Offense was in sync for the majority of the game
This was the closest the offense looked like the 2024 unit that had its way with nearly every opponent. The performance should be taken with a grain of salt because it was against the Raiders, but that was exactly what the Eagles needed to do against a much inferior team.
The Eagles
methodically marched down the field on the opening drive of the game on a 13-play, 67-yard drive that chewed up over seven minutes. They scored on three of their first drives in the first half, including an 11-play, 70-yard drive late in the second quarter to take a 17-0 lead and they did it with a well-balanced attack.
Saquon Barkley was featured early and often on the frigid Sunday afternoon. Jalen Hurts only had to throw the ball 15 times, completing 12 passes for three touchdowns, including his final one which was a 27-yard strike to A.J. Brown to make it 31-0 early in the fourth quarter, resulting in Nick Sirianni putting the backups in.
The Eagles also featured more designed runs for Hurts, more motion and more bunched formations, showing that perhaps Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni are changing the offense a bit to help play into the strengths of what should have been one of the highest scoring offenses in the NFL this season.
More importantly, the Eagles committed just three penalties in the win, the fewest in any game this season, with only one being charged to the offense.
Brandon Graham is an ageless wonder
How many players can come out of retirement and make an impact the way Brandon Graham has? Even more impressively, “BG” is doing so while
playing a different position at defensive tackle with Jalen Carter out.
The 37-year-old had two sacks in the win on Sunday and has looked quite good in the middle of the defensive line alongside Jordan Davis.
The pass rush has been much improved over the last two weeks with the Eagles compiling 11 sacks over the last two games against the Chargers and Raiders and Graham is expected to be a big part of it moving forward.
Jalen Hurts bounces back
After he played his worst game of his pro career in that Monday night loss to the Chargers where he had a career-high five turnovers, including two on one play, Hurts rebounded extremely well.
Going 12-for-15 through the air with three touchdowns and no interceptions, Hurts played his typical clean style of football and made the most of his lower passing attempts compared to the 40 he had in the Monday night loss.
“Everybody’s watching. It just comes with it and it hasn’t changed. I think everybody needs to remember where I come from and how I’m built,” Hurts said after the game regarding if he realized his teammates and outsiders would be watching how he bounced back after that tough game in L.A.
The quarterback also put to bed reports that came out earlier last week that he no longer wanted to run the football for health reasons, carrying the ball seven times for 39 yards, the most rushing yards he has had in a game since Week 4 at Tampa Bay when he matched a season-high of 62.
Defense can carry the Eagles to another Super Bowl
Aside from a two-game stretch,
the defense has been the best unit for the Eagles this season. They continue to play well under Vic Fangio and on Sunday, the defense was relentless against Kenny Pickett and the Raiders.
Led by Cooper DeJean and company, the Eagles allowed just 75 yards of total offense to Las Vegas, the first time and Eagles defense allowed fewer than 100 yards to an opposing offense since 2018 against Washington. That was also the last time the Eagles blanked an opponent.
The Raiders are not a good football team, but this was just simply a dominant performance from top to bottom by the defense and similar to the offense, a game where it can just build even more confidence in this unit.
“Not much was said. Everybody understood what happened in that Bears game and the way we played as a defense,” DeJean said post game.
“Allowing as many rushing yards we did, everyone understood what went wrong. We got that corrected in the meetings and we don’t want that to happen again. You saw today, we stopped the run, put them in predictable situations.”
The Eagles have a short week and will be back on the field Saturday at Washington with a 5 p.m. kickoff.
