The Philadelphia Eagles’ defense turned in a dominating performance, harassing Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions in their 16-9 win on Sunday night. With the victory, the Eagles hold on to the coveted top seed in the NFC, sitting at 8-2, tied with the Los Angeles Rams but owning the tiebreaker.
The offense did not match the defense’s performance, but found a way to capitalize on some plus field position to get points on the boar,d although there was more meat left on the bone for Jalen Hurts and company.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the game:
The Eagles have turned a corner defensively under Vic Fangio and the NFL should be on notice. There are a couple of reasons for the noticeable success, but perhaps the biggest factor is the much-improved pass rush highlighted by the addition of Jaelan Phillips.
Moro Ojomo made two key fourth-down stops, helping the defense go a perfect 5-for-5 in stopping the Lions on fourth down in the win.
“I think the last four weeks, the rushing defense has been amazing,” Ojomo said. “People don’t realize how much that takes, how much it accounts into pass rush. We’ve been able to stop the run and rush the passer. Kudos to [Clint] Hurtt and [Jeremiah] Washburn. Those are great guys in pass rush and they’ve put us in great positions.”
The Eagles held the Lions to 3-for-13 on third downs, and it was an impressive effort at all three levels of the defense. Jordan Davis swatted three passes, including one on Detroit’s first drive, resulting in a Cooper DeJean interception. Phillips had five tackles, a sack and four quarterback pressures. Nakobe Dean made his physical play felt late in the game.
Goff, who entered the game leading the NFL in completing 74% of his passes, was just 14 of 37 (38%) Sunday night and threw for 255 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
“The defense was playing lights out, it was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen,” Jalen Hurts said.
Ultimately, the Eagles picked up another win against a formidable opponent, but the offense was tough to watch throughout the game. For the eighth time this season, Philadelphia was outgained with the Lions totaling 317 yards to the 272 for the Eagles.
The offense was just good enough to get the win, but for a second straight week, Hurts and company scored just one touchdown while going 4-for-15 on third downs. They also had five drives where they failed to pick up a first down.
Hurts threw for just 135 yards, going 14-of-28, while adding 31 yards and a touchdown with his legs.
“We have to be more efficient,” Hurts said. “We have to take advantage of opportunities when they are there and we have to control the things that we can control.”
The Eagles won in ugly style, but if they want to repeat as Super Bowl champions, they are going to need to find a way to be more consistent.
Coming off a solid performance last week at Green Bay, the Eagles were hoping that Jackson could build off that showing and grab the second outside cornerback spot by the horns, which has been an unsettled position seemingly all season.
The veteran quietly had perhaps his best game as an Eagle. He was beaten by Jameson Williams on a 40-yard touchdown, but stood his ground, especially against the Lions’ top target in Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“I felt like Adoree’ really had a good game after that to be able to put it in the past and execute when we needed him the most,” Nick Sirianni said.
Jackson made a play during a goal-line stop and then had a pivotal third-down pass deflection in the fourth quarter.
Per NextGen Stats, Jackson faced St. Brown 11 times and allowed one catch for eight yards on five targets.
“Staying true to myself. Obviously, there’s a lot of external factors that can happen that can cause some people to go dismay and not really keep having the confidence and going out there,” Jackson said.
“For me, you’re either born with it or you’re not. To have that resiliency and to understand it’s not the end of the world, but if you can find a way to improve and keep stacking the days, good things will happen.”
A lot has been made this season about the star wide receiver being unhappy with his usage in the offense, taking to different social media platforms to express his dissatisfaction. It got to a point earlier this week that a meeting between Brown and Jeffrey Lurie was set up by Eagles’ chief of security Dom DiSandro.
On Sunday night, Brown was targeted a season-high 11 times, hauling in seven catches for 49 yards. The rest of the receiving corps combined for seven catches, with Jahan Dotson and Dallas Goedert each having tw,o while DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley and Kylen Granson each had one.
Hurts would not clearly confirm if the offense made it a conscious effort to get the ball to Brown.
“Yeah, just going with the flow of the game, how it was called and trying to go out there and execute. That may be a [Eagles OC Kevin Patullo] KP question.”
Despite the offensive inconsistencies, the Eagles remain the best team in the NFL. If they lost on Sunday night, Philadelphia would have dropped to the third seed. But they didn’t.
The Eagles now have key wins over the Lions, Packers, Rams, Chiefs and Buccaneers, four teams figuring to be in the NFC playoff picture and the Chiefs have been the league’s poster child for success ever since Patrick Mahomes entered the league.
A 2-0 stretch playing at Green Bay and against the Lions on a short week shows how good this team already is and there is still room for improvement. Looking ahead, the Eagles only have three teams remaining on their schedule with a winning record in the Chargers, Bears and Bills.
If the Eagles get the top seed in the NFC, it bodes well for them, obviously, but not for the rest of the NFC. Pair cold January weather with a raucous home crowd and this could turn into another perfect storm for the Eagles to return to the Super Bowl for the third time in the last four seasons.
