We are approaching Week 9 of the NFL season which marks the halfway point in the 18-week regular season schedule. The Philadelphia Eagles will be one of four teams on their bye week and for Philadelphia, it comes at a good time. A respectable 6-2 record despite not playing their best football through the first half of their schedule brings confidence that the team will turn the corner as it typically does under Nick Sirianni with the extra rest.
There are really only two players to choose from between Campbell and safety Drew Mukuba. Campbell has made his presence felt from the jump. In the season opener against Dallas, he was credited with forcing the fumble to abruptly end a promising drive for the Cowboys to help win that game. At Tama in Week 4, he came up with a game-sealing interception when Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers were driving late in the game to hold on to a 31-25 win.
Campbell has lost some playing time with the return of Nakobe Dean, but Vic Fangio explained that the reason for that is they are teaching the rookie to be more versatile.
“Part of what happened last week was we were down to 3 OLBs so Jihaad was playing there in base, but wanted to teach him the nickel stuff too in case we needed him there,” Fangio said.
“This week was choppy from a mental standpoint, learning a new position and new assignments that he hadn’t been exposed to before due to the lack of guys at that position. That led to him not playing as much.”
At the time of writing, Campbell has the second highest odds (+320) to win Defensive Rookie of the Year behind the Giants’ Abdul Carter (+110).
You could argue that DeJean also deserves to be named the defensive player of the year up to this point of the season, but with his ability to play at a high level both at the nickel cornerback position and now holding his own on the outside, DeJean earns the X-Factor award.
DeJean showed he can hang with the best of them on the outside, most notably against Vikings’ Justin Jefferson where he defended the future hall of famer tightly and knocked the ball out of Jefferson’s hands for what would have been a touchdown.
Per NextGen Stats, DeJean has aligned at outside cornerback 25.3% of his snaps this season including 95.8% of snaps (113 of 118) when in base personnel (4 DBs). Across 45 coverage snaps on the outside, he has more passes defensed (3) than receptions (1) across five targets faced.
If DeJean can continue to thrive on the outside, it gives Vic Fangio and the defense even more flexibility and makes DeJean a versatile weapon.
This is not a singular player, but rather a recognition of how well the offense, which had been quite inconsistent through the first eight games, is able to dial it in once the team gets inside the red zone.
The Eagles lead the NFL in red zone scoring percentage with an impressive 85%. Washington is the second most successful when inside the 20-yard line scoring touchdowns 75% of the time. Last season, the Eagles had a 58.3% red zone scoring percentage in terms of scoring touchdowns.
This season, the offense has scored 17 touchdowns in 20 trips to the red zone, which has been an integral part of their success and why they are 6-2 despite being outgained in seven of their eight games this season.
Sticking with the theme with the biggest surprise, the offensive inconsistency has created frustration among the players and fans creating most of the disappointment despite the 6-2 start.
It marks another season where the offense seemingly struggles out of the gate despite the load of talent it has up front and at the skill positions.
Until Sunday’s win over New York, the offense would show flashes of dominance, sustaining long scoring drives then just as quickly fall out of rhythm, get behind schedule and have consecutive three-and-outs that would sometimes close out an entire half.
Perhaps, the offense figured something out against the Giants with much improved offensive line play. The Week 10 matchup against a much better Green Bay defense led by Micah Parsons should serve as a better litmus test.
Smith is on pace to have his best season as a pro and projected to finish with 1,250 receiving yards which would set a new career-high and mark his third 1,000-yard season.
He led the team in receiving in Sunday’s win over the Giants with 84 yards on six catches to take over the top wideout spot with A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury.
Smith leads the team in yards (588), catches (44), targets (55) and yards per game (73.5). Across the NFL, the wideout ranks sixth in the NFL in receiving yards, tenth in receptions, and 12th in yards per game.
In his fifth season, Smith has made some clutch catches so far this season and continues to be an underrated pass catcher across the league with his excellent route running ability, knack for tracking down deep passes with Jalen Hurts and willingness to make tough catches while taking big hits.
If anyone thought Baun’s magical 2024 season was a fluke, he has quickly silenced any remaining doubters. The linebacker has been everywhere on the field playing as a well-rounded linebacker helping in the run, in pass coverage while also pressuring opposing quarterbacks.
Baun leads the team with 64 total tackles, 12 more than Cooper DeJean who is second on the team. Baun also paces the team with five tackles for loss, tied for second on the team with three sacks, third with five passes defended and also has a fumble recovery.
He also provides leadership within the young defensive unit and has taken rookie Jihaad Campbell under his wing with his locker right next to the first-round pick.
It is hard to argue that it could be anyone but Hurts with how he has been playing over the last six weeks. Hurts has tracked up 15 touchdowns and has thrown just one interception in 215 passing attempts during that span. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes each have at least four picks. Hurts also ranks third among qualified quarterbacks in passer rating (114.4).
His strong play as of late has put him once again in the league’s MVP conversation.
While sometimes conservative, his cautious play style has worked more times than not all while finding the right time to strike with his deep ball accuracy that has improved since a couple early misses in the first few games of the season. Hurts has shown his ability to lead the offense down the field for crucial scoring drives evidenced in the Rams and Vikings games this season delivering with clutch throws when needed.
