It was the game where everything mattered, but the Philadelphia Eagles fumbled their postseason hopes away as they lost to the Washington Redskins by the final score of 38-24.
Quarterback Sam Bradford and the Eagles offense got off to a near perfect start. Bradford was a perfect 4/4 for 50 yards on the opening drive. The Eagles took advantage of a pass interference call to get running back Ryan Mathews in the endzone for the first score of the night.
The Eagles defense also came out swinging, holding the Redskins to a 3-and-out. However, Washington would finally get going on offense. Quarterback Kirk Cousins hooked up with his dangerous tight end Jordan Reed for two first-quarter touchdowns to put the Redskins out in front.
The Eagles were looking to move down the field later in the first half, however a highly questionable fumble by tight end Zach Ertz gave the ball back to the Redskins. The Eagles defense were able to hold Washington to a field goal.
The first half saw a bizarre ending, starting with safety Walt Thurmond getting a delay of game call for interfering with the placement of the ball. The penalty gave the Redskins the ball in perfect field goal position with six seconds left in the half, however Cousins mistakenly took a knee rather than spiking the ball, rendering the drive pointless.
In the second half, Cousins would bounce back from his careless mistake by tossing a 12-yard touchdown pass to running back Chris Thompson.
The Eagles answered with a four-yard touchdown run from DeMarco Murray. Despite Murray’s run putting ht Eagles into the game, a botched backwards pass between he and Bradford led to a 17-yard fumble recovery and touchdown by DeAngelo Hall.
Cousins and the Redskins continued to pile on points with a 13-yard touchdown strike to receiver Pierre Garcon.
Bradford would eventually have a garbage-time touchdown as the found receiver Jordan Matthews for the right yard score, but it was too little too late for the Eagles to salvage their season.
With the win, the Washington Redskins clinch the NFC East, and will be the team to emerge from the struggling NFC East.
Next week, the Eagles will head to the Meadowlands to play their 2015 season finale against the New York Giants at 1 p.m.
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