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Spadaro: No time to waste with prime-time NFC East showdown with Commanders awaits

Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean
Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean

Roughly 91 1/2 hours after landing home from their 34-6 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles will take on Washington in a key NFC East game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Thursday night tussle is a huge one – streaming around the country on Amazon Prime to kick off the NFL's Week 11, the team's Salute To Service game for 2024, the top of the division at stake – so what the players and coaches do between now and then is of paramount importance.

There are no hours to waste. Washington is an impressive 7-3 with a new coaching staff, a new quarterback, and extreme confidence. The Commanders are the real deal and they are not to be lumped with any Washington teams of recent seasons.

So, how do the Eagles maximize their time? It began, actually, in the days before the game against Dallas started. Typically, coaches pull double duty in that time as they finish preparations for the game directly in front of them and also take time to introduce themselves via film to the opponent one week out.

Once the Dallas game ended, the Eagles began their recovery. Players made themselves as comfortable as possible on the team charter 2-hour, 20-minute flight back from Texas, making sure to hydrate and recover and grab some shut eye. Then they reported to the NovaCare Complex on Monday morning as the week of preparation for Washington began in earnest – massages, cold tubs, stretches, film study, and walkthrough practices are the order of business ahead of Thursday night's game.

"We've been through it before, so you know how to handle your body and how to prepare mentally," center Cam Jurgens said. "Both teams have to go through the same thing. It's not ideal, but you also know you have a couple of days off after the game, a bye weekend kind of thing, so that helps.

"It's our business to get ready and we have the best people in the world taking care of us, looking after us, and making sure that we're ready to go on Thursday night."

It also helps that the Eagles were able to get some of their starters off the field in the fourth quarter of Sunday's victory in Dallas, as Head Coach Nick Sirianni acknowledged after the 34-6 win.

"Yeah, that's always big. Anytime we can do that, it's been three times in the past four weeks. We were able to do that against the Giants. We were able to do that against Cincinnati. That adds up," he said. "I mean, that's three quarters now and we were able to do that tonight. And so that adds up and that's huge going into this game. We know we got a tough game coming up. This one, we had fun in there for a little bit, but we know that we play on a short week against a really good opponent. And we got to get our minds right and we have to get our bodies right."

NEWS, NOTES AND THIS AND THAT FROM THE WIN IN DALLAS

  1. Zack Baun has reached double digits in tackles in four games, has three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery for the season, two quarterback sacks, and four tackles for loss. He has been durable, a playmaker every week, and has teamed with Nakobe Dean to give the Eagles a pair of formidable playmakers at the position. "It has just been a great fit for me," Baun said. "As soon as I got here, I felt welcome and I've been given a chance to play my best football, so it's going well. More to get to. We have a lot of football left to play."
  1. The Eagles have been on a roll offensively in this five-game winning streak. For example: Philadelphia has scored 28-plus points in four consecutive games, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak in team history (longest since a seven-game streak in 2017). The Eagles have won by a 20-plus point margin in three straight road games for the third time in franchise history, having previously accomplished the feat in 1948 and 1949.
  1. Philadelphia has logged 150-plus rushing yards in four consecutive games for the first time since doing so in seven straight contests during Weeks 8-15 of 2021. The last time the Eagles had 150-plus rushing yards in four straight wins was during the 1992 season.
  1. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is the second Eagle quarterback since the 1970 NFL merger to record a 100-plus passer rating in five consecutive games, joining Carson Wentz during the 2018 campaign. Against Dallas, Hurts became the first quarterback since the 1970 NFL merger to produce a 100-plus passer rating and at least one rushing TD in four consecutive games and he is the third Eagles quarterback since the 1970 NFL merger to post a 70%-plus completion percentage in four straight games, joining both Carson Wentz and Nick Foles in 2018.
  1. The Eagles have started 7-2 or better for the third consecutive season (8-1 starts in 2022 and 2023), which marks the longest such streak in franchise history. Philadelphia has won five straight games for the first time since Weeks 7-12 of 2023. The Eagles' five-game winning streak is their longest coming out of a bye week since byes were first introduced by the NFL in 1990 (previous record was four games in 1996) and this is the fifth winning streak of five or more games under Sirianni.

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