3 positive takeaways from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 17 win

Rodney McLeod saved the Philadelphia Eagles’ season.

While Jalen Hurts’ throw/handoff to Boston Scott was probably the most impressive individual play of the game, the actual play of the game bookended the second quarter when Rodney McLeod caught a game-clenching interception to secure a Philadelphia Eagles win 20-16.

After watching the Eagles put up 13 points unanswered points in the second half, Washington’s football team was driving with Taylor Heinicke under center, dinking and dunking their way down the field in a cruel flashback to the first half. 10 yards to John Bates on third-and-10, then four yards to our old pal Wendell Smallwood, five to Jaret Patterson, nine more to Patterson, and then a crucial nine more yards to Patterson to get over the 50-yard line.

Washington worked themselves all the way to the Eagles’ 20-yard line, where they had 30 seconds to score a touchdown and snap the Eagles’ win streak at three.

Instead, a lightly pressured Heinicke attempted to really force one to Bates despite having a corner under him and a safety over the top and watched Rodney McLeod pick off the pass and effectively punch their ticket to the postseason.

With McLeod’s contract set to expire at the end of the season, this might just go down as the final highlight of one of the steadier contributors the Eagles have employed over the last half-decade, right up there with his old on-field partner in crime, Malcolm Jenkins. But hey, even if that’s ultimately how things shake out, at least McLeod gets to go out on top with a FedEx Field leap into the fans.