I have a confession to make; I began to write a version of this column based on a Philly loss before the Eagles' final scoring drive. It really didn't feel that Philly had much of a chance on that final drive, as shorthanded as they were. Jalen Hurts struggling? No AJ Brown? Lose your most important OL (Johnson) and RG (Becton)? Cheap shots cost you Devonta Smith and Darius Slay in-game? Throw Britain Covey on the injured list and a ridiculous 7 penalties on the pile for good measure. Where were you hanging your optimism for an Eagles triumph? A Saints busted coverage opened the door for a monster play by Dallas Goedert in a game full of them for him, and Barkley scored on the next two plays (he had 14 more points scored to go along with his 156 scrimmage yards). Yet another diving pick by Blankenship (who barely showed up on the stat sheet before that play), and this game was over. I guess we were due for a game that went from near-certain loss to a stunning win.
This game reminded me of the 2017 team's clash with Carolina and the 2019 game against Green Bay (road games against powerful NFC rivals in which the Eagles were banged up but gutted out wins). These kinds of wins tend to build a team's character; hopefully that happens again here.
A few more comments for the record on the third game of the season:
I'm still concerned about Jalen, who's two careless turnovers in the first half nearly cost Philly the game. That's six turnovers for the year so far; that can't keep happening. He needs to listen to the coaching on some of this. As we all saw, he undershot Smith on a probable TD and didn't even see Goedert on another potential big play.
Saquan Barkley so far in 2024: 404 total yards, five touchdowns and a two point conversion for good measure. It's obviously early but he's on pace for nearly 2,300 total yards and 28 touchdowns.
Dallas Goedert has low key been a vital part of this offense for years now; they don't win this game without his career day.
More dicey game management from Sirianni. Passing on the 52 yard FG in the third quarter was almost certainly a mistake (based on a similar Expected Pints analysis to what we talked about last week, I calculate that the FG would have been worth 1.97 points while the 4th down effort was only worth 1.71 points). As much as I love Jake Elliott, making him kick a 60 yard FG in that scenario is hard to feel good about.
I've mentioned it many times, but losing Lane Johnson for more than half of the game typically reduced the chances of an Eagles victory by nearly a third. Major props to Big Fred (and reserve RG Tyler Steen) for keeping the OL afloat despite injuries. That unit had a great game, especially in the second half.
Let's give Vic Fangio and the defense some props, after the beating they've taken this season so far: they permitted the Saints only 12 points, 219 yards (only 4.07 yards per play), and this against the offense that hadn't punted on a meaningful possession through two games. Had Slay been able to finish the game, those figures might have been even better. Remarkable stuff.
This game was nowhere near as close in real life as it was on the scoreboard; the Birds had dominant advantages in yards (460-219), first downs (20-12), plays run (67-55), time of possession (32-28), yards per play (7.25-4.07) and 20+ yard plays (8-2). Bad luck on 4th down and the aforementioned turnovers kept this from being a rout.
The only negative takeaway from this game is the injuries; I question how well we'll do in a full game without four key offensive starters. Thankfully it looks like most if not all of the banged up guys will be back soon.
Looking ahead, I had Tampa down as the toughest of these three NFC South games, but they didn't look good at all today. Philly should be favored, assuming they get good injury news.
FLY EAGLES FLY!
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