Taylor Heinicke, Controversial Penalty Hand Eagles Bettors Bad Beat

The 1972 Miami Dolphins can rejoice as the Eagles are undefeated no more.

The Washington Commanders handed Philadelphia its first loss of the season with a 32-21 Week 10 victory over their NFC East rivals. But the game was not without its controversy.

The Washington defense forced four turnovers, but the Eagles were within distance to come back and move to 9-0 in various points of the game. One of those turnovers was a fumble by Dallas Goedert, but the tight end was tackled by his face mask, which likely caused him to lose the ball. But, despite a referee seemingly in position to see the foul, a flag was not thrown, and the Commanders hit a field goal to go up, 26-21, with 7:33 left in the fourth quarter.

Wide receiver Quez Watkins coughed up the ball on the following Eagles drive, but both defenses held each opposing offense in check. The Eagles appeared to be in line to get the ball back with around 1:45 left to go. But on a third-and-7, Taylor Heinicke rolled to his right, and with a receiver not open, he opted to take a knee to keep the clock moving and force the Eagles to use their final timeout.

While kneeling, defensive end Brandon Graham appeared to slow down his momeumtum while hitting the quarterback. Heinicke fell down, which prompted a roughing the passer penalty.

Now, there are certainly two scenarios to this. Was Graham late, sure. But was his hit an egregious one that merited a personal foul call? That was the debate raging, but Heinicke was none too bothered and fist pumped, as if he planned on the result occuring.

The Commanders proceeded to run down more of the clock, and the Eagles only had five seconds on their own 10-yard line for a comeback. Philadelphia fumbled on a lateral, and Washington returned it for a score to cap off its upset win.

The loss was frustrating for the Eagles, their fans and some bettors. At DraftKings Sportsbook, 86% of bets were on the Philadelphia moneyline with 85% of the handle, and as 11-point favorites, it wouldn’t be a surprise if some people picked the Eagles in their survivor pools.

The win for the Commanders was to the benefit of the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys, who are one and two games back from the NFC East lead, respectively, after Week 10.

The Eagles will likely want to remove this stain from their loss Monday, and they’ll do so against Jeff Saturday’s Indianapolis Colts in Week 11.