PHILADELPHIA — Jordan Matthews was asked about playing in his first NFC East game, and the Philadelphia Eagles’ rookie wide receiver smiled and shook his head.

“Man, that was something,” he said. “You hear about how intense and emotional these division games are, you hear about some of the bad blood between these teams, but you really don’t know anything until you actually experience it.

“I know one thing, I’ve played in a lot of football games and hopefully I’ll play in a lot more, but this one was special and I’ll never forget it.”

There are two reasons for that: The Eagles won on Sunday, beating the Washington Redskins 37-34 at Lincoln Financial Field to go 3-0 and stay in first place in NFC East. And Matthews was a big reason they won as he scored the first two touchdowns of his NFL career. When he left the Eagles locker room on Sunday evening, he carried both touchdown footballs with him.

Veteran Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, caught eight passes for 154 yards and a 27-yard touchdown that gave the Eagles a 34-27 lead with 7:34 left to play, and they never trailed after that, although the Redskins had chances to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

Maclin’s TD came after Redskins receiver DeSean Jackson — who played for the Eagles the past six seasons — scored a touchdown on an 81-yard pass from quarterback Kirk Cousins that tied the game 27-27. That preceded a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams that was triggered by an illegal block by Redskins nose tackle Chris Baker on Eagles quarterback Nick Foles after an apparent interception that was overturned on review. Baker and Eagles tackle Jason Peters were ejected from the game.

Cousins, making his second start in place of Robert Griffin III (ankle), had a big day. He completed 30 of 48 passes for 427 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, good for a passer rating of 103.4.

Still, there was only one statistic that mattered to Cousins and that was the final score.

“We started fast, but obviously we didn’t finish as strong as we needed to,” Cousins said. “At the end, we had four chances (on their final possession) in plus-territory to get a first down and a field goal. And the only one you can point the finger at for that is me. That falls on the quarterback.”

The Eagles also got a big spark from running back Chris Polk, who missed all of the preseason and the first two games of the regular season with a hamstring injury. Polk returned a first-quarter kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown after the Redskins (1-2) had taken a 7-0 lead on Cousins’ 4-yard TD pass to fullback Darrel Young.

“This was an unbelievable job from the kickoff team,” Polk said. “They were the reason I had success. They gave me an opening and I was able to get through it and then it was just a race to the end zone. This really was (the blockers’) touchdown more than mine — I had the easy job.”

Cousins led the Redskins on another long drive and capped it with another 4-yard touchdown pass, this time to wide receiver Pierre Garcon, to give the Redskins a 14-7 lead with 2:09 left in the first quarter.

The Redskins added a 49-yard field goal by Kai Forbath to take a 17-7 lead, but the Eagles got that back when Foles hit Matthews with a 12-yard touchdown pass. The first TD of Matthews’ NFL career made it 17-14 with 5:48 left in the second quarter. And then Foles found Matthews for his second NFL TD, an 11-yarder that made it 21-20 at halftime and set the stage for the second-half fireworks.

“I think it was a good game. I kind of enjoyed it,” Redskins defensive end Jason Hatcher said. “There was a lot of adversity and a lot of crazy stuff, happening, but that’s what it’s supposed to be.”

What the Redskins said:

“We knew we could play with this team. It wasn’t a situation where we look up in the third quarter and say, ‘Oh, my goodness, we’re close.’ We wanted to come in here and win this game. Playing in Philadelphia, we felt like we could be the better team, but in the end, they made enough plays to win.” — Safety Ryan Clark.

What the Eagles said:

“It was a fight. You all saw it. Literally, there were fights during the game. It was a hard-fought game. Washington came out fighting, and we fought right back. Guys kept fighting until the end.” — Quarterback Nick Foles.

What we learned about the Redskins:

1. Everyone knows that RB Alfred Morris is the workhorse of the Redskins’ offense, but he didn’t have much of an impact Sunday, averaging just 3.3 yards on 23 carries (he entered the day averaging 4.9). His struggles adversely affected Washington’s play-action passing. When Morris rolls, so do the Redskins, and they have to make sure he gets more running room than he had against Philadelphia.

