football Playoff is that it is a great revealer. Most of the sport’s regular season is marred by “expert analysis” that is based on little more than arrogance and presumptuousness: The SEC is obviously a better and more challenging league than the Big Ten, which is better and more challenging than the Big 12, which is way ahead of the ACC, and so on. It’s regional bias and figure-skating-style judging all the way down.
Then they actually play the games. And we learn that Alabama has no business being on the same field as Indiana, that Texas Tech is a long way from the days of Kliff Kingsbury and Patrick Mahomes, that Ohio State’s lopsided intraconference victories aren’t a true indication of how good the Buckeyes really are.
Dave Dombrowski apparently provided Bryce Harper with some extra motivation this offseason.
An elite idea
Bryce Harper recently posted a video of himself taking batting-cage swings while wearing a T-shirt with “NOT ELITE” across the front, a reference to Phillies president Dave Dombrowski’s description of Harper’s 2025 season.
You’ve got to love that defiant, near-vindictive energy from Harper, and it was a brilliant idea to take Dombrowski’s words and strip them across a shirt. Imagine an entire apparel line, marketed to individual athletes, made up of critical yet potentially inspiring phrases. The possibilities are endless.
In his 33 games during his only year of college basketball at Baylor, VJ Edgecombe took 4.6 three-pointers a game and made 34% of them. In his 28 games so far with the 76ers, he is taking 5.8 a game and making 38% of them. That improvement might be the most pleasant surprise of his terrific rookie season.
One last one-liner
Congratulations to former Eagles great Frank Gore for being a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist.
The Eagles host the Washington Commanders in a Week 18 matchup at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. Here’s what you need to know about the game:
When the Eagles have the ball: It’s Tanner McKee time. Well, the Eagles will have more backups on offense than just the No. 2 quarterback, with the Eagles expected to rest their starters in the season finale. But having McKee under center will give a glimpse of how much he’s progressed in the last year and whether he can increase his value if the front office wants to entertain trade offers this offseason.
He played well a year ago, completing 27 of 41 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns against New York Giants starters in Week 18. McKee will be facing another comparatively poor defense, but will he have enough around him to get the job done?
The Eagles’ offensive line, from left to right, is expected to be: Fred Johnson, Brett Toth, Drew Kendall, Matt Pryor, and Cameron Williams. McKee will have two rookies blocking for him, with Kendall and Williams at center and right tackle, respectively. Williams was activated on Thursday after spending almost the entire season on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.
Washington isn’t strong at edge rusher. The Eagles allowed just one outside pressure when the teams played in Week 16. But Williams may need help on occasion. While McKee had returning-from-injury Dallas Goedert for about a quarter last January, and targeted the tight end on six of the 13 plays he was on the field, he will have no such luxury this season. Receiver Jahan Dotson will likely be the lone starter to play. Dotson is often the fifth option when on the field with the first offense, but the former Commander caught 7 of 11 targets for 94 yards in last season’s finale.
I could see Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo leaning into their under-center offense on Sunday. The Eagles have done it more with McKee than with Jalen Hurts, although the sample may not be large enough to make any definitive claims. In the final drive of the Las Vegas Raiders blowout three weeks ago and against New York last year, McKee completed 7 of 9 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown when throwing off play-action from under center.
The second unit offensive line will need to block better on the ground if under-center runs are to be productive. But the Commanders have one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. They rank 29th in expected points added (EPA) per rush. (Of note: Three of the league’s bottom four run defenses are the Eagles’ NFC East rivals.)
Tank Bigsby fans should see the running back get a high volume of carries. He enters averaging 6.4 yards a carry with the Eagles and has 98 rushing yards over expected, per NextGen Stats, which is 22 more than starter Saquon Barkley, who has 238 more tries. Will Shipley will be featured in the backfield as well, more likely on passing downs. He could be a check-down favorite for McKee.
Tight end Grant Calcaterra should also get more chances to do what he does best, which is run routes and catch the ball, vs. the run blocking that has contributed to some of the Eagles’ struggles in that regard. But mostly, it’ll be interesting to see McKee operate with Patullo at the controls.
Washington lacks talent and is on the older side, but veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner is still a run-defending machine. And edge rusher Von Miller should have enough gas in the tank to trouble Williams.
The Eagles got after Josh Johnson when he relieved an injured Marcus Mariota in Week 16.
When the Commanders have the ball: Speaking of old guys, 39-year-old Josh Johnson will be making only his 11th career start at quarterback since being drafted by the Bucs in 2008. It’ll be his second straight start after backup Marcus Mariota was knocked out against the Eagles two weeks ago.
