Should Eagles fans worry over recent wins?
The Eagles have the talk show hosts and callers in a high anxiety level.
The reason?
Their recent wins against the softer portion of their schedule have been close calls—not the landslides everyone expected them to be.
The 4-0 Eagles in case anybody forgets.
There is no question that they haven’t looked quite as dominant as last year’s team that went 14-3 in the regular season, including 14-1 with Jalen Hurts at quarterback. However, as we mentioned following their opening 25-20 win in New England, the most important thing in the NFL is earning the win.
Wasn’t that apparent last week when the depleted Arizona Cardinals walloped the Dallas Cowboys, 28-16 in a game that wasn’t even that close?
The only other unbeaten NFL team is the San Francisco 49ers, who will be the Eagles biggest challenger in the NFC, if both teams can stay relatively healthy.
The complaint by Eagles fans is that they are not playing well against the softer part of their schedule.
What will they do, the fans ask, when the Eagles have to meet the likes of Kansas City, Buffalo, San Francisco, and yes, Dallas?
While the Cowboys looked like a junior high team against Arizona, there is still talent on that team and should earn double-digit wins this year, even with their best cornerback Trevon Diggs out for the season with a torn ACL.
What was surprising in Sunday’s 34-31 OT win over Washington was how the Commanders scored on the Eagles’ defense. This was a Commanders’ team that got smoked, 37-3, the previous week at home against Buffalo.
Also, the previous week, the Eagles defense was relentless in a 25-11 win in Tampa. The Eagles were far from imposing against the Commanders.
In Tampa, the Eagles held the Bucs to 187 total yards.
As for Washington, second-year quarterback Sam Howell, who has encountered his struggles in his first season as a full-time starter, completed 29 of 41 passes for 290 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Howell, who was sacked five times and was running for his life, rushed for 40 yards on six carries. He recorded an impressive 98.6 passer rating.
On the bright side, the Eagles offense had a strong game and Hurts enjoyed his best game of the young season.
He completed 25 of 37 for 319 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Hurts, who still hasn’t been a dominant runner this season, rushed for 34 yards on nine carries. It gave him a 112.3 passer rating.
The other thing that was impressive was that AJ Brown had a breakout game–nine receptions for 175 yards and two touchdowns. We could have done without that taunting penalty, but nobody’s perfect.
The Eagles now visit the Los Angeles Rams, who have improved after last season. After winning the Super Bowl in the 2021 season, the Rams slumped to 5-12 last year. Their best offensive lineman retired after winning the Super Bowl, they traded away their top draft picks and several key players were injured.
It happens.
Yet the Eagles haven’t taken a Rams-like regression after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
The Eagles are expected to again reach the Super Bowl, but who knows how that will go?
Still, they have plenty of room to improve, but it’s much better to do so with a 4-0 start.
And remember going 4-0 regardless of the competition, shouldn’t be taken for granted.
This is the seventh time in team history the Eagles have started 4-0 (and the second consecutive year of doing so).
Hurts has now won 21 of his last 22 regular season games. According to the Eagles, since 1950, Hurts is the seventh quarterback in NFL history to achieve this feat.
The others?
Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Jim McMahon, Joe Montana and Daryle Lamonica.
That's a pretty heady company.
It also shows that what the Eagles and Hurts are accomplishing doesn’t happen very often.
There is no doubt that the Eagles have to pick up their play, but fretting over wins seems silly.
Now if they happen to lose more than a few times, that may be a different story.
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Author: Marc Narducci
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