ClutchPoints
It happened, it finally happened: the Philadelphia Eagles have figured it out.
Now granted, the team has looked good since returning from the bye, securing a fun Week 6 win over the Cleveland Browns and a dominant W over the New York Giants the week after that, but those wins were against bad teams and were somewhat flukey. How often will the Eagles get to face off against an opponent who puts up less than 250 total yards, let alone one who gets outgained by their former running back, Saquon Barkley, all by himself?
Throw the Eagles against a legitimate opponent, and what would happen? Would the team continue to impress, or would they instead look like they were playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers all over again, looking underprepared and overmatched on both sides of the ball?
Well, in Week 8, Eagles fans got the closest thing to an answer they could ask for when the Eagles secured a commanding win over the Cincinnati Bengals in a true three-phase routing of Joe Burrow’s squad.
The offense was efficient, with Nick Sirianni remaining committed to running the ball even when Barkley wasn’t earning a massive average, and when the big plays started coming, both in the passing and rushing game, it was like a dagger through the heart of the Bengals who effectively gave up on the game after fumbling away their best chance at a comeback in the fourth.
Will the Bengals be in the playoffs later this year? Maybe yes, maybe no, but if the Eagles play the way they did in Week 8, it’s hard to see a world where they don’t finish the season with double-digit wins and potentially even represent the NFC East in the