Against Raiders, the Eagles Avoided One Thing That’s Been Killing Them All Year

The Las Vegas Raiders didn’t put up much of a fight on Sunday afternoon, nor did they put up any points, 0 in total.

But on the offensive side of the ball, the Eagles converted 10 of 13 third downs while finding themselves in the following situations:

• 3rd and 3
• 3rd and 4
• 3rd and 1
• 3rd and 6
• 3rd and 6
• 3rd and goal (from the 4)
• 3rd and 6
• 3rd and 3
• 3rd and 8
• 3rd and 2 (then penalty to make it 3rd and 12)
• 3rd and 5
• [garbage time now]
• 3rd and 4
• 3rd and 8
• 3rd and 4
• 3rd and goal (from the 2)

Only once did they face anything at 3rd and 10 or longer. It was an average of 5.08 yards to go on third down, which was the second-best team total among all Week 15 games played through Sunday evening. Only the Rams had a better number, needing five yards on average to move the sticks on third down against the Lions.

This is a statistic that’s been absolutely killing the Eagles all season long. Through 14 weeks, they had the second worst number in the NFL, needing 7.85 yards on average to convert on third down. With the turnaround on Sunday afternoon, it dropped that number to… 7.64, which is still third worst in the league. So they’re not going to work their way down the list with just a few games remaining, but they can certainly build on what did against Las Vegas by avoiding dumb penalties, limiting stuffed runs, and doing everything in their power to stay on schedule and not get stuck behind the sticks. There’s an opportunity to keep that momentum going against an injury-wracked and playoff-eliminated Washington team this weekend, with the NFC East title on the line.

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