Crossing Broad
The Eagles are 8-2, sitting atop the NFC East, and enjoying a six-game winning streak that started back on October 13th.
The offense is playing well, Saquon Barkley is the man, and Jalen Hurts is protecting the ball.
What’s most surprising, and impressive, is that the defense has been lights out ever since the disappointing Tampa game. You put it all together and now they are top five or top 10 across the board in most meaningful statistics (data via Sportradar) –
They’re doing this with an 18.3% pressure rate, which is 6th lowest in the NFL, and a 19.7% blitz rate, which is also 6th lowest. Still, they’re tied for 9th with 28 sacks, so you’re seeing a little bit of the Jonathan Gannon-esque 2022 template here. They don’t blitz a lot, and they stay home while sending four, yet they’re effective in shutting down big plays and limiting damage because there oftentimes is nowhere for the QB to go with the ball.
Another good indicator is in the red zone. At 85.7%, the Eagles are 17th when it comes to allowing red zone scoring. Middle of the road. However, if you filter out the field goals, teams are only scoring touchdowns 46.6% of the time when they get close, which is the 5th-lowest number in the entire league. That means the Eagles are bending, but not breaking, when opposing offenses get inside the 20.
The defense has been everything and more over these last six weeks specifically. And it’s the young players really stepping up. Jalen Carter? A beast. Cooper DeJean? Versatile. Quinyon Mitchell? Lockdown. Nolan Smith? Starting to have an impact. Throw in Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean’s better-than-anticipated linebacker play and the steadiness at the safety position and opposite outside corner (Slay+Isaiah Rodgers), and the only subpar area of the defense has been edge rushing. Even then, you see in the numbers above that they don’t have to be in the QB’s face on every down. They’re generating pressure on the interior with Carter and defending so well on the back end that it’s working just the same. This group has been playing high level football for more than a month now. We’ll find out if they continue to be the real deal with road games coming up against Matt Stafford and Lamar Jackson, plus Russell Wilson at the Linc.
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