NFL Twitter was not expecting the Commanders to be the one to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season but Taylor Heinicke silenced Philly.
The Eagles were supposed to curb-stomp the Commanders on Monday Night Football. They were double-digit favorites. They were undefeated. They had already beaten Washington earlier in the season.
Yet somehow, everything everyone expected on Monday got turned on its head.
Philadelphia, a team that thrived by protecting the football, turned it over three times. The second-quarter specialist Eagles were outscored 13-0 in the second quarter. Taylor Heinicke got the win, not Jalen Hurts.
How did NFL Twitter process that one?
Best memes and tweets after the Commanders upset the Eagles
The Eagles started the game just fine. Hurts scored a touchdown on the ground then hit Dallas Goedert for a six-yard touchdown to put his team ahead 14-7 in the first quarter.
However, the Commanders dominated the second quarter. Joey Slye hit field goals from 44 and 58 yards while Brian Robinson Jr. punched in a one-yard touchdown.
Washington led 20-14 at halftime and they extended their lead with another field goal from Slye.
DeVonta Smith opened the fourth quarter with an 11-yard touchdown to pull Philadelphia back within two points. The Eagles just couldn’t find the endzone again in the final minutes of the game because of two costly turnovers.
One of those, a Goedert fumble, had NFL Twitter fuming because the refs missed a blatant facemask penalty on the play.
The Eagles can bounce back next week on the road against Indianapolis. The Commanders will look to begin a winning streak on the road against the Texans.
In the meantime, this was a good reminder of how unpredictable the NFL can be.