PHILADELPHIA — Dallas Goedert stood at his locker, backpack in hand. Who knows what he’d have stuffed into it six months ago if the Philadelphia Eagles had told him goodbye, as was expected in the offseason? What better day than National Tight Ends Day for the Eagles’ tight end to catch two touchdowns in a 38-20 revenge win over the New York Giants on Sunday?

The 30-year-old veteran, who signed a restructured deal to stay in Philly, has more touchdown catches this season than in any of his previous seven, and it’s only taken him seven games to do it.

“I think he’s a helluva player,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said.

There may be no greater praise from Hurts. He used the same phrase to describe DeVonta Smith’s career-high 183 yards in their win over the Minnesota Vikings last week. Indeed, the Eagles are on a helluva offensive run. Six initial games of stop-start offense under first-time offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo have given way to a two-week stretch of balanced dominance.

Smith and A.J. Brown both had 100 yards receiving against the Vikings. Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby both had 100 yards rushing against the Giants. Hurts had a perfect passer rating against the Vikings, then tied a career-high by throwing four touchdown passes against the Giants while completing 15 of 20 passes for 179 yards. Hurts is in the MVP race as the Eagles enter their Week 9 bye.

“The best is yet to come,” Hurts said of his recent play.

Which brings us back to Goedert, whose seven touchdown receptions lead all tight ends. Oft-ridiculed for being oft-injured, the Eagles signaled that Goedert was going to be a salary cap casualty during general manager Howie Roseman’s cost-cutting offseason. But neither free agency nor the draft yielded a replacement, and Goedert agreed to a restructure in May that still made him the team’s fifth-highest cap hit this season, according to Over The Cap.

It was perhaps Philadelphia’s most crucial transaction. Goedert had been a top-three receiver for the Eagles in all but his rookie season. Instead of navigating a talent drop-off at tight end, Patullo made him a key feature in the red zone. The Eagles were top 10 in red-zone touchdown efficiency in each of Nick Sirianni’s first three seasons, but ranked 13th in 2024 (57.4 percent). They are now first with 17 touchdowns on 20 appearances.

Goedert has six of those scores. His two red-zone touchdown catches Sunday showcased why he’s long earned a reputation as a matchup-winner. With Brown sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Eagles made Goedert their primary target in such situations.

Just before halftime, the Eagles split Goedert wide left in an empty shotgun set, which placed him in one-on-one coverage with safety Tyler Nubin. Goedert broke quickly inward, and Hurts snapped Goedert a second-and-2 slant for a six-yard score that put the Eagles up 21-10. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles designed a run-pass option in which Smith set a pick for Goedert’s route out of the backfield. Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke lost his footing, and Hurts hit a wide-open Goedert for a 17-yard score that made it 31-13.

“When you get down in the red zone, it’s very tight windows, very tight throws,” wide receiver Jahan Dotson said. “And Jalen, he has the full trust in all of us to make those plays happen. But Dallas is really good at finding the soft spots and zones, beating his man. It seems like it’s always a mismatch when he has man-to-man.”

After the game, quarterback Jalen Hurts called Dallas Goedert “a helluva player.” (Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)

Sunday was Goedert’s third two-touchdown game of his career. He logged his second in a Week 4 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was when Patullo debuted this year’s companion to the Brotherly Shove. They fielded similar personnel to their infamous quarterback sneaks, but stuck Goedert behind a trio of bunched blockers off the right edge. Hurts took an under-center snap and essentially pitched a screen to Goedert for a two-yard score. They ran a variation of the play for a three-yard score in their first game against the Giants.

Patullo called another creative touchdown that featured Goedert against the Bucs: a run-pass option in which Hurts pulled a potential hand-off from Barkley, then flicked a shovel pass to Goedert for a five-yard score.

“He’s a big-time target,” Hurts said. “And in a sense, he’s due. He’s due. He does a lot of dirty work in this offense. And we’ve had a lot of different opportunities that we’ve always had within, I guess, Nick and the OCs that have come over time that just haven’t got called. So some of those things are getting called, and he’s taking advantage of those opportunities. And I think (Patullo) kind of has a really good feel in the red zone.”

The Eagles scored touchdowns on all three of their red-zone opportunities against the Giants. Barkley caught a nine-yard swing pass in the second quarter that gave the Eagles a 14-7, go-ahead lead. Patullo’s offense never sputtered on Sunday. They never went scoreless on consecutive drives. Beyond a victory formation-oriented possession in which backup Tanner McKee subbed in for Hurts, the Eagles scored on each of their final four drives. Hurts launched a jump ball to Dotson, who leaped over Giants cornerback Korie Black to haul in what became a 40-yard touchdown.

“Yeah, I’d say offensively, this is probably our best game of the year for sure,” Goedert said.

Dotson said the Eagles “had a pretty good idea pretty early” that they would be playing without Brown. The three-time All-Pro wideout had missed every practice with a hamstring injury. The Eagles subsequently fielded an overall game plan that leaned on heavier packages. They deployed three-wide receiver packages at their second-lowest rate of the season, instead favoring multiple tight ends or subbing in swing tackle Fred Johnson as an extra offensive lineman.

Johnson’s usage once again proved advantageous. Last week, the Eagles leveraged his presence to draw the Vikings safeties in before Hurts launched a 79-yard, play-action touchdown to Smith. Smith afterward said his explosive play should help their run game, since defenses could no longer “sell out on the run the whole time.” Indeed, when the Eagles subbed in Johnson on their second play, the Giants kept both of their safeties back in coverage. Barkley broke for a 65-yard touchdown, by far his longest run of the year.

Goedert called Johnson their “honorary tight end of the week.” With starting center Cam Jurgens sidelined with a knee injury, Johnson’s deployment reinforced a run game that disappeared in the second half of their first game against the Giants. On Sunday, the Eagles totaled 113 yards on the 14 plays in which Johnson entered the game, according to TruMedia.

“Let him enjoy the holiday with us,” Goedert said. “He’s been doing a great job coming in there, getting a little bit more movement, getting big packages, and we’ve had great play-actions off of it as well.”

Goedert slung his backpack over his shoulder and left his locker. Outside, he joined his friend and former Eagles teammate, Avonte Maddox, who, now with the Detroit Lions, traveled to Philadelphia as part of his new team’s bye week. Maddox, who still has a house in Philadelphia, played seven seasons with the Eagles under three separate contracts. A depth cornerback in 2024, Maddox signed a one-year deal with the Lions in free agency after his contract with the Eagles expired.

For a time, it seemed like Goedert would join Maddox in departing Philadelphia. It’s still uncertain what next year holds. Goedert’s contract expires after the 2025 season, but its voidable years place a $20.5 million cap hit on the books for the 2026 season. Roseman could mitigate the cap hit by signing Goedert to an extension. Those are conversations Goedert will consider at a later date.

“Yeah, I’ve just been enjoying this season,” Goedert said. “You know, not too worried about the future, just trying to be where my feet are, enjoying it with the guys. We’ve got an incredible group, so many people I got a lot of respect for in this building, so just trying to keep building on a good year.”