For a Game, Last Year's Eagles Resurface

For all those wondering about the Eagles' passing game, they answered those questions in a resounding fashion—at least for one afternoon,

Jalen Hurts put up a perfect passer rating of 158.3. He completed 19 of 23 passes for 326 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. DeVonta Smith had a career game with nine receptions for 183 yards and a 79-yard touchdown pass—that well-thrown bomb by Hurts on a go pattern.

AJ Brown shouldn’t complain about not having passes thrown his way for now. He had four receptions for 121 yards and two scores.

The Eagles didn’t run the ball well and will have to improve there to be more well-rounded but they showed against a decent—not great— Vikings defense that they can have a dangerous passing game.

For all the criticism of Hurts, he throws a great deep ball. Of course, it also helped that former Eagle Carson Wentz threw a Pick-6 to Jalyx Hunt, who returned his interception 42 yards for a score. Wentz was only sacked twice, but the Eagles defensive line was putting on some serious pressure all game. 

So now at 5-2, the question is: Are the Eagles back on the right track?

Who knows with this team, but they host the New York Giants this coming Sunday at 1 p.m. We know the Giants aren’t a gimme, especially after the way they routed the Eagles, 34-17 on Oct. 9.

In addition, the Giants are coming off one of the most crushing losses after yesterday's 33-32 defeat at Denver. The Giants led 19-0 and later 26-8 early in the fourth quarter. They took the lead at 32-30 with 37 seconds left after a 1-yard run by rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, and still couldn’t hold on to that lead. It was a fourth quarter in which the Giants were outscored 33-13. New York missed two extra point kicks that should have been the difference.

It had to be a long flight from Denver back to New York—and one where the Giants might have started emotionally preparing to bounce back against an Eagles team that certainly has revenge on its mind after that dispirited loss nearly two weeks prior.

After next week’s Giants game, the Eagles have a bye. If they win on Sunday, they will be 6-2 at the bye. Who wouldn’t have signed up for that, especially with such a difficult early schedule that included wins over Kansas City, the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay, all of which were playoff teams last year with the potential to make a deep run this year.

So, the Eagles haven’t always been consistent, and they have to generate more sacks, or at least the relentless pressure they threw at Minnesota. It’s too premature to suggest the Eagles are back, but what they showed against Minnesota is that they can be an explosive (yet still inconsistent) offense. The defense still needs to improve but they won the turnover battle 2-0—and that usually leads to victory.

The Eagles, like many NFL contenders, are still a work in progress. There doesn’t appear to be one dominant team in the NFC this year (such as the Eagles of last year) so their chance of contending remains. The two-game losing-streak is over, but likely the worrying by the fans won’t stop anytime soon.

Photo courtesy of Eagles X/Twitter

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Author: Marc Narducci