This is exactly what the Eagles needed. A last-place team with seven straight losses, a backup quarterback who looked like he\u2019d rather be anywhere else and a team that quit on its season a long time ago.<\/p>\n
Three-game losing streak? Raiders to the rescue.<\/p>\n
The Eagles did what they had to do Sunday, walloping the hapless Raiders 31-0 at the Linc to end their three-game winning streak and inject some positive vibes back into a franchise that hasn\u2019t had much to feel good about lately.<\/p>\n
They outgained the Raiders 387-75 and held them to 22 yards in the second half.<\/p>\n
It was the Eagles\u2019 first shut out since 23-0 in Washington late in 2018 behind two Nick Foles TD passes and three Fletcher Cox sacks and their first at the Linc since 27-0 over the Giants in 2014 behind Foles, 149 rushing yards by LeSean McCoy and three sacks by Connor Barwin.<\/p>\n
The win reduced the Eagles\u2019 magic number to two. Any combination of two Eagles wins and three Cowboys losses makes the Eagles the first team since the 2003 and 2004 Eagles to win consecutive NFC East titles.<\/p>\n
1. I loved the concept of the offense Sunday and there haven\u2019t been too many games where I\u2019ve been able to say that. It didn\u2019t hurt that it was the pathetic Raiders on the other side of the ball, but I don\u2019t even care who it was. Just to see this look like a real NFL offense, find some balance with the run game and pass game, hit a deep ball, use all its weapons, protect the football, convert third downs, move the ball in different ways and convert in the red zone. Here’s what I loved most: 47 rushing attempts, 18 passing attempts. On a cold, windy day, lean into the running game and even if it\u2019s not popping for huge yards, keep the clock moving, wear down the defense and just move the sticks. Not counting the end of the first half, the Eagles scored on five of six drives with Jalen Hurts on the field and only had one 3-and-out. They had 12 rushing first downs and 12 passing first downs. Balance. Efficiency. Production. And I\u2019ll tell you what, the offensive line was very good. Maxx Crosby had a sack, but other than that Hurts was clean the whole game. This was the sixth straight game the Eagles have allowed one or fewer sack, tying the longest streak in franchise history. Over the last six games, the Eagles have thrown the ball 185 times and allowed four sacks. And most of that is without Lane Johnson. Those guys up front are balling.<\/p>\n
2. And defensively, just more of the same. Pressure and coverage. For the first time this year, the Eagles over the last few weeks have married pressure and coverage to the point where quarterbacks are really looking overmatched back there. The growth we\u2019ve seen from this defense has been remarkable and part of it for sure is the Jaelan Phillips trade, college teammates Nolan Smith and Nakobe Dean returning after long injury layoffs and Brandon Graham coming out of retirement. This is really a different group than it was earlier in the season. But the guys who have been playing all along have just grown more comfortable in Vic Fangio\u2019s scheme, and the production has been next level. There isn\u2019t a weakness on this defense right now. The Eagles had four more sacks Sunday and eight quarterback hits, and Kenny Pickett just had no chance. The Eagles had 24 sacks their first 12 games and 7 the last two games. Pickett threw for just 64 yards, got picked off by Zack Baun, didn\u2019t have a completion longer than 10 yards averaged a pathetic 2.6 yards per attempt. The Raiders’ 75 total yards are the fewest the Eagles have allowed in 70 years, since they gave up just 49 in a 27-3 win over the Cards at Connie Mack Stadium in 1955. Yeah, it was the Raiders, but 75 yards is 75 yards. Incredible.<\/p>\n
3. We were all curious to see how Jalen Hurts would respond after a disastrous four-interception, five-turnover performance in the loss to the Chargers, and right from the jump he looked sharp and confident. Which is just what you\u2019d expect. Hurts\u2019 resilience is one of his best traits and it can\u2019t be easy to put a game like that out of your head, but the Jalen Hurts we saw Sunday was the Jalen Hurts you expect. He didn\u2019t throw much \u2013 he didn\u2019t need to \u2013 but he was 12-for-15 for 175 yards, three TDs and most importantly no turnovers for a 154.9 passer rating,\u00a02nd-highest of his career. Is he back? We\u2019ll need more than one efficient performance against an awful team to draw that conclusion, but it was sure an encouraging bounce-back for the Super Bowl MVP. Hurts appeared to get banged when he was tackled awkwardly by former teammate Devin White on the final play of the third quarter. He hobbled off the field in obvious discomfort, then walks back on the field and throws a 27-yard touchdown beauty to A.J. Brown on his next snap. Vintage Jalen.<\/p>\n
