NFL 2024-25 Playoffs NFC Championship Game Preview: Washington Aims to Extend Cinderella Season in Philadelphia

    

🏈🏈🏈🏈

NFC Championship Game

Washington Commanders (12-5, 2-0 postseason)

at

Philadelphia Eagles (14-3, 2-0 postseason)

Washington Commanders (14-5) at Philadelphia Eagles (16-3)

This year's NFC Championship Game is between two NFC East teams. The host Philadelphia Eagles have been a playoff team and a force in the NFC in recent years, so they are not really a surprise here. However, the Washington Commanders are a Cinderella team enjoying an improbable run this postseason, having first outlasted the Bucs in Tampa Bay on Wildcard weekend, before stunning the number one seed Detroit Lions in the divisional round last weekend.

Now, these two teams square off. The stakes could not be higher, because the winner goes on to the Super Bowl, while the loser goes home. 

Of course, both of these teams have familiarity with each other, which makes this game interesting. The Commanders won the last meeting between these two teams, 36-33, just about one month ago.  That these two teams are so familiar with one another makes it interesting and, frankly, a bit harder to predict.

While it is true that Philly had won the first meeting between the two teams, 26-18, back in mid-November. However, it feels like these two teams are in a very different place now. That is particularly true for Washington, and that is why I feel that their victory over the Eagles in December was more important. That win by the Eagles in November marked the second of three straight losses by Washington, when the playoffs felt less than certain for them at that point. However, Washington bounced back after the losing streak by pulling off wins in their final five regular season games, and have not tasted defeat since, having also won those two postseason road games The biggest win for them by far was that victory over the Eagles, which made them feel like a serious threat.

Both teams have explosive offenses. The Eagles and Commanders both were among the highest scoring teams in the NFC. Washington's offense in particular looked just unstoppable last week in Detroit. The Lions just could not stop or even slow them down.

However, I also am not entirely certain that this will be a shootout. Not impossible, but the Eagles in particular are tough on defense. And again, they have familiarity with the Commanders, so I doubt that Washington will be able to put up 45 points or so on the Eagles like they did against Detroit last week. However, the Commanders won a relatively low-scoring game at Tampa Bay two weeks ago, and they used a more conservative, ball control approach in that game, and it worked. Their defense has been stepping up quite a bit in recent weeks, as well, as they kept four of six opponents to 20 points or less, until the Lions scored 31 last weekend, with some of those points coming late and rendered meaningless, because Detroit was too far behind for any hopes of victory. So expect the Commanders to be tough in this one, as well.

Of course, the Eagles have their running game with star running back Saquon Barkley enjoying a banner season. He is a finalist for MVP honors, that's how good he has been. And he enjoyed one of the greatest postseason games of any running back in history last weekend against the Rams, scoring two touchdowns, including the one which ultimately proved to be the winner.

However, the fact that the Eagles struggled to put the Rams away in those final minutes was a bit of a concern. Also, quarterback Jalen Hurts was injured, and clearly not playing at 100%. That, too, could come back to hurt them in this one. How effective will he be, ultimately? 

So here's my prediction:

Ultimately, it feels like Washington is peaking at the right time. Jayden Daniels might just be a rookie, but he showed so much poise recently, particularly in those two playoff wins, that he looked like a veteran. Right now, entering this game, it feels like they are the beneficiaries of a growing confidence that likely has them believing that they can and should win this game. 

Still, the Eagles are always tough. They have Saquon, and when he is at his best, he can nullify the loss, or at least the partial loss, of Hurts. Look for the Eagles to play tough on defense and control the clock on offense. This should not be an especially high-scoring game, I don't think. Mostly, because the Eagles are familiar with the Commanders and their explosive offense, and will probably formulate an effective strategy to slow them down considerably. In many respects, I feel that the Eagles are the worst team that the Commanders could have faced at this point, with their surging confidence. And if they don't beat themselves with mistakes, especially turnover, then the Eagles should be able to emerge the winners.

My pick: Philadelphia