Johnson looked overwhelmed as a mid-game replacement and threw a bad interception to cornerback Cooper DeJean. He fared better with a week of preparation and completed 15 of 23 passes for 198 yards against the Dallas Cowboys. The Commanders struggled to get much going on offense and lost, 30-23, but offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury schemed up explosive plays on the ground and through the air to help Johnson.
Deebo Samuel was the benefactor of a 41-yard screen pass and a 29-yard end-around. The Eagles have to always be cognizant of where Samuel lines up and how motion misdirects defenders away from him.
Running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt ran for touchdowns of 72 and 10 yards on more traditional runs against the Cowboys. The Commanders won’t have a mobile quarterback like they normally do with Jayden Daniels or Mariota to help the rushing offense. And they’ll be without three-fifths of their starting offensive line. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil, right guard Sam Cosmi, and center dress are out.
The Eagles will have a decidedly different look up front. A year ago, defensive tackle Jordan Davis played a bunch of snaps in the finale. He’ll likely be one of a dozen or so starters who dress on Sunday, but the Eagles will do their best to keep him off the field. He’s come a long way in 12 months.
Byron Young and Ty Robinson will take most of the snaps in the interior. Joshua Uche, who’s been inactive the last five games, will finally get an opportunity to get some repetitions at outside linebacker. Jihaad Campbell was pressed into duty two weeks ago when Nakobe Dean suffered a hamstring injury, but the rookie linebacker is expected to start and play some. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Smael Mondon will likely log most of the time at off-ball linebacker.
The Eagles could be most susceptible in the secondary. Terry McLaurin vs. most any cornerback would favor the Washington receiver. Cornerback Kelee Ringo and whoever lines up opposite him — Jakorian Bennett or rookie Mac McWilliams — may often get help from safeties Sydney Brown and Andre’ Sam against McLaurin.
Extra point: The line hasn’t moved much, even after it was reported that Sirianni would rest his starters. The Eagles are around 4-point favorites. The news that Johnson was officially starting likely offset any advantage the Commanders might have been expected to gain. Washington coach Dan Quinn doesn’t seem like the tanking type, but it didn’t appear as if he was in any rush to get Mariota back.
The Commanders can improve their draft standing several slots with a loss, and I have to wonder how much the players are motivated at this stage of the season. But I thought they played hard in their last several games, and they may be looking for payback after a first meeting full of chippiness and altercations.
The Eagles can still improve their playoff seeding with a victory coupled with a Chicago Bears loss to the Detroit Lions. I understand Sirianni’s rationale for giving his starters the game off. He can’t control getting the No. 2 seed, but he can decide who plays and who doesn’t. The Eagles aren’t exactly beat up, but it’s been a long season. A week of rest may help. Tackle Jordan Mailata spoke more about the mental benefits than the physical.
As for the game, I think we may see Patullo use McKee at quarterback as an opportunity to dip into the playbook. That’s no knock against Hurts, but the Eagles have become predictable in certain respects, and I can see more diversity helping their cause. Sirianni has more depth than most teams, but I don’t think his squad is as deep as it was a year ago. I think what’s left of Washington’s first unit has enough to hold on.
“That’s what they call it?” Cooper asked with a smile Thursday, four months after he dazzled as an undrafted Eagles free agent during practices and preseason games.
The wide receiver out of FCS Tarleton State benefited from a few injuries during camp, but he forced his way onto the 53-man roster with his work ethic and all-around game. A converted high school quarterback, Cooper was second in all of Division I (FBS included) last season in receiving yards with 1,450 on a school-record 76 catches. He also holds Tarleton State’s career receiving yards record.
He was, in simplest terms, the man. But life in the NFL, on a team with one of the best wide receiver tandems in the sport, sometimes means taking a back seat.
“I kind of think about it like my transition from high school to college,” Cooper said. “The first couple of years, I was a big special teams guy. Then, boom, you get your opportunity. It’s kind of the same mindset. I’ve been here before.”
Darius Cooper is brought down by Chargers safety Tony Jefferson during the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ Monday night loss on Dec. 8.
Cooper has played 158 offensive snaps so far during his rookie season, and 138 of those were after Week 7. His role has increased as the season has progressed, but he has been targeted just six times and has six catches for 59 yards.
Life behind A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Jahan Dotson means a lesser role than Cooper has been used to in his team’s offensive game planning. Cooper’s best play this season isn’t a catch, it is a block from Week 14. The Eagles lined up in the Tush Push formation and instead ran a toss to Saquon Barkley to the left side of the alignment. Cooper worked his way into the second level and got a body on Los Angeles Chargers safety R.J. Mickens. The broadcast camera picked up the sound of the hit.