4A. Can we talk about B.G.? Yeah, he\u2019s here to be a leader and trash talker, but he can still play and we sure saw that Sunday. At 37 years, 255 days, he became the oldest player in Eagles history to record a sack, ahead of Hall of Famer Richard Dent, who was 37 years, 1 day, when he sacked Chris Chandler in the Eagles\u2019 20-17 loss to the Falcons at the Georgia Dome in 1997. B.G. also became the 11th-oldest player in NFL history with two sacks in a game. The oldest Eagle previously with a two-sack game? William Fuller was 34 years, 289 days, when he sacked Boomer Esiason twice in the Eagles\u2019 29-19 win over the Cards at the Vet in 1996. B.G.\u2019s two sacks also gave him 78.5 in his career and moved him within 7.0 of Trent Cole, who had 85.5. Reggie White is the franchise record holder with 124.0. It\u2019s just fun having B.G. back and the rah-rah stuff doesn\u2019t really work if you can\u2019t play, but give him credit. He kept himself in shape during his \u201cretirement\u201d and when he gets on the field he\u2019s definitely helping.<\/p>\n
4B. Also fun to note that B.G. moved ahead of Z\u2019Darius Smith in the all-important category of most sacks by veteran edge rushers who were retired at one point this season. B.G. now has two and Smith had 1 \u00bd.<\/p>\n
5. The one he dropped in the end zone? Dallas Goedert catches that pass like 99 out of 100 times. Maybe more like 499 of 500 times. It was kind of shocking to see him drop the easiest touchdown catch of his career. That was early in the second quarter, but what you love about Goedert is how he responded. Later in the quarter he had catches for 12 and 14 yards and then in the third quarter a 32-yard catch and run on a low ball that wasn\u2019t the easiest catch ever. And then a second touchdown on that beloved Andy Reid Brian Westbrook shovel pass. Goedert finished 6-for-70, and he\u2019s 13-for-148 the last two weeks, his best two-game total since early last year. Goedert\u2019s nine TD catches this year are 2nd-most in Eagles history by a tight end, behind only Pete Retzlaff\u2019s 10 in 1965. The only Eagles with more TD catches in a season in the last 20 years are Jeremy Maclin, who had 10 in 2010 and 2014, and A.J. Brown, who had 11 in 2022. Goedert is just so solid, and I\u2019m glad he had the opportunity to make up for that drop because he\u2019s been making plays for this team since Doug Pederson\u2019s third season, and he deserves it. With his seven catches, Goedert became the fifth Eagle to surpass 400 career catches. His 404 receptions trail only Harold Carmichael (589), Zach Ertz (579), Pete Retzlaff (452) and Brian Westbrook (426) in franchise history.<\/p>\n
6. He does some goofy things. He says some wacky things. But say what you want, Nick Sirianni wins games, and with this win the Eagles improved to 9-5 and clinched their fifth straight winning season in five years under Sirianni and yeah it was only the Raiders but there\u2019s something to be said for a guy who just wins. Five straight winning seasons to begin a coaching career is impressive stuff. Sirianni has a terrific roster and very good assistant coaches and the best GM in the business, but what makes him special is that he gets 100 percent buy-in from his players. He knows how to get them to believe in him but more importantly to believe in themselves and believe in each other. He has this rare ability to build a culture that resonates with his players, that they want to be a part of. That translates into winning. When you do it for a year or two, OK. When you do it three or four years, OK, that\u2019s more impressive. This is five straight winning seasons and that doesn\u2019t happen by accident.<\/p>\n
7. Some crazy stats that help put this performance in context:<\/p>\n
