Why Commanders-Eagles NFC Championship rematch is different

Today , we cover three NFC championship matchups, yesterdays Liam Coen chaos in Jacksonville and Mark Andrews breaking his silence.

First, some news from the last hour: The Raiders have hired Pete Carroll as head coach , The Athletic reports.

Well surely circle back to that in upcoming newsletters.

Also, quick trivia: Which team has the most conference championship appearances? Hint: They arent playing this weekend.

Answer is at the end of the article.

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NFC Championship: Three matchups to watch This Sunday, with a Super Bowl bid on the line, the Commanders visit the Eagles as six-point underdogs, per BetMGM.

(Yesterday, we looked into the AFC Championship .) Heres what we saw in the first two meetings between these NFC East rivals: Week 11: Eagles win 26-18 at home , thanks to two fourth-quarter TD runs by Saquon Barkley, who finished with 198 yards.

Jayden Daniels struggled to connect with his receivers (none topped 50 yards).

Two details well come back to below: Phillys LB Nakobe Dean made several key plays, and Washington G Sam Cosmi played well against dominant DT Jalen Carter.

Watch recap .

Advertisement Week 16: Commanders win 36-33 at home , thanks to Daniels five touchdown passes.

That was a comeback from their 21-7 deficit in the first quarter, when Barkley already had 109 yards.

Around that time, Jalen Hurts was ruled out (concussion).

The Eagles defense forced five turnovers, but their offense failed to score a TD after that first period.

Watch recap .

Since those games, plenty has changed.

Three things to watch this time: 1.

Jalen Carter vs.

the Commanders interior line.

Without Cosmi (their highest-graded starting OL, per PFF), who tore his ACL last weekend, Washington will likely throw constant double teams at Carter.

As the Eagles bold new leader , Carter dominated the Rams last week (seven pressures, two sacks and a forced fumble) despite being doubled during over half his pass rushes.

2.

Saquon Barkley vs.

the whole defense.

The versatile All-Pro typically wears down the opposition before breaking out.

This season, he averaged 6.7 yards per carry in second halves, compared to 4.8 earlier in games.

But with Hurts injured in their Week 16 matchup, Washington held Barkley to just 27 yards (1.7 yards per carry) after halftime.

This time, the Commanders get a boost from DT Jonathan Allen, who missed both previous Philly games and is risking his health for this playoff run , though hes much stronger as a pass rusher.

3.

Jayden Daniels and Washingtons RBs vs.

Phillys linebackers.

In the most recent meeting, the Eagles held these RBs to 2.1 yards per carry.

But that was with the aforementioned LB Dean recording a team-high 12 tackles hes now out with a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Daniels is thriving in runs from shotgun, which Ted Nguyen details here , while the Eagles have struggled against QB runs from those formations (18th in success rate, per TruMedia).

Kickoff is Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.

ET on FOX.

On StubHub , tickets start at $680.

(That might seem expensive, though maybe theres a way to make a profit.

After last weekends game, the Eagles sold 100 pints of authenticated snow at $50 a pint.

Theres no snow in the forecast, but game-used oxygen is guaranteed to last.) Advertisement For more: Again, is it Sunday yet?! What Diannas Hearing: Chaos in Jacksonville In a stunning turn of events, Liam Coen is now expected to be the Jaguars new head coach.

This came just one day after the Buccaneers offensive coordinator withdrew from consideration for the job, and was set to return to the Bucs on a three-year contract that would have made him the highest-paid OC in the NFL.

But he and the Jaguars resumed talks a day after Jacksonville and general manager Trent Baalke parted ways.

The Jaguars made continued efforts to sway Coen to reconsider, such as offering him Ben Johnson-level money, along with multiple years.

We have the full story here .

Also, for more on Carroll and the Raiders, check here over the weekend.

Back to you, Jacob.

Comeback Every Friday, I share three stories that you might have missed.

How Andy Reid leads You and I call them notecards.

Reid calls them nuggets.

Rustin Dodd explains why a simple 3 x 5 paper with Dont Judge written on it explains everything about the leadership style of the NFLs most successful active coach.

If you want to be a better communicator, its worth your time .

Washingtons Transformer Terry McLaurin has brought joy to Commanders fans since he was drafted in 2019s third round.

Since then, his local charitable foundation has brought tears to his fathers eyes .

As Ben Standig explains, McLaurins play on the field and humanity off it became the light those fans in the dark or teammates in need gravitated toward in recent years.

Mark Andrews breaks silence Four days after his mistakes in a devastating playoff loss to the Bills, the Ravens tight end expressed his thoughts via an Instagram post: Its impossible to adequately express how I feel.

Im absolutely gutted by what happened on Sunday.

Im devastated for my teammates, my coaches and Ravens fans.

I pour every ounce of my being into playing at the highest level possible, because I love my team and the game of football like nothing else.

That is why its taken me until now to collect my thoughts and address this publicly.

Read Andrews full statement here .

Weekend Plans: Food & Football If youre like me, you know that a great slate of games calls for an equally epic meal.

Ill leave you with two of the highest-rated football meals from New York Times Cooking: Its almost time.

Enjoy your weekend.

Well be back Monday with an early look at the Super Bowl matchup.

Yesterdays most-clicked: How Ben Johnson created a monster of an offense in Detroit.

Trivia answer: The 49ers lead the NFL with 19 conference championship appearances, while the Patriots lead with 11 wins in this round.

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(Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images).

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