2. Injured QB Robert Griffin III is never going to get his starting job back. His replacement, Kirk Cousins, has a passer rating of 105.8 after two games, and the Washington offense is simply more efficient with Cousins in the game.

–WR DeSean Jackson didn’t exactly enjoy the homecoming he had in mind, although it did have one highlight. Jackson, who played for the Eagles the previous six years before joining the Redskins this season, didn’t get a lot of action, but he had one big play. Late in the third quarter, Jackson jetted past CB Cary Williams to haul in an 81-yard TD pass. Jackson said he approached this like any other game. “Out there, I’m just trying to help my team win the game, and I’m going to give everything to give great effort,” Jackson said. “I think it was a great game, and credit to the other team, who also did a great job. We fought all the way to the end, and it’s just unfortunate that we did not win the game. But we’ll see them again.”

–QB Nick Foles threw an apparent interception in the fourth quarter — it was overturned after review — and emotions boiled over. Redskins NT Chris Baker clobbered Foles on the interception return. Baker thought he played within the rules, but he still was ejected. So was Eagles OT Jason Peters, who went after Baker following his hit on Foles. “I was doing what I was taught, and that’s to go get a block,” Baker said. “I did not look to see if it was the quarterback — all I saw was someone going towards the ball and got my head in front and lowered my shoulder, which is a legal football move. I was doing what I was taught to do, and I get punched in the face on the sideline, and the next thing you know, I’m ejected for a block.”

–CB DeAngelo Hall left the game with an Achilles injury, and DE Jason Hatcher strained a hamstring, bad news for the Redskins, who have to play Thursday night against the Giants.. “When you play on the road in the NFL in a division game like this and then have to come back and play on a Thursday night, it’s not easy,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. “And we have so many of these injuries, and that’s a major concern for us. We’ll just have to deal with it.”

What we learned about the Eagles:

1. Philadelphia can win even when All-Pro RB LeSean McCoy isn’t a factor. McCoy, who led the NFL in rushing last season with 1,607 yards, had one of the worst games of his career Sunday. He carried the ball 20 times and gained a mere 22 yards. McCoy, also one of the better receiving running backs in the league, had just one reception for 0 yards.

2. The Eagles could win NFC East simply because the division is mediocre, but they won’t do much in the playoffs if their pass rush doesn’t grow some teeth. They didn’t have a single sack against Washington QB Kirk Cousins and rarely even pressured him. They have just three sacks in three games, and that won’t be good enough when the competition gets stiffer.

–KR Chris Polk’s 102-yard return in the first quarter was the Eagles’ first kickoff return for a TD since Quintin Demps scored in 2008 vs. the New York Giants. It was also the first time Polk touched the ball in a game situation since last year. He partially tore a hamstring on the second day of training camp and ended up missing all of the preseason and the first two regular-season games. There was speculation that he wouldn’t even make the team. “It was real hard,” Polk said. “Being hurt was tough. It messed with me mentally. (The coaches) believed in me, and I was dying to get out there. I saw my teammates playing their hearts out, and I just wanted to contribute and get hit again. Being out there today, I felt like I was me again.”

–LT Jason Peters was ejected for fighting in the second half, another blow to the Philadelphia line that was so consistent and durable last season, when the same five players started every game. The unit has been hit hard by injuries this season, the Eagles finished Sunday’s game with a completely different lineup than the one that started the season. “It’s just playing football,” said reserve C David Molk, who came in when starter Jason Kelce left with an abdominal injury. “We realized what was happening, we know the situation, but you can’t let the situation dictate you.”

–C Jason Kelce is considered one of the more intelligent players on the Eagles, but he made a big mental mistake in the second quarter that cost his team a touchdown. The Eagles trailed 17-7 when QB Nick Foles hit WR Jeremy Maclin with a quick screen pass. Maclin broke through up the middle and outran the defense to the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown, but Kelce — who was trailing the play — pushed S Ryan Clark in the back, which quickly brought out and official’s yellow flag even though Clark had no chance of catching Maclin. Instead of scoring a touchdown, the Eagles had the ball on the Redskins’ 40. “I couldn’t really see it,” Maclin said, “but from what everyone was telling me, it was kind of a ticky-tack call.”