Commanders vs. Eagles: Dallas Goedert Goes Off and Moro Ojomo's 2-Point Stuff Saves Philly in Week 1

One yard. That was all that separated Washington from a tie game with 61 seconds left, and Moro Ojomo treated it like a velvet rope at a club with a very short guest list. Jayden Daniels flipped a shovel pass to tight end John Bates on the 2-point try, Ojomo wrapped him up behind the line almost the instant the ball arrived, and Lincoln Financial Field finally exhaled. Final: Philadelphia Eagles 24, Washington Commanders 22.

It was not a masterpiece. Philly's offense vanished for most of the second half, and Washington piled up first downs like it was getting paid by the chain. But Jalen Hurts threw three touchdown passes, Dallas Goedert caught two of them, and the defense made the one stop the afternoon demanded. In an NFC East opener, that is a passing grade with honors.

Sprint, Siesta, Sweat

Washington struck first when rookie kicker Drew Stevens buried a 55-yard field goal on the opening drive. Philly's reply arrived late in the first quarter. Hurts dropped a deep ball into Dontayvion Wicks' arms for 64 yards, then capped the march with a 17-yard strike to Goedert, who climbed over two defenders in the back of the end zone. In the second quarter, Saquon Barkley shed tacklers for a 42-yard run and Hurts found Wicks in the back corner from 9 yards out. Just like that it was 14-3, and Sean Mannion's first game as offensive coordinator looked like a victory lap.

Then the vibes got weird. Washington marched 67 yards and Jacory Croskey-Merritt dove in from a yard out, but Jalen Carter rose up and swatted the extra point, leaving it 14-9 at halftime. File that one away. It comes back.

The third quarter was a punting convention. Philadelphia went three-and-out on its first three possessions of the half, and Stevens pushed a 54-yard try wide right. A toe-tapping 31-yard sideline grab by DeVonta Smith set up Jake Elliott's 35-yarder with 44 seconds left in the quarter, making it 17-9.

That's when it got loud. Daniels spun out of trouble for a 13-yard scramble, found rookie Antonio Williams wide open for 33 yards and then hit Stefon Diggs for a 10-yard touchdown. Diggs then leapt onto the goalpost for a full-body hug that cost 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Dan Quinn said Washington would have gone for 2. Instead it kicked, and it was 17-16.

Hurts answered with the play nobody will put on a poster: a 22-yard scramble on third-and-18. A few snaps later, on third-and-6, he hit Goedert up the seam, and the tight end spun loose and outran the secondary for a 43-yard touchdown. 24-16, 6:02 to go.

Daniels then led a 12-play, 63-yard drive, moved the chains on fourth-and-2 with a throw to Terry McLaurin and hit Williams for a 1-yard score on third-and-goal with 1:01 left. Then came the shovel, then came Ojomo. Smith recovered the onside kick, Hurts took a knee, and a lot of Philadelphians caught a case of the Sunday Scaries a few hours early.

Hurts Cooks, Goedert Eats, Baun Patrols

Hurts finished 14 of 25 for 203 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 122.2 passer rating, plus 46 rushing yards on seven carries. He did it while getting sacked three times, which makes the efficiency even louder.

"He can do it with his legs when he needs to make plays, and obviously, that was a big play, and you need those," Nick Sirianni said.

Goedert was the cheat code: four catches, 77 yards, two touchdowns. Sirianni called him "a phenomenal playmaker who, in my six years with him, just has always made plays in really big moments." No notes.

Wicks, acquired from Green Bay in an April trade, turned two catches into 73 yards and a touchdown. Barkley, who ran for 83 yards on 15 carries, said a practice rep had already tipped him off: "Wow, you're good at football."

Zack Baun was a one-man search party on defense with 12 tackles, two passes defensed and a tackle for loss. On the other side, Daniels went 18 of 34 for 164 yards and two touchdowns, and Williams caught four passes for 64 yards, including his first career touchdown.

The Shovel That Hit a Wall

"The miscues I thought hurt us in this game and those were the margins right there, division games or otherwise," Quinn said.

He's right, and the math is brutal. If Carter doesn't block that first-half kick, Washington's final touchdown sets up a game-tying extra point instead of a 2-point coin flip. If Diggs doesn't hug the goalpost, Washington goes for 2 down 17-15 with 9:59 left, as Quinn said it planned to. Instead, the whole afternoon came down to one snap and a defensive tackle who refused to overthink it.

"I got off on the ball," Ojomo said. "Took a shot. You kind of got to play it free."

The Receipts

• 6-0: The Eagles' record in season openers under Sirianni and Hurts since 2021.
• 20 to 10: Washington's edge in first downs. It also held the ball for 33:20 and still lost.
• 6.0 vs. 4.4: Yards per play, Philly vs. Washington. Explosives beat volume.
• 0: Turnovers by either team, which is why kicks, flags and one goal-line stop decided it.

What It Means in the NFC East

The two-time reigning NFC East champions are 1-0, and Mannion, the fifth coordinator Hurts has had in five seasons, delivered a promising but uneven debut. The early explosives were real. So was the second-half drought, and three sacks allowed is a trend the Eagles need to kill before it becomes a personality trait. Life after trading A.J. Brown to New England looked survivable thanks to Wicks, though new No. 1 receiver DeVonta Smith finished with just three catches.

For Washington, the encouraging news is that Daniels and a rookie receiver nearly stole one on the road. The discouraging news is the injury list: Frankie Luvu (groin), Chig Okonkwo (hamstring) and Tyler Owens (ankle) all got hurt. The Commanders head to Dallas next Sunday, while the Eagles visit Tennessee.

Meet the Moment, Then Meet Ojomo

Every Eagles opener in this era seems to follow the same script: Hurts does just enough, and somebody unexpected does the rest. "It’s just about meeting the moment when your opportunity comes," Hurts said. On Sunday, the moment arrived with 1:01 left, and Moro Ojomo got there first.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and PhiladelphiaEagles.com.