The Washington Football Team defensive line was gashed with COVID-19 the past week. On Tuesday, Washington’s defense was gashed by the Philadelphia Eagles rushing attack to the tune of 238 yards. However, Washington captain and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen isn’t going to use the effects of COVID as an excuse.
“We’re not gonna blame COVID for what happened,” Allen said after Washington’s 27-17 loss per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “The defensive line played bad, I played bad.”
Washington placed 23 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list over the past week or so. The list included seven defensive linemen, including Allen. Five of those defensive linemen affected played on Tuesday.
“We get paid to handle adversity,” Allen continued. “We can b—-h and moan about COVID, but nobody cares.”
Eagles running back Miles Sanders rushed for a career-high 131 yards. He averaged an impressive 7.3 yards per carry. Coincidentally, his previous career-high (122 yards) was also against Washington back in December 2019.
The Eagles other running back, Jordan Howard, added 69 yards. Meanwhile, quarterback Jalen Hurts scored two rushing touchdowns.
Allen put the blame directly at the defensive line.
“If we do our job, we win the game today, Allen said. “We didn’t do our job and got embarrassed.”
Washington jumped out to a 10-0 thanks to two turnovers by the Eagles on their first two possessions. But, the Eagles rallied with 20 unanswered points. Washington was playing without a number of players with COVID-19, including it’s top-two quarterbacks Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen.
The loss drops Washington to 6-8 on the season and one-game back for the seventh seed and final playoff berth in the NFC. Philadelphia is now 7-7 and just a tie-breaker out for seventh.