“That was a big one,” Cooper said. “I think that was the most I got excited on the field for sure.”
Sunday offers an opportunity for Cooper to get excited about plays on which the ball is in his hands. It certainly will come his way more than it has in a game this season. He may match or exceed his season-long targets in Sunday’s game alone. The Eagles are resting regulars for their season finale vs. Washington, and Cooper likely will start on the other side of Dotson with Tanner McKee doing the quarterbacking.
Cooper’s rookie season has been a whirlwind. The 24-year-old found out he made the team on cutdown day in a meeting with Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman. He left that meeting and called his wife, Kennady, a relationship that began when they attended Missouri’s Hazelwood West High School. Their professional lives would start in a big NFL market, thanks to his performance at camp.
Cooper changed his number from No. 41 to No. 80, a more reasonable number for a receiver, not one handed to a player near the bottom of the 90-man camp roster. Then he got to work on his development. He learned tips and tricks from Brown, Smith, and Dotson, “so many small things you don’t even think about that I never got taught,” Cooper said.
Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee celebrates a touchdown pass with wide receiver Darius Cooper late during a preseason game on Aug. 7.
“He’s another guy that works really hard, and I think that’s a product of the guys that he’s around,” Sirianni said. “He works hard because he has that in him, and that’s the standard of our guys. He continues to get better because you got no choice when you work that way, when you love football, when you’re tough, like all of those things that Darius is.”
Cooper is like most backups in that he tries to prepare every week like he’s going to have a big role because anything can happen. This week, then, was about sticking to that process, even though he knew his role was going to be bigger from the outset of the practice week.
“If you change your mindset and change your preparation, you’re making it bigger than what it is,” Cooper said. “At that point, I feel like you’re not just out there free and playing. You’re kind of overthinking it. You don’t ever want to overthink, especially in this game. You just want to fly around and have fun and make plays.”
But Cooper is cognizant of the fact that he’s still a rookie making first impressions and trying to put good film out there. He won training camp in 2025, but 2026 is another year.
“When your number is called, you got to step up to the plate,” Cooper said. “This week is a very big week, but you can’t overthink it. You just got to have fun. It’s still a game, at the end of the day.”
Injury report
The Eagles ruled out Jalen Carter (hip), Nakobe Dean (hamstring), Marcus Epps (concussion), Dallas Goedert (knee), Lane Johnson (foot), and Jaelan Phillips (ankle) for Sunday’s game vs. Washington. Most of them were not expected to play anyway.
Carter’s hip injury is new this week. He said it happened during the game vs. the Buffalo Bills, but it’s not something to worry about keeping him out of next week’s playoff opener.
Washington will start Josh Johnson at quarterback after ruling out Marcus Mariota (hand/quad). Star left tackle Laremy Tunsil (oblique) is out, too.
The Eagles will host the Washington Commanders to close out the regular season on Sunday. The last time the teams met was Dec. 20, when the Eagles clinched the division with a 29-18 victory and became the first team to win back-to-back NFC East titles since 2004.
Now, the Eagles enter as 3.5-point favorites. Will quarterback Tanner McKee lead the Eagles (11-5) to victory? Or will the 4-12 Commanders come out on top at Lincoln Financial Field?
Here’s what the Commanders are saying about the Eagles:
‘I expect another hard battle Sunday’
Although the Eagles plan on sitting most of their starters, including Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, Commanders coach Dan Quinn is treating Sunday’s game like any other. When asked if the Birds’ decision to rest their starters changed anything, Quinn responded: “Not for us.”
“By no means are we at full strength, nor are most teams in the NFL during Week 18,” Quinn told reporters. “But what I do love is the number of guys that are really hungry for this opportunity and chance to compete together. We had so many players miss time, they want a chance to express themselves and to prove it.
“So when you miss games and stretches of games, you’re hungry for that competition and you’re hungry for that space. In our league, we practice way more than we play. So they want to be able to go play, and I love that about our guys. We had a hard battle with them two weeks ago, and I expect another hard battle Sunday.”
The Eagles trailed, 10-7, at halftime in their Week 16 matchup at Northwest Stadium before taking over in the final 30 minutes. One of the biggest storylines coming out of the game was Nick Sirianni’s decision to go for two late in the game to give the Eagles a 19-point lead. After the two-point conversion, a fight broke out between the teams, resulting in three ejections.
Commanders quarterback Josh Johnson is looking forward to playing in one of the tougher fan environments in the NFL on Sunday.
