Another week, another Eagles win! Philly opens up 5-0 for the second straight year, and just the third time in Jeffrey Lurie's ownership of the team. This win was a pleasant surprise for me; I didn't feel good going into the weekend and went so far as to pick against them on another platform. Wrong! Philly's nine point win undersold how well they played in some ways. The box score dominance was impressive (454-249 yardage, 28-17 first downs, 78-55 total plays, 38-22 ToP). Philly ran off two more drives of 15+ plays. The only thing that prevented this from being a 40 point Birds afternoon was some red zone follies, including Jalen's ill-advised throw that was picked. Let's talk about some of the game's other major storylines:
Eagles fns show up in a big way. Of course it's hard to tell on TV, but it sure looked (and sounded) like the EAgles had at least as many fans in LA as the Rams did. That effect is partly due to the passion of Eagles Nation, and partially due to the pitiful state of sports fandom in LA.
Injured OL? No problem. Sua Opeta seemed to step in and the team didn't miss a beat with 159 rushing yards and only one sack allowed. It also seemed to be the most penalty-free game the unit has played in awhile. This may undersell how well the line played, as Philly converted all of its meaningful Brotherly Shove attempts. Aaron Donald didn't really impact the game in a significant way.
Pass rush coming to life. On the other hand, the Eagles' star DL members continue to assert themselves. Haason Reddick racked up two sacks in the game's biggest moment, and Jalen Carter added two more. Both Sweat and Graham hassled Stafford pretty regularly and he was rarely comfortable back there.
Secondary still finding its way. If there's a negative takeaway, it's that the Rams WRs were running free most of the day. Stafford missed at least four throws downfield that would have been explosive plays had he been more accurate. The Eagles' pass rush gets some of that credit but not all. Of course, the first half was mostly a horror show of pass defense for the visitors. Blankenship seemed to me to be the only starter that was regularly in the right position for most of the game. There's still a lot of season left and this is a veteran group that will improve, but this was not a great outing for the DBs.
Jalen Hurts continues to improve. I think this was the first time this year that Jalen has looked like himself as a runner; he ran for an impressive six first downs (counting that touchdown) and seemed to have the old speed back. It's possible that his preseason of almost complete inactivity hurt his conditioning or something, because he seems to be improving week by week. As a passer he was solid with that exception of that red zone interception, on which it almost seemed that there was a disconnect on where the WR was supposed to be. On the whole, I'd say that this was the second straight game of above average performance for Jalen, giving meaningful hope that his early season struggles may be a thing of the past.
Balanced attack finally includes Dallas Goedert. We've all been wondering when Goedert would get going and today was that day, as his 117 yards exceeded his total from the first four games combined. Three different players (Goedert, Brown, Swift) all gained more than 100 yards from scrimmage. The Rams seemed to make a concerted effort to take DeVonta Smith out of the game (it worked) but it didn't matter.
The schedule will continue to get more difficult from here. The next NINE games (@Jets, Dolphins, @Commanders, Cowboys, @Chiefs, Bills, 49ers, @Cowboys, @Seahawks) all look tricky in their own way. Racking up these five wins in the most manageable stretch of the schedule was critical as the goal for the next two months will probably be to tread water; if we can emerge from that nine game stretch with five or six wins, we'll be in great shape for the final stretch.
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