Week 10 saw the Washington Commanders (7-3) drop its third game of the season to the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-2) and while missed opportunities played a big part, the Steelers defense also made a huge impact.

Specifically, the pass rush/blitz packages. It's clear Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wanted to make Jayden Daniels' life as hard as possible via blitzing. Per Pro Football Focus, Daniels was blitzed on 20 of his 37 dropbacks (54.1%) against the Steelers, which is the most he’s faced since Week 1 against the Bucs. That game also happens to be one of his least-effective games on the year. 

Daniels was pressured on 40% of those dropbacks (8), was sacked three times, and had two throwaways. So, he didn't even attempt a legitimate pass on five of those eight pressures. As a result, he completed 47.1% of his passes for 80 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions against the blitz.

He still played pretty well in overall sense, but the Steelers found a way to slow him down, which is a win for the defense. Granted, he also didn’t receive a lot of help from his playmakers, but that's another conversation.

“I think they got a good blitz package. That part was there," Commanders head coach Dan Quinn told reporters on Monday. "But I thought as good as they are, I thought we still missed some real chances. you know. If some of those turn into catches and big plays down the field. You know, those are ones you don't get back. So you don't get to say, except for this play or except for that play.”

The NFL is a copycat league, so it makes things interesting when considering how the Eagles like to do things on defense. They don't blitz much, at all, but could that change on Thursday night when looking at the success Pittsburgh had?

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Eagles really need to pick their spots wisely if they do try to blitz Jayden Daniels on Thursday night 

Per Next Gen Stats, the Eagles blitz 20.4% of the time, which is fifth-lowest of the NFL’s 32 teams. Per Sports Info Solutions, they average just a 36.7% pressure rate when blitzing, which is also fifth-lowest. So, they're not very good at making things hard for opposing QBs when they send five or more guys.

They average a 32.8% pressure rate, regardless of blitz or no, which is 19th out of 32 teams, so they don't get much pressure, as a whole. At the same time, it's pretty obvious their four-man rush is more effective than their blitz packages.

Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is a coverage guy, meaning his philosophy is to rely on a four-man pass rush so he can play seven guys in coverage. That makes sense for today's NFL, but it only works as well as the pass rush. It doesn't matter how good a secondary is – it can only hold up for so long. 

The Eagles are kind of in a bind, here, because they aren't really consistent rushing four or blitzing, which makes you wonder what they'll do on Thursday night. 

There's also the fact that Daniels is really good against the blitz, anyway. Overall, on the year, Daniels has been blitzed on 39.3% of dropbacks, per PFF. He’s completed 66.3% of his passes for 850 yards, with four touchdowns and zero interceptions. He has a 3.8% big-time throw rate compared to a 1.5% turnover-worthy throw rate, along with an aDoT of 9.4-yards and an adjusted completion rate of 75.3%.

From the 66.3% completion rate-on, those numbers respectively rank ninth, fifth, ninth, first, 11th, fifth, second, and eighth among 20 qualifying passers with at least 97 dropbacks against the blitz.

If the Eagles do decide to blitz Daniels they really need to be smart and pick their spots. Especially if they decide to do it more than usual.

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Commanders offensive line injuries could play a role in the Eagles' gameplan

There is the health of the Commanders offensive line to consider in all of this, too. It looks like Cornelius Lucas is set to return this week, but that's not guaranteed, much like Andrew Wylie's availability. He was limited all week, last week, but still didn't play. Quinn cited depth in the form of confidence in Trent Scott as the primary reason why Wylie didn't play last week. Brandon Coleman is also dealing with a shoulder injury and Tyler Biadasz is dealing with the injury he suffered against the Steelers.

Even though they've all been limited, it's not guaranteed any of them play on a short week.

This could play a factor in the Eagles' game plan. I'm sure they're keeping tabs on everything just like we are.

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Jayden Daniels and the offense are in a good spot, here

Overall, this shapes up as a good matchup for Daniels and the Commanders offense. He's been pressured on 31.5% of his dropbacks on the year, per Next Gen Stats, which is below the league average of 34.2%. Daniels is also really good at avoiding sacks, evidenced by his 17.5% pressure-to-sack rate, which is 10th out of 32 qualifying quarterbacks with at least 175 pass attempts on the year.

It's easily one of the biggest matchups that will help decide the game's outcome. And, first place in the NFC East.

Dan Quinn and Commanders are pissed off ahead of their huge matchup against Eagles and it’s easy to see why

Divisional games are always going to have an extra layer of intensity, but the Washington Commanders (7-3) have more motivation than usual heading into this week's NFC East matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles (7-2). “This was a hard loss, no doubt about it,” Dan Quinn told reporters Monday. “And the response is what was so […]