With Sunday’s NFC championship game threatening to get out of hand, the Washington Commanders decided to gamble.
It paid off.
The Philadelphia Eagles scored touchdowns on each of their opening drives to take an early 14-3 lead at Lincoln Financial Field. Then Washington’s third drive stalled, and the Commanders sent out their punt unit on fourth-and-6 at their own 31. But Tress Way did not punt.
Instead, the Washington punter lofted a perfect pass down the middle to tight end Ben Sinnott, who ran through the secondary uncovered and corralled the ball near midfield for a 23-yard gain and a first down.
The conversion kept alive a drive that ended with a field goal to cut Philadelphia’s lead to 14-6 early in the second quarter. Instead of giving the ball back to Philadelphia down 11 points, Washington cut its deficit to one possession.
That, however, didn’t help in the end. The Eagles flew ahead to grab a blowout 55-23 win over the Commanders and secure a spot in the Super Bowl. Saquon Barkley ran for 118 yards and three touchdowns, and Jalen Hurts pushed in another three on the ground.
Still, the conversion continued an aggressive trend for the Commanders, who went for and converted two fourth downs on their opening drive that also ended with a field goal. They kept it up in the second half and converted on fourth down for a fourth time, which matched an NFL record. The Commanders are now just the fourth team in NFL history to convert four times on fourth down in a playoff game. The Buffalo Bills last pulled that feat off in an overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022.
While the Eagles came out on top on Sunday afternoon, the Commanders didn’t change their stripes with a trip to the Super Bowl on the the line. They got this far by playing aggressive and trusting their players to make plays, and Sunday wasn’t about to be any different.