Smith took full accountability for his third-down miscue
LANDOVER, Md. — DeVonta Smith didn’t need much time to explain what happened. The Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver immediately owned up to a play he makes 99 times out of 100.
“When they put it in my hands,” Smith said. “I gotta make the goddamn play.”
Eagles quarterback Kenny Pickett threw a slant to a wide-open Smith, one of the most reliable pass catchers in the NFL, on third-and-5 from the Commanders 22-yard line. With the Eagles leading, 30-28, and the Commanders having just one timeout and the two-minute warning left to stop the clock, Smith dropped the pass from Pickett that would have given the Eagles a first down.
Philadelphia could have run the clock down to the final seconds, with Washington having just one opportunity to stop it. The Eagles didn’t need to kick a field goal and give the ball back to the Commanders, setting Jayden Daniels up for the game-winning touchdown pass with six seconds left in a 36-33 Washington victory.
Smith took accountability for what transpired. He knows the magnitude of his drop.
“I dropped the ball. I mean, I ain’t going to beat myself up over it,” Smith said. “It’s life, part of the game. Shit, I made all the tough catches today, and the easy one I had, I dropped.
“It is what it is. It (cost) us the game. Ain’t nobody else’s fault but mine.”
Smith’s drop changed the narrative on that game for the Eagles. Pickett was set to earn the victory in relief of a concussed Jalen Hurts, and the Eagles were going to extend their franchise-record win streak to 11. Philadelphia would have remained tied with Detroit and Minnesota for the top record in the NFC, instead of needing the Lions to lose out and the Vikings to beat the Lions in Week 18 to earn home-field advantage (in addition to the Eagles winning out).
That doesn’t mean the Eagles won’t go to No. 6 anymore. Far from it.
“We wouldn’t have been in the position of that game without him to begin with,” Pickett said. “He’s an unbelievable player. He knows that we’re gonna throw him the football, A.J., no matter what. There’s not an ounce of confidence lost in 6.”
Two of the three losses for the Eagles this season were a microcosm of drops. Saquon Barkley’s drop in Week 2 would have sealed a win for the Eagles. Instead, the defense gave up the winning touchdown in the final minute. Smith had the same experience Sunday as Barkley did earlier in the season.
The two can relate to how critical the drop was.
“As athletes and wanting to be great, he’s probably gonna try and put the responsibility on himself. In that moment, I put that responsibility on myself,” Barkley said. “In reality it’s a team game. There’s a lot of plays that [everybody] could have made.
“He knows we got his back.”