–> The Eagles held the Raiders to 75 yards and in their 95-year history, there have been only seven games where they\u2019ve allowed fewer yards, most recently that 27-3 win over the Cards in 1955. They allowed 29 against the Brooklyn Tigers in 1944, 34 against the New York Bulldogs in 1949, 43 against Brooklyn in 1939, 62 against the Steelers in 1934, 66 against the Boston Yanks in 1944 and 69 against the Browns in 1950.<\/p>\n
–> he Eagles outgained the Raiders by 312 yards, their 5th-largest yardage margin since 1955 and largest since they outgained the Rams by 356 (522-166) in a 38-3 win at the Linc in 2008.<\/p>\n
–> The Eagles allowed just 1.79 yards per play, 2nd-lowest in franchise history. In 1992, they allowed 1.45 yards per play in a 20-17 overtime win over the Seahawks at the Kingdome.<\/p>\n
–> The 29 net passing yards the Eagles allowed are their 6th-fewest since 1960 and fewest since they allowed 21 in a 27-3 win over Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks in 2001.<\/p>\n
–> It was only the second time since 1955 and the first time since 1991 the Eagles have held a team to fewer than 50 rushing yards both passing and rushing. In 1991, they held the Cowboys to 45 both rushing and passing in a 24-0 win at Texas Stadium. That was the game they sacked Troy Aikman 11 times.<\/p>\n
8. He didn\u2019t have any huge runs, but it was good to see Jalen Hurts tuck it down and use his legs to make some plays, something he hasn\u2019t been doing too much lately. He ran seven times for 39 yards, and five of those seven scrambles went for first downs. Those 39 yards are his most since Week 4 in Tampa. Those plays do so much for the offense, and Hurts may not be quite as fast as he used to be but he\u2019s still got some pretty good wheels and he\u2019s too dangerous as a runner to not do it. Six of the last nine games he had four or fewer carries, and that\u2019s just not enough. The days of Hurts running for 100 yards may be over, but he can still give defenses headaches when he rolls out as a dual threat who may run and may pass. Thirty-nine yards isn\u2019t a ton but on Sunday it was enough to make the offense function at a little bit higher rate.<\/p>\n
9. It\u2019s everybody. It\u2019s the d-line and the linebackers, but this secondary is playing at such a high level right now. Last three games, they\u2019ve held quarterbacks to 44-for-87 (51 percent) for 314 yards with two touchdown passes and two interceptions. That\u2019s a 52.6 passer rating over a three-game span, which is nuts. We\u2019ve always known what Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship could do, but Marcus Epps has really calmed things down at that safety No. 2 spot and Adoree\u2019 Jackson is playing better and better the last month or so. This is now a complete secondary, and when the front is pressuring the way they are, it makes their job that much easier. It had been 19 years since the Eagles have allowed fewer passing yards in a three-game span and in those two decades the passing game has changed a lot. These sort of numbers are elite, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing from this secondary right now. Elite play.<\/p>\n
10. Was fun to see Tanner McKee and Tank Bigsby get some run in the fourth quarter. There\u2019s no doubt in my mind they can both start in this league and they will. McKee just makes every throw when he\u2019s in there. He\u2019s poised, smart, thinks quickly and throws accurately. We even saw him scramble nine yards for a first down. Only threw three passes but was 3-for-3 for 33 yards. The ball just doesn\u2019t hit the ground when he\u2019s playing. And Bigsby is a beast. I still wish he\u2019d get a few carries when games are in the balance to give the offense a little juice, a little change of pace, but he\u2019s a shifty, tough running back. Bigsby ran for 57 yards, with all but six of those yards in the fourth quarter. Has been a while since the Eagles had any mop-up time. I like seeing those guys come in and do their thing. They can both play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is exactly what the Eagles needed. A last-place team with seven straight losses, a backup quarterback who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,6444],"class_list":["post-61062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-roobs-observations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}