Eagles are going to the Super Bowl after crushing Commanders, 55-23, in NFC championship game

It was early in the fourth quarter when a few rogue flecks of green confetti started catching the light up near the rafters of Lincoln Financial Field.

Premature perhaps, but understandable. For a second time in three seasons, the party started early in a lopsided NFC championship game as the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders, 55-23, to earn their place in Super Bowl LIX.

It was the type of win that allowed for Nick Sirianni to use a timeout to give Jalen Hurts a curtain call, a few plays before Saquon Barkley and Will Shipley celebrated the rookie running back’s touchdown to push the Eagles’ lead further.

It’s the team’s second Super Bowl berth to face the Kansas City Chiefs in three years, the third in the last eight seasons, and the fifth in franchise history. Here’s our instant analysis:

» READ MORE: Grading the Eagles: The offense takes flight in every way, and the defense finds the football

Hurts looked sharp in the early going both operating out of the pocket and on the move, the latter of which answered any questions about his health after suffering a left knee injury against the Los Angeles Rams the week before.

After two weeks in which the Eagles offense masked a disjointed passing game with solid defense and Barkley’s explosive runs, Hurts & Co. delivered in key moments with regularity as the Eagles built a decisive lead.

Hurts went 12-for-18 for 141 yards and one touchdown in the first half, with several timely completions on third down and in the red zone. He found wide receiver A.J. Brown for a 31-yard completion on fourth-and-5 with a well-placed deep ball down the sideline and hit Brown again one series later for a touchdown when facing third-and-goal from the 4.

The five-year veteran had his share of contributions as a runner as well, extending plays when necessary, keeping the ball on a handful of zone reads, and executing quarterback sneaks without limitation. He scored three rushing touchdowns, two on quarterback sneaks and another off a designed run from 9 yards out early in the third to give the Eagles a decisive lead to protect for the rest of the second half.

“The guy has been clutch, he’s won a ton of football games,” Sirianni said of Hurts. “‘But you ran for this many yards.’ We don’t care how we win, we don’t care. ... He’s just continued to win and I think the criticism is — yeah, whatever, he just wins.”

The three scores moved his tally to nine in the playoffs, which broke Steve Young’s record for the most by a quarterback in postseason history.

Overall, Hurts put together one of his most complete games of the season, completing 20 of 28 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown along with his three scores on the ground before watching the game’s final minutes from the sideline.

After the game, Hurts said Sirianni gave him more freedom.

“I guess he let me out of my straitjacket a little bit today,” Hurts said, later passing on an opportunity to clarify further.

In a way, the Eagles punched their ticket to New Orleans with literal punches.

Between defense and special teams, the Eagles forced and recovered three fumbles and logged one interception to win the turnover battle for a third time in as many playoff games.

The first haymaker came from Zack Baun, who punched the ball free from Dyami Brown in the first quarter after Cooper DeJean wrapped up the Commanders receiver. Eagles safety Reed Blankenship recovered the loose ball, which set up a touchdown drive for the offense a few minutes later.

Will Shipley provided the second forced fumble, this time jarring the ball loose from Washington running back Jeremy McNichols as part of the kickoff coverage unit, with running back Kenneth Gainwell recovering possession.

» READ MORE: The Eagles preach and practice attacking the football on defense. On Sunday vs. the Commanders, it was easy to see why.

Then, late in the third quarter, with the Commanders threatening to cut the Eagles’ lead to one score, Oren Burks took his turn executing the “Peanut Punch” against Washington running back Austin Ekeler with Baun there to land on the ball. Quinyon Mitchell also got in the turnover column, picking off Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels in the fourth quarter for his second postseason interception.

“Just shots on goal,” Baun said when asked about his turnover. “Punching at the ball and you never [know] when it’s going to come out or what’s going to happen. OB’s, same thing. Quinyon made a fantastic play in the end zone.”

The Eagles went into the game tied with the Commanders for the best turnover differential in the postseason. Their path to Super Bowl LIX has been paved largely in part by the team’s ability to force turnovers without committing any themselves.

“We talk about that to nausea,” Sirianni said. “Probably where they’re sick and tired of hearing it. But I always say good leadership is saying the same things over and over.”

Barkley didn’t waste time picking up where he left off.

The Eagles running back broke off a 60-yard touchdown run on the offense’s first play of the game, getting past a couple of Commanders defensive backs to break into the open field for the early lead. After an apparent check at the line of scrimmage from Hurts, Barkley benefited from the left side of the Eagles offensive line creating a wedge despite Washington loading up the line of scrimmage before the snap and got key blocks from A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert on the perimeter as well.

“That was a good tone-setter, right?” Sirianni said. “We knew they were going to sell out to stop the run, we kind of knew that, and then he breaks two or three tackles to start. We get a great block from A.J. on the toss crack to get around the edge, and then a great block from Dallas to kind of set it off.

“If Saquon gets to the second level or the third level, now it’s, ‘Hey, can you tackle this guy?’ And he’s hard to tackle. They don’t give me a vote for MVP, but I know who my vote would be.”

» READ MORE: There’s no stopping Saquon Barkley as he’s about to take his record-setting show to New Orleans

It was Barkley’s third long touchdown of the postseason, with the first two coming one week ago against the Rams. The third was yet another example of how the Eagles’ running game can create explosive plays even when opposing defenses load the box in an effort to slow Barkley down, leaving fewer defenders to contain him if he reaches the second and third level.

Barkley got his second touchdown one drive later, getting the edge on Washington’s front from 4 yards out for a 14-3 Eagles lead. He finished with 118 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries.

Daniels’ postseason surge shorted out against the Eagles defense.

The rookie at the center of the Commanders’ string of upsets en route to the NFC title game had a quiet evening, finishing 29-for-48 for 255 yards and one touchdown. There were some shaky moments for the Eagles in the early going — Washington reeled off an 18-play drive that ended in a field goal to start the game — but overall the group limited Daniels’ impact by pressuring the 24-year-old and making timely plays on third downs.

The defensive front got to Daniels three times, with Jordan Davis, Burks, and Nolan Smith each logging a sack. Jalyx Hunt had a quarterback hit as well and Jalen Carter posed his usual threat, flushing Daniels from the pocket on a few occasions despite plenty of attention from Washington’s interior offensive line.

Both pregame and at halftime, the Eagles had some moving pieces along the interior offensive line.

Starting center Cam Jurgens was questionable going into the game with a back injury that held him out of practice earlier in the week and went through pregame warmups, but didn’t start because of the injury. The Eagles instead moved Landon Dickerson to center and put Tyler Steen at Dickerson’s typical left guard position, but had to call on Jurgens at the start of the third quarter after Dickerson suffered a knee injury.

Despite the injury, Jurgens fared reasonably well in his relief stint and Dickerson stayed on the sideline in uniform for the second half.

“That was gritty of him,” Hurts said. “He hadn’t practiced all week. He was really pushing through and the resilience he showed coming in and being able to see the defense the way he was, I loved how he prepared. Obviously the preparation showed.”