The Philadelphia Eagles sit atop the NFC East with an 8-2 record after knocking off the deceptive Washington Commanders on Thursday night. It was a win punctuated by incredible plays and baffling mistakes.

That’s what makes this team great. Even if everyone isn’t constantly firing on all cylinders, the team still finds a way to win.

Throughout the game, the Eagles dominated on defense. It was one of the more aesthetically pleasing defensive performances of the year. Unfortunately, the game was closer than it should have been, and that’s because the offense struggled in the first half.

Almost every player on the defense deserves special recognition, but there are a few who won the game for themselves and the team.

Winner: Quinyon Mitchell

Imagine, if you will, a game where a wide receiver has a game where they are remotely productive against the Eagles defense… you can’t. It’s an absurd thing to think about. You might as well try to imagine a game where Brandon Graham doesn’t talk trash during a coin flip. These games just don’t happen.

Quinyon Mitchell once put a team’s leading wide receiver in jail and this week’s new addition to Quinyanamo Bay is Terry McLaurin. Entering this game, McLaurin had 47 catches for 711 yards. Leaving this game, McLaurin had 48 catches for 721 yards.

Terry only had one catch for 10 yards… That was it… and that catch wasn’t even on Quinyon. McLaurin lined up on Quinyon’s side of the field for three-quarters of the time, and when he was out there during this game, he was an absolute nothing-burger. He had to move to the other side of the field so Jayden Daniels could throw the ball to him.

Because of his performance against Terry McLaurin, Quinyon leapfrogged Kamari Lassiter and Laiatu Latu in the Defensive Rookie of the Year odds. As of Friday morning, Q is second (+300) only to Jared Verse (-250) in odds for DROY.

What we see of the rookie is truly amazing. He’s this good and he only has 20 games left in his professional career. Goosebumps.

Winner: Jalen Carter

In Week 3, Jalen Carter broke up the game against the New Orleans Saints when he decided to settle in Derek Carr’s face. He did the same to Jayden Daniels this week.

He was a game breaker. He consistently made Jayden Daniels move erratically and blew up runs before they could turn into anything. If he gets double-teamed, he eats them. If he doesn’t get double-teamed, he gets a touch on the quarterback.

This is the kind of performance we all hoped he would have all season. Unfortunately, it hasn’t always been this way, but big players show up in big games. This was a big game. Find out how he destroyed the Commanders on a fourth-and-two.

Did Jayden fix the snap? Yes. Jalen throwing the right guard off the stick and forcing Jayden eight yards behind the line of scrimmage? Also yes. When he’s good, he’s the best in the league.

Loser: Jake Elliott

Weft. Jake Elliott had a really bad day. He came out and missed a 44-yarder on the Eagles’ first drive. Then he missed a 51-yarder on the Eagles’ first drive of the second quarter. Then he missed the extra point on the Eagles’ first touchdown.

He has made four field goals over 50 yards this season and he hasn’t made any of them. This is a problem, especially considering how often kickers are making 50+ yard field goals this season.

Jake isn’t in a hot spot yet, but you can smell the smoke. He’s been phenomenal for so long and it’s been incredibly comforting to know he’s automatic. Unfortunately, those times may be a ways behind us. Time will tell, but hopefully he will be right.

The hard thing about evaluating a kicker is that all you can do is base it on make-or-miss. Kickers are weird dudes and certifiable head holsters. There is no way to tell what is actually going wrong unless there is a glaring slip or a broken snap/hold. This stinks and it’s hard to see.

Winner: Saquon Barkley

Saquon broke 1,000 rushing yards in this game. It’s the fourth time he’s hit that mark in his career and it’s the fastest he’s hit it, too.

However, he did not stop there. He is currently at 1,137 rushing yards this season. He is 176 yards away from breaking his career high of 1,312 yards (2022). For him to break that record, he needs to rush for 26 yards per game over the next seven games. There’s a chance he’ll break that record in the next two weeks.

On top of that, the Eagles single-season rushing record is 1,607 yards from LeSean McCoy in 2013. Saquon is 472 yards away from breaking that record and all he needs to do is average 68 yards per game for the rest of the season. What we are witnessing is predictably historical.

Saquon took over the game against the Commanders. It didn’t feel like the run game was working for much of the game, but then their defense broke and Saquon went crazy.

In an offense with AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, Saquon is the most consistent playmaker. He is unstoppable and every carrier is watching TV. What a time to be alive.

Winner: Brain Injury

Before halftime, Jalen Hurts was evaluated for a concussion. It seemed like it might have happened on the offense’s final play when he went down face first after throwing the ball incomplete.

It doesn’t look too bad compared to the injury he took during the Eagles’ botched trick play, where he was knocked down and his head bounced off the ground.