It's Philadelphia Eagles week for the Washington Commanders, and head coach Dan Quinn is fired up.
After the 28-27 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Commanders dropped to 7-3, while the Eagles easily accounted for the injury-riddled Dallas Cowboys 34-6 to move to 7-2.
That means the lead for the NFC East is up for grabs in what will be the first meeting of the two this season - and Quinn is chomping at the bit to get after the Eagles.
“I'm fired up about it, I can tell you that,” Quinn said. “It's cool, it's better than the alternative of not talking about big games. This is what division games should be, absolute blast like Philadelphia and Washington battling for it, hell yeah. Division games are awesome, they are fun, they are a battle, and they know you well. Although we haven't played yet, a lot of players know one another's scheme and technique pretty closely.”
Washington hasn't had a favorable record against their division rivals of late, winning just one of their last six meetings, a 32-21 win in 2022 to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season (were 8-0).
With the Commanders now a different beast under Quinn and Jayden Daniels, this looms as a titanic clash of NFC East rivals and given that the Cowboys and New York Giants appear to be fighting for draft picks, these two games against each other might decide the division in 2024.
Washington has only won the division once since 2015 (in 2020 with a 7-9 record), and it has every chance at overtaking the Eagles. But the two matchups against Nick Sirianni's team could prove decisive.
And that is part of the reason why Quinn, like Commanders' fans, are "fired up."
