Will Jayden Daniels make history? And can Josh Allen break his playoff drought against the champions? Here are our picks for this weekend. Story of the season: Jayden Daniels is one game away from the extraordinary. A stunning seven-win rampage through the winter leaves Washington with just Philadelphia to beat for the NFC championship and Daniels to become the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl. They need a second win in six weeks over an Eagles team with the strongest roster top to bottom in the NFL. But Philly’s stacked lineup, with Saquon Barkley at its nucleus, rang rings around the Commanders for an easy victory the teams’ other regular-season meeting, in November. The Eagles will be desperate to spoil the rookie’s party while clinching this unlikely season-defining series.
![[Xavier Worthy gives the Chiefs an extra dimension on offense.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b0ef6311cb59b3f5182124dcc16fe044c8d0169c/0_254_6073_3644/master/6073.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
What Washington need to do to win: The Commanders must maintain the improved level of defense they have achieved in these playoffs, while attempting to keep the ball out of Barkley’s hands as much as possible with a methodical, time-sapping run game. Washington forced only 17 turnovers in the regular season, but they generated five against the Lions last week and another against the Bucs in the wildcard round. Those turnovers led to three touchdowns.
Much like the defense, if Washington can gather the same production from running backs Brian Robinson Jr and Austin Ekeler as they did against Detroit, they will be difficult to stop. The pair combined for 128 rushing yards – just 17 short of their total from the previous three games. Steering the script away from needing explosive passing plays in the face of elite coverage from Quinyon Mitchell and Darius Slay is essential.
