Another week, another Eagles win! Here are a few thoughts in no particular order:
I really did expect the Titans to push the Eagles today; I guess I expected more from Tennessee's defense. I understand that the Titans were missing a few players, but it seemed that Eagles penalties were going to be the only impediment to the offense today (more on this in a minute). I noted in the second quarter that the Titans were trying to play the tough guys, which was basically all they had in this game. It didn't work.
Our biggest complaints recently have been the run defense and the special teams. The Birds really answered the bell today, limiting Henry to 30 yards on 11 carries. If it weren't for Tannehill's scrambling, Tennessee would have had no rushing offense whatsoever. As far as special teams go, Tennessee's average starting field position on kickoffs was their own 24, a notable improvement on the last few weeks. Britain Covey gained an unbelievable 105 yards on six punt returns (17.5 YPR). Jake Elliott made all five XP attempts. Obviously one game does not mean these problems have turned around but it's a good start.
One further note on the run defense: Philly has allowed 117.9 yards per game on the ground; their opponents have averaged 121.2 YPG on the ground in games not against Philly. This means that the Eagles run D has actually outperformed expectations this year so far (by only 3.3 yards/game, but still).
This was (by TYP) Jalen Hurts' second best game of the year so far (behind Pittsburgh). His estimated TYP of this season is 7.31, which would have ranked #6 last year. Not every throw was perfect, and I'm still wondering what happened on the fumble that Mailata recovered, but asking for perfection isn't fair; asking for efforts like he's routinely turning in is as impressive as it gets.
Not too many teams can string a 350 yard rushing game and a 350 yards passing game back to back. I forget where I read this stat, but someone pointed out that this was the first such two game run in more than thirty years.
Let's talk about those penalties. I counted six on the OL, not including the false start that they could have called on Mailata on the touchdown in the third quarter, or a penalty on Dickerson that was declined late in the game. That's part of a team effort that included 12 accepted penalties. This issue has not been a consistent problem under Sirianni (like it was in the Reid era), so we can overlook the occasional game like this. Still, let's hope it was a blip.
The Eagle's final drive deserves a few comments. At 16 plays, it reminded me that this team has the ability to grind out these long, game-clinching drives nearly at will. This was Philly's sixth drive of at least 15 plays this season (tied with Arizona for the most in the league). More broadly, the Birds have 8 touchdown drives of 10 or more plays and 80+ yards. No other team has more than five, and the league average per team is only 2. There were several “lesser” drives that didn't fit these criteria but nevertheless were impressive in their relentlessness and clutch quality.
Two notable Eagles got nicked up: Kyzir White and Quez Watkins. Neither injury appeared serious but neither player returned. Hopefully both can come back quickly, but the good news is that Nakobe Dean played well in relief, with a team-high five solo tackles, including one for loss.
Looking ahead, the Giants and Bears certainly looked vulnerable today. If Philly manages to bring a 13-1 record into Dallas on Christmas Eve, the result of that game may not even matter.
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