Commanders expect to ‘have their hands full’ against the Eagles on Saturday

The Eagles (9-5) will travel to Northwest Stadium on Saturday to face the Washington Commanders in a Week 16 matchup, their first of two contests between the teams in the next three weeks. The two teams have not met since the Eagles eliminated the Commanders in last year’s NFC Championship game, won by the Eagles, 55-23, at Lincoln Financial Field.

With a win on Saturday, the Eagles will clinch the NFC East — becoming the division’s first repeat champion since 2004. With the division up for grabs, they enter this week as 6.5-point favorites. Meanwhile, the Commanders are coming off their first win in eight weeks with a 29-21 victory over the New York Giants.

» READ MORE: Let’s stop acting like the Eagles haven’t had a great season. An NFC East title would make it a rousing success.

As both teams prepare for Saturday, here’s everything the Commanders are saying about the Eagles ...

Last year both teams became very familiar with each other, playing three times between the regular season and playoffs. Of course, the Eagles came out victorious in two of three contests — splitting their regular season matchups and defeating Washington when it mattered most to secure their spot in the Super Bowl.

Commanders coach Dan Quinn praised the Eagles.

“This is a really complete team,” Quinn told reporters. “Both special teams, ours and theirs, this is going to be a physical game on the team side of things, the way they can cover kicks, the way we can. That field position in this game is going to be big. I thought some playmakers in all spots along the defense. Both linebackers are very good blitzers and active, got an excellent defensive line. I’ve certainly been impressed by the young corners. They’re able to challenge and be aggressive right from the start. So, those are some things, defensively, that I’ve been impressed with.

“Playing against us last year in the three games, they were exceptional at taking the ball away. I thought that was the biggest deal for us. ... And offensively, I thought from a line standpoint, the size, the movement, the pulling, Jeff Stoutland is one of the best there is in the offensive line spot. ... I think it’s a good balance of what they have from the run game and the shots down the field with Jalen [Hurts]. Those are kind of the yin and yang of a good offense.”

Vic Fangio’s Eagles defense continues to be dominant. In last week’s 31-0 win over the Raiders, the defense sacked Kenny Pickett four times and held the offense to 75 total yards. Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury understands the challenge.

“It’s certainly a tough matchup,” Kingsbury told reporters. “They’ve been playing at a super high level, defensively. I think they gave up less than 90 yards last week against Las Vegas. So, it’s going to be a great challenge. They can roll in five, six guys deep that all play at a pretty high level. They can rush the passer, can stop the run. So, you got to be creative in how you attack them and we’ll have our hands full, there’s no doubt.”

The Eagles are competing against another backup quarterback who formerly spent time in Philadelphia: Marcus Mariota. With Jayden Daniels ruled out for the rest of the season, Mariota will be under center for Washington’s last three games.

Mariota played in Philly for one season (2023) as a backup to Jalen Hurts and appeared in three games. Now he’s looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in a divisional matchup against one of his former teams.

“[They have] a great defense, Vic [Fangio] got them playing really well,” Mariota told reporters. “You can talk about every single player on that front and on the back end. They’re great players. Being there for a year and being around those guys, it’ll be fun to play against some of those old friends. I’m looking forward to it. It’s always a great atmosphere to play Philly. It’ll be a fun game on Saturday.”