Here are five things that stood out in this win after a second look this morning:

1. Cousins’s best showing – Yes, he threw the pick-six, and yes, he completed a season-low 52.9 percent of his passes (18 for 34). But Kirk Cousins did a lot of good and displayed improvement in several key areas while helping lead his team to victory. Because of that, I’m going to call this his best game of the season.

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Last week against Baltimore, and in games prior to that, Cousins appeared jumpy at times and short on confidence. Sunday, he looked much more confident, and threw with confidence. Cousins sharpened his mechanics from last week to this. Too often during the Baltimore game, he would drop back and throw off his back foot without coming set. This altered the accuracy and velocity of his throws. On the majority of his throws against Philadelphia, the quarterback would drop back, plant and throw. His passes reflected the difference. Cousins had some drops that put a dent in his completion percentage, but as a whole, his throws just look better.

He also moved in the pocket better. Cousins displayed a better feel. He slid sideways and forward with his eyes downfield and got rid of the ball before defenders hit him. Give the offensive line credit for giving the quarterback a clean pocket to work with for much of the game. But there were times that Cousins did have to move around to buy time, and he did this, stepping up into the pocket or rolling to his left or right and then hitting pass-catchers. One of Cousins’s best plays: his eight-yard run for a first down. Deep in his own territory, Cousins resisted the urge to force the ball to a receiver and instead drifted to his left and then eventually took off running, and then cut back inside to pick up additional yards needed for the first down.

Obviously, Cousins would like to have the interception back. He had a defender as he rolled left and tried to quickly get the ball to Vernon Davis. But he never saw Malcolm Jenkins, who undercut the route and took the ball to the house. But Cousins shook off the mistake and made some great throws down the stretch.

2. Barry’s creativity – Tip your hat to defensive coordinator Joe Barry for an effective game plan. The Redskins knew they had to rattle talented rookie Carson Wentz, and they did just that. Off the bat, the defensive coordinator dialed up blitzes, sending safety Will Blackmon off the right edge on the first play from scrimmage, and got a sack out of it. We saw a good amount of creativity from Barry both up front and in the secondary. At one point, Barry had outside linebackers Ryan Kerrigan, Preston Smith and Trent Murphy on the field, rushing as down linemen. Other times, Barry pulled inside linebackers Will Compton and Mason Foster off the field and sent backup Terrence Garvin onto the field because he’s better in coverage, and also had three safeties, Blackmon, Duke Ihenacho and Donte Whitner roaming the secondary. The presence of Garvin and Whitner helped compensate for the absence of Su’a Cravens, and also helped confuse Wentz.

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Barry preaches “situational football” over and over and over, and he continued to mix and match in each situation that they faced. A couple times, Barry slid Chris Baker inside from end to nose tackle. Baker prefers end, but his quickness proved too much for the Eagles’ interior linemen. As a result, he made a key tackle for a loss in the third quarter.

The Redskins did a better job of shedding blocks and clogging run lanes. They also strung out runs, making it difficult for the Eagles’ backs to get to the edge and turn the corner to daylight. Washington gave up some big plays — a 54-yard pass play on third and 14, and passes of 23, 22, 22 and 18 yards in the fourth quarter. But the unit again buckled down in the most crucial situations and held the Eagles without an offensive touchdown in the game.

Two other important statistics: 94 (rushing yards allowed – the first sub-100-yard day for a Redskins opponent this season) and 33 percent (Philadelphia’s 4-for-12 showing on third downs). Barry’s bunch got the job done in all aspects on Sunday.

3. Kerrigan’s big day – Speaking of defense, Ryan Kerrigan had one of the most impressive days of his career with two sacks, four tackles (two for losses) and four hits on the quarterback.

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Just last week, people were sending me mailbag questions asking why he had regressed. As discussed at the time, sacks come in bunches, and they certainly did for Kerrigan on Sunday. The sixth-year veteran capitalized on his matchup with rookie Halapoulivaati Vaitai and harassed Wentz all day. Kerrigan actually should have had a half-sack more, because on the first play of the game, he had the quarterback in his hands and was in the process of pulling him down when Blackmon swooped in and delivered the hit for the sack. The official score-keepers gave Blackmon the full sack instead of splitting it.

