PHILADELPHIA — As Philadelphia Eagles cornerback C.J. Gardner-Johnson trotted back to the home locker room, he opened and closed his right palm as if to mime someone talking.
“Washington — respect y’all,” Gardner-Johnson shouted. “But y’all know this s*** run through us.”
The Eagles had just outlasted the Washington Commanders, 26-18, giving Philadelphia control of its postseason path.
At 8-2, the Eagles are now 1.5 games and a head-to-head tiebreak ahead of the 7-4 Commanders in the NFC East. The 3-6 Dallas Cowboys and 2-8 New York Giants are each unlikely to catch up, or even make the playoffs.
So Gardner-Johnson, a member of the 2022 Eagles team that won the NFC title game, shared a little of his trademark trash talk.
He tipped his head to an upstart Commanders team whose rebuild has come together much more quickly than the league imagined. But Gardner-Johnson didn’t want respect only for the Commanders. He wanted respect for his own squad.
The Eagles have won six straight. They’ve rounded into form under each of their first-year (in Philadelphia) coordinators, Kellen Moore on offense and Vic Fangio on defense. And while Washington’s lead after three quarters on Thursday signaled what should be the return of a great division rivalry between teams led by Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels, the Eagles have already built the caliber of team Washington wants to.
Eagles coaches and players resoundingly voiced respect for what the Commanders are again becoming under new leadership in team owner Josh Harris, head coach Dan Quinn, general manager Adam Peters and quarterback Daniels.
Gardner-Johnson tempered the praisefest after the Eagles’ defense held Washington to 3-of-12 on third down in addition to securing a key fourth-down stop that set the stage for Philadelphia to outscore Washington 20-8 in the fourth quarter (and 20-0 before the last 30 seconds).
Daniels completed 22 of 32 passes for 191 yards, the last-minute touchdown and an interception. He also rushed seven times for 18 yards on a day in which the Eagles emphasized containing him.
Gardner-Johnson, who had three total tackles and one of Philadelphia’s four pass breakups, spoke to the division pecking order.
“We’ve been doing this since before I got here,” he said from his locker after the game. “You know who run[s] this division; no disrespect. That’s a great team, but we know what happens. We know what we gotta do.
“We hear all the noise, but we understand that we’ve been winning this division for what, the past three, four years? It’s not a diss or a shot at nobody.
“We just gotta understand: Keep what’s rightfully yours. Just keep playing ball.”
C.J. Gardner-Johnson respects Commanders. But he said Eagles will keep what’s rightfully theirs.
“You know who run this division, no disrespect. … We’ve been winning this division for what, the past 3-4 years?”
Cowboys won NFC East ’21, ’23. Eagles in ’22. Washington in 20. https://t.co/NVB2N0v4k4 pic.twitter.com/zhREW4NF15
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) November 15, 2024
Gardner-Johnson’s facts were a bit off, excusable perhaps on account that the only prior season he played for Philadelphia, 2022, the Eagles won the division. This year, they have the upper hand to do so. Gardner-Johnson played for the New Orleans Saints from 2019-21 and for the Detroit Lions last year in an NFC North that has become increasingly competitive.
Grace aside, the NFC East famously has not fronted a repeat champion since the Eagles defended their title in 2003 and 2004. The Cowboys won the division in 2023, the Eagles in 2022, the Cowboys in 2021 and the Commanders in 2020.
The change-of-hands streak is on track to continue this season as a spiraling 3-6 Cowboys team prepares to play its last eight games without franchise quarterback Dak Prescott. (Prescott underwent season-ending surgery to repair a torn hamstring on Wednesday).
Gardner-Johnson’s teammates and coaches carried a different tone after their latest win. Even running back Saquon Barkley, who advanced to the playoffs just once in five Giants seasons, was cautious in celebrating regular-season success he had not experienced in New York.
“We don’t get a trophy for midseason,” Barkley said. “So at the end of the day, we got to keep going.”
The Eagles’ talent collection suggests they will. This isn’t just about a perennially top-tier offensive line now working in tandem with a talent collection featuring Hurts, Barkley and receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. This is also about a front office finding defensive anchors in the draft and free agency, from homegrown defensive tackle Jalen Carter and rookie cornerback duo Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean to free-agent linebacker Zack Baun playing the best football of his five-year career.
The Eagles held top Washington receiver Terry McLaurin, who has six touchdowns and four 100-yard games this season, to just one catch for 10 yards.
The talent is there. A division title may soon crown it, if the Eagles can keep this pace. Head coach Nick Sirianni’s halftime message to his team on Thursday night applies halfway through their season as well.
“It’s a street fight,” Sirianni said, “and it’s not about who is tougher — but about who is tougher longer.”
