An 0-3 Preseason and a Banged-Up Barkley: Eagles Head Into the Washington Opener With Unfinished Business

The Philadelphia Eagles wrapped up the 2026 exhibition slate the way they started it — searching for answers. A 30-13 home loss to the Bengals in the preseason finale on Aug. 28 capped a winless 0-3 August, and while no one mistakes preseason record for a championship barometer, this particular finish leaves real questions hanging over a team that entered camp with Super Bowl ambitions.

Coach Nick Sirianni's club heads into its Sept. 13 division opener against the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field having scored a combined 41 points across three preseason games (14.0 per game), generating just 230 yards per contest. The backup quarterback picture behind Jalen Hurts remains unresolved, and the offensive line — already banged up with rookies Markell Bell and Willie Lampkin nursing injuries — never got a clean, healthy rehearsal.

The bigger headline, though, is the running back who carries the offense.

The Barkley Watch

Saquon Barkley had his left foot and ankle checked out at an Aug. 13 training camp practice, per reports, and he has shown up repeatedly on the injury report since with ankle and knee designations, including limited practice participation. The official depth chart still lists him as RB1, with Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley behind him, but an ankle issue for a back who handled a massive 2025 workload (he topped 940 rushing yards by mid-December en route to an 11-7 season) is the kind of thing that changes an offense's entire posture.

The Eagles' offense has leaned on the ground game to set the table — they averaged 127.6 rushing yards per game in 2025, while Washington's offense averaged 143.6. If Barkley is compromised, the burden shifts sharply onto Hurts and a receiving corps that's been reshuffled with Dontayvion Wicks, Elijah Moore, and Hollywood Brown competing for roles behind DeVonta Smith.

A Divisional Foe in Its Own Turmoil

The good news for Philadelphia? Washington enters the opener in arguably worse shape. The Commanders were dismantled 41-3 by Baltimore in their own preseason finale, and commentary out of Washington's camp has centered on a "training camp nightmare" that has fans and pundits alike feeling uneasy about the team's readiness.

The comparative numbers from 2025 paint a clear picture: Philadelphia's defense allowed 19.3 points per game to Washington's 26.5, and the Eagles' unit yielded 310.1 yards per game versus 359.4 for the Commanders. That defensive gap is the strongest piece of evidence that the Eagles — despite their winless preseason — remain the better team on paper when Week 1 kicks off.

What It Means for September

Preseason football is a depth-chart audition, and Philadelphia's reserves didn't exactly impress. But the starters largely sat, and the team's performance under game conditions on both sides of the ball — the defense ranked among the stingiest in the league last year, allowing 16.3 points per game over its final 10 contests — suggests the regular-season product will look different.

Still, you can't wave away the injury concerns and the lack of offensive rhythm. With the opener against a division rival looming, the Eagles' odds to win a championship sit at +2000, implying the market trusts the core talent even if the preseason was ugly. The real test is whether Barkley's ankle holds up, whether Hurts' rebuilt supporting cast can find chemistry in Week 1, and whether the Commanders' instability gives Philadelphia a golden chance to start 1-0.

Pencils down on the exhibition season. The answers come in two weeks.