Washington’s offense cooled off at the start of the second half, though, which allowed the Eagles to climb out of the deficit. Johnson mishandled a snap, which turned into a Philadelphia fumble recovery and eventually a Tank Bigsby touchdown that capped off an eight-play drive. The Commanders punted the ball after a three-and-out, and the Eagles tacked on a 39-yard field goal from Jake Elliott.
But the Commanders had the strong finish head coach Dan Quinn has wanted from the team for the past month. Down a touchdown to start the fourth quarter, the offense moved from the Eagles’ 30-yard line to the one thanks to another defensive pass interference call against Philadelphia. It took six plays, including a third pass interference call against the Eagles, but Johnson finally found tight end John Bates in the back of the end zone to tie the score, 17-17.
Washington was back in the end zone following a three-and-out from McKee and the Eagles’ offense. Philadelphia was called for another defensive pass interference that moved Washington from its own 23 to the Eagles’ 45-yard line. Rodriguez had an 18-yard scamper that moved Washington to the 18 and later moved the offense to the Eagles’ 1-yard line. On third-and-goal, Johnson took the ball in himself to give Washington the lead.
The Eagles had two opportunities to tie things up, and both ended in turnovers on downs. Miller sacked McKee on third-and-10, and since the Eagles had used all their timeouts, they had to rush to run one last play, which resulted in an incomplete pass to Dotson.
After the game, Johnson was all smiles at the podium.
“It’s unexplainable, man,” Johnson said of the win. “I know to the rest of the world, this might not mean nothing, but…for us to not waver and get this ‘W,’ it was a great one.”