I’m curious to see if the Redskins submit the play for review to get the half-sack properly awarded to Kerrigan. But anyway, Kerrigan looked as fast and strong as he has all year. He did a great job of keeping Vaitai off balance. He would drill the rookie in the chest with a power rush, then dip to the inside and make a beeline for the quarterback. Kerrigan also did a good job of keeping his eyes moving. He didn’t key on the quarterback so intently that he missed running backs, and timed things properly so he could abort rushes, get off blocks and make tackles.

4. Run game clicking – Remember a few weeks ago when great concern swirled over a one-dimensional offense and an anemic rushing attack? This has improved as well. Thanks to Sunday’s 230-yard rushing day, which featured jaunts of 57 (Matt Jones), 45 (Rob Kelley), 22 (Jones), 16 (Jones), 15 (Jones) and 13 (Jones) yards, Washington has climbed the statistical rankings. The Redskins are now tied for third in the NFL with an average of 4.8 yards per carry. They rank 12th in yards per game (110.3), and this comes despite only ranking 20th in rushing attempts per game (23).

Washington on Sunday rushed a season-high 33 times, which ensured balance with Cousins’s 34 pass attempts. Sean McVay seems to be gaining a better understanding of what kinds of plays to call for Jones, and those are runs to the outside, especially to the left. The second-year pro has lacked effectiveness on runs up the middle. He either hits the pile and gets stonewalled, or he gets in the hole and dances, unable to make his mind whether to stick with his blockers or cut outside. Or, Jones hits a wall and then stops his momentum by sliding laterally, and then struggles to pick up speed again.

By contrast, Rob Kelley is a one-cut-and-go guy. No movement is wasted. He seems to dart forward even if he’s moving around a blocker or defender. Kelley seems just fine working from the inside out.

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Jones, meanwhile, did better working from the outside in. McVay ran him on more outside runs, and Jones did a better job of either getting to the edge or starting to the outside and seeing cutback lanes back to the inside than he did on inside runs where he needed to cut to the outside.

On Sunday, Jones had his best runs behind Trent Williams and Niles Paul on the left edge. He averaged 10.2 yards a carry on those nine runs off left tackle. Jones also had success running off left guard, picking up six and 16 yards on the two runs there. Running off the right tackle, Jones averaged 8.5 yards on two runs there. He didn’t do well up the middle, managing just 3.5 yards per carry on two runs, and gained just a yard and lost a yard off right guard.

Splitting carries with Kelley and Chris Thompson seemed to give Jones additional motivation. He said the backs staged a friendly competition, and the results spoke for themselves. Give the offensive line a lot of credit as well. They established the line of scrimmage, and Spencer Long and Brandon Scherff did a really solid job of neutralizing Fletcher Cox – one of the top interior defensive linemen in the league.

5. Mind-set – The Redskins have lacked mental toughness for years. We’ve seen them wilt in pressure situations. We’ve seen them seemingly discouraged over unfortunate turns of events. Many times veterans would say that the players needed to learn how to win, to develop more mental toughness and to play through adversity.

Gruden has repeatedly preached the importance of fighting through adversity. The messages and the lessons learned during those trials and tribulations of years past are starting to pay off. “We’ve just got a job to do and shouldn’t give up,” cornerback Bashaud Breeland said, describing the mind-set of this team now. “We’ve been down in the dumps so long that it doesn’t even bother us now when we get down. We know what we have to do to get through.”

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This is a key ingredient to winning franchises, players like Pierre Garcon – who have won a lot of games elsewhere – say. Most teams have talent. Most teams have effective schemes. But winning squads are those that can weather storms, react and counteract what their opponents throw at them. The Redskins have found ways to do this during the past four games. And it’s also encouraging that the Redskins have young guys like Breeland and Spencer Long talking like battle-tested veterans because they have already learned important lessons from their own experiences, their teammates and coaches. Plenty of tests remain ahead, so we’ll see just how strong they are mentally as the season progresses.