Since it's late, I'm just going to run through the talking points bullet-style:
In what is turning out to be a really successful season, the one thing that was missing was a leave-no-doubt beating of a solid team; missions accomplished! The Rams will be in the NFC West hunt all year long and played hard but were outclassed in the trenches tonight. Philly's winning final score of 37-20 didn't quite capture how thorough this was; the Birds rocked the Rams in total yardage (481-290) . That mark was actually 482-222 before the game's meaningless final drives.
Saquan Barkley's superlative night of 302 yards from scrimmage is tied for 9th overall in NFL history (7th in regulation), and two more scores for good measure. Barkley has got to be the heavy favorite for NFL OPOY right now.
The Bird's outstanding OL pushed the Ram's undersized DL all night long. Extra credit for Kellen Moore for sticking with the run all night long with 45 total rushes.
Philly's defense got rocked on their first two drives but pretty much controlled things from there. They allowed only seven meaningful points after that point.
Brandon Graham, man. What a journey this guy has been on and he's still one of the best defenders we had (the news that he's apparently done for the year with a torn triceps is bad for this team). Two tackles for loss, including a sack, three total QB hits and a PBU for good measure tonight. They'll need to find someone to replace him quickly, especially with Huff on the shelf for awhile.
The Eagles Postgame Live guys are currently gushing about Jalen's game but I didn't think he was too sharp tonight. He held the ball too long once again and relied on AJ Brown's legendary YAC ability for a lot of his yards. He had a couple nice moments as a runner but a few head scratchers too. His box score numbers look good, though, and most importantly he once again did not turn the ball over.
I'm not interested in hearing the complaining that's sure to result from the refs allowing Sirianni to accept the penalty and ultimately force the missed FG. The Rams were gifted at least one TD off questionable pass interference calls, so these things tend to balance out.
Philly improves to 4-1 (80%) all time against Sean McVay. The only team who's played the Rams under McVay at least three times with as good a record is Green Bay, also at 80%.
The toughest game of the season is on deck, with a visit to the Ravens who need a get-right game right now. Hopefully Slay and Devonta will make it back for that one.
In the preseason I had predicted an 8-3 start with a net scoring margin of +82.5; Philly is in fac 9-2 with a net margin of +97. I'd say we're still on track for that projected finish of 13-4.
A more important point of comparison: how does this latest hot start compare to last season's? I ran quick numbers for these last three years (through 12 weeks):
2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
Net points | 7.91 | 5.82 | 8.82 |
Net yards | 78.0 | 23.3 | 114.4 |
Net first downs | 3.09 | 1.64 | 4.36 |
Hard to shake the idea that we're looking better than we have in any season since 2017 at this point.
With Washington starting to collapse, it looks like the Birds will run away with this division. The real question is keeping pace with Detroit in the race for the top seed; to do that will take some improvement from Hurts, the healthy return of some injured players and finding a replacement for Graham, as best as they can.
FLY EAGLES FLY!
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