“It’s awesome,” Johnson told reporters. “We get to go into the lion’s den. I love it. I wouldn’t change it. It’s great to be able to have a game of this caliber vs. this type of team to finish the season. So I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited. Football is going to have to be played at the highest level. In order to beat this team, we got to play at a very high level, and I’m looking forward to us going out there and playing at a high level.”
Third-string quarterback Josh Johnson will start for the Commanders on Sunday.
Johnson understands the challenge he will face on Sunday.
“We got to do what we do well,” Johnson said. “Execute. Stay on task. Keep the chains moving, and then score touchdowns. They got a lot of great players, but we got great players too. We have to trust our techniques; we got to trust our fundamentals.
“The good thing about going against great players in this league is that it holds you to a standard of doing the little things right over and over. And I think that’s a great challenge for us to go out there and finish on a strong note by going out there and doing the little things right over and over again and coming away with a victory.”
Although the Commanders aren’t going to the playoffs, they’re still entering Sunday’s game with one goal on their mind: winning.
“There’s a million ways to look at this game,” Commanders center Nick Allegretti told reporters. “Obviously, this is the last game of the season for us. But everyone in this locker room in their life has dreamed of being in this situation. If you told me when I was 10 that I would get a chance to play in a Week 18 game, I think it would be the coolest thing in the world. … We get a chance to play against another NFL team. Go try to win that game. Who cares about what happened the week before or the week after?”
Coming off a win over the Buffalo Bills, the Eagles (11-5) will host the Washington Commanders (4-12) before they head into the postseason. As both teams prepare for the Week 18 matchup, here’s an updated look at the game odds and some prop bets from two of the biggest sportsbooks …
Eagles vs. Commanders updated odds
The Eagles beat the Commanders, 29-18, on Dec. 20 at Northwest Stadium to clinch the NFC East. Entering this week, the Eagles were 7.5-point favorites. Now, with plans to rest most of their starters, the odds have slightly changed.
There are no individual player props on FanDuel or DraftKings. However, there are a few game props that fans can bet on, such as total touchdowns for both teams.
Tanner McKee will start at quarterback for the Eagles for the first time since last season’s Week 18 win over the New York Giants, when he threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
The Commanders will start third-string quarterback Josh Johnson, who passed for 198 yards in his first start of the season last week in a 30-23 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
The Eagles have better odds to score first. The last time the teams met, the Commanders managed to get the first points on the board with a field goal and Marcus Mariota under center.
Although a Commanders field goal was the first scoring play in their last meeting, an Eagles touchdown has the best first-scoring play odds for this week’s contest in both sportsbooks. Betting on an Eagles or Commanders safety could offer the greatest potential payout.
After three consecutive wins, the Eagles are hosting the Washington Commanders to end the regular season. Heading into the matchup, the Birds are 3.5-point favorites. Here’s how experts in the local and national media are predicting Sunday’s game …
Inquirer predictions
We start with our own beat writers. Here’s an excerpt from Jeff Neiburg’s prediction …
To see how our other beat writers are predicting this one, check out our full Eagles-Commanders preview here.
National media predictions
Here’s a look at who the national media is picking for Sunday’s game …
ESPN: Seven of eight panelists are picking the Birds straight up.
CBS Sports: All five experts are leaning toward the Eagles.
While the Eagles are prioritizing next week’s wild-card game, Sunday’s matchup against the Commanders is the sole focus of one announcer who grew up rooting for the Birds.
Tucker, a Wyomissing native and former NFL offensive lineman, has called a number of Eagles games on radio for Westwood One, where he’s worked since 2015. But Sunday will be his first chance broadcasting a Birds game on TV for CBS.
“It’s super cool for me on multiple levels,” Tucker said. “I grew up an Eagles fan, and all my friends are Eagles fans, so this will be really neat for them.”
It’s a stroke of luck on many fronts. Ordinarily, Tucker works games on CBS’s No. 6 crew alongside Phillies announcer Tom McCarthy. But Harlan’s normal broadcast partner, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green, is off this weekend to attend his son’s wedding, opening a slot for Tucker.
Despite that, the Eagles game wasn’t on Tucker’s radar, since Fox traditionally is the home of NFC games. But under new TV deals that began in 2021, the NFL is only required to schedule one of each NFC divisional matchup on Fox, which aired Eagles-Commanders in Week 16.
Tucker didn’t know he landed the Birds game until CBS announced their broadcast lineups Tuesday.
“I knew I was doing the game with Kevin for about three or four weeks, but I had no idea it would turn out to be the Eagles game,” Tucker said. “It’s really fortuitous.”
This will be the first game Tucker and Harlan have called together on TV, but the two have been paired on radio a bunch on Westwood One, including for playoff games. Harlan has called games alongside plenty of analysts during his 40-year career, but thinks Tucker’s insight as a former offensive lineman in a broadcasting world dominated by former quarterbacks is enlightening.
“Ross picks up nuance and the right way to capture what a line is doing or not doing, and I just find that refreshing,” Harlan said.
With the Eagles resting their starters, it turned out to be a prescient move by CBS to turn to Tucker, who watched every preseason snap and knows the Birds’ backups better than most. Harlan also calls preseason games for the Green Bay Packers, but that won’t help him much when it comes to the Birds’ backups.
“It’s a great challenge to come in and do a bunch of players I’m not really familiar with,” Harlan said. “I’m probably going to let Ross kind of lead things that he finds interesting to get the ball rolling, and then we’ll let the game take it from there.”
Calling Sunday’s Eagles game certainly is a milestone for Tucker, but he remains a workhorse. In addition to calling NFL games for CBS and Westwood One (where he’ll broadcast playoff games), he calls college football games and continues to host the daily Ross Tucker Football Podcast. He also nearly replaced Angelo Cataldi as the morning host on 94.1 WIP, but a daily commute from Reading to Philadelphia for a 6 a.m. show wasn’t in the cards.
“I still feel like I’m just grinding and trying to move up the ranks and doing the best I can,” Tucker said.
Ross Tucker (right) called NFL games on CBS in 2025 alongside Phillies announcer Tom McCarthy.
Tucker’s only regret is not being able to call his first Eagles game alongside McCarthy. The two have been friends since McCarthy called Tucker’s college football games at Princeton. And McCarthy, in his 12th season calling NFL games for CBS, has yet to land the Eagles, though he remains the only announcer not named Jim Nantz to call a game with Tony Romo.
“He is the best,” McCarthy said of Tucker. “Just a tremendous partner. We have had such an amazing year.”
But McCarthy has a nice consolidation prize. He will be in Cincinnati Sunday calling the Bengals’ matchup against the Cleveland Browns, where he’ll have the chance to voice Myles Garrett breaking the NFL’s single-season sack record (22), currently held by Michael Strahan.
Where on TV is Eagles-Commanders airing
Among other places, Sunday’s Eagles game is airing in Tampa, where a lot of Birds fans call home.
This season, the Eagles have had their fair share of nationally televised games. That won’t be the case Sunday.
In addition to the Philadelphia TV market, Eagles-Commanders also is airing in Washington, D.C., and throughout most of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The game also will be available on CBS in Tampa, Fla., which an outsized number of Eagles fans call home.
It’s airing in two TV markets home to teams the Eagles have a chance of facing in the first round of the playoffs — San Francisco and Green Bay, along with most of Minnesota and all of Detroit.
It’ll also broadcast in Chicago, where Bears fans will be flipping to see which team ends up with the No. 2 seed.
Los Angeles Rams fans will be out of luck, though. While the Eagles likely will face the Rams, CBS2 in Los Angeles is locked into airing the Chargers’ game against the Denver Broncos, where the AFC’s No. 1 seed is on the line.
Other NFL games airing Sunday in Philadelphia
D’Andre Swift and the Bears will lock down the No. 2 seed with a win Sunday.
Eagles fans in Philadelphia will get plenty of games Sunday impacting the playoffs.
Saturday night on ESPN, Carolina Panthers-Tampa Bay Buccaneers will likely decide the winner of the NFC South (although the Atlanta Falcons could play spoilers Sunday) while the winner of Seattle Seahawks-San Francisco 49ers will claim the NFC West crown and the No. 1 seed.
Sunday afternoon, Fox will air Detroit Lions-Chicago Bears at 4:25 p.m. If the Eagles win and the Bears lose, the Birds will head to the playoffs as the No. 2 seed and host the Packers in the wild-card round. Otherwise the Birds will be the No. 3 seed and face the 49ers or Rams.
Sunday night, NBC has a win-or-go-home game in the Baltimore Ravens at the Pittsburgh Steelers. The winner heads to the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 4 seed.
Here are the games airing on TV in and around Philadelphia in Week 18:
Saturday
Panthers at Buccaneers: 4:30 p.m., ESPN (Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, Louis Riddick, Katie George, Peter Schrager)
Seahawks at 49ers: 8 p.m., ESPN/6abc (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters, Laura Rutledge)
Sunday
Packers at Vikings: 1 p.m., CBS3 (Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta, Aditi Kinkhabwala)
