LANDOVER, Md. — DeVonta Smith took about six steps toward Noah Igbinoghene, and the Washington cornerback was backpedaling as Smith cut to his right and looked back at Kenny Pickett. Smith was open, wide-open, as Pickett threw the ball his way.
It was third-and-5 from Washington’s 22-yard line, the Eagles were ahead by two, and the two-minute warning was nearing. Washington had just used its penultimate timeout. It was the type of play every receiver wants to make. Smith later said he was calling for the ball.
“When they put it in my hand I got to make the g— play,” he said.
He didn’t. The dropped pass, a rarity for the sure-handed Smith, gave the Commanders life in their eventual 36-33 victory Sunday at Northwest Stadium.
» READ MORE: Eagles grades: Kenny Pickett good enough in relief, but the coaching wasn’t in a loss to the Commanders
“I just dropped the ball,” Smith said. “I ain’t going to beat myself up over it. That’s life, part of the game. I made all the tough catches today, and then the easiest one I had I dropped. It is what it is. Charge it to the game. Ain’t nobody else’s fault but mine.”
Smith took the blame for the Eagles’ loss, but it was hardly all on him. The Eagles lost for a variety of reasons. Pickett was playing because Jalen Hurts went down with a concussion five minutes into the game. The Eagles gave up more than 23 points for the first time since September. They were undisciplined. They were, as Nick Sirianni said, “sloppy.”
But despite an imperfect game from Pickett, and a rushing attack that, save for Saquon Barkley’s 68-yard scoring scamper, was bottled up, the offense had a chance to seal the game for the Eagles and clinch a division title. If Smith caught the ball, the Eagles would’ve been on the right side of the two-minute warning, first-and-goal from inside the 10-yard line, and with a chance to put the game away with a touchdown. At the very least, they could have taken enough time off the clock to make a last-second drive for Jayden Daniels and the Commanders next to impossible.
“We wouldn’t be in the position in that game without him to begin with,” Pickett said. “He’s an unbelievable player. He knows that we’re going to throw him the football, [and] A.J. [Brown too], no matter what.”
He meant that quite literally. The star Eagles receivers accounted for 23 of the 25 passing targets on the day.
Pickett came onto the field after Hurts left the game after a designed quarterback run for 13 yards ended with his head appearing to hit the turf. Hurts went to the medical tent and then jogged to the locker room, never returning to the sideline. Pickett finished that drive efficiently and connected with Brown on a 4-yard touchdown pass.
Pickett was at times erratic. He overthrew Brown and Smith on some passes and threw behind them on others. With Hurts out of the game, the Commanders dared the Eagles to beat them with Pickett’s arm. They stacked the box and took Barkley out of the game. Take Barkley’s 68-yard touchdown run off his stat line, and he rushed 28 times for 82 yards. That’s fewer than 3 yards per carry.
“A lot of our stuff is built on Jalen being able to run the ball,” Barkley said. “It’s kind of hard to run the same stuff.
“They did a really good job of adjusting. Usually, we’re the team that adjusts better in the second half and we’ve shown that throughout the whole season. We, as a whole, didn’t do enough. When that happens, you tend to lose football games.”
Still, it was winnable. Even after Pickett threw an interception that set Washington up with a short field. Even after the playbook had to change. Even after Barkley dropped a pass on a wheel route one drive before Smith’s drop.
The Eagles offense spent an entire afternoon adjusting on the fly, and it nearly worked.
“They’re two different players,” Brown said. “Kenny was just trying to get situated and get his feet up under him. He hasn’t played all year. He did at times and sometimes he got rattled. There was a lot going on. They were pressuring him a lot, changing the looks up. I feel like he did well to handle everything.”
Pickett finished 14-for-24 for 143 yards. Hurts’ status is not yet known. Pickett, who will have further testing done Monday on a rib injury, said he always prepares like he’s the starter and will continue to do that at the beginning of this week while more is learned about Hurts. That preparation, though, goes only so far.
» READ MORE: Opinion: Jalen Hurts’ concussion shows why he’s so important to the Eagles’ success
“It’s tough,” Pickett said about coming in cold. “You don’t get any physical snaps. I just try to do the best I can, mentally locked into the game plan, understanding the checks and really how these guys run routes because I don’t get a chance to throw it to them.”
Asked if Sunday was a valuable experience, Pickett said it was difficult to frame it that way.
“I’m honestly just sitting here just [ticked] off, man,” he said. “I wanted to win that one bad, point blank.”
He nearly did.
“He played good,” Smith said of Pickett. “I think he settled in well. I think he made the right reads. … It’s just unfortunate I didn’t make the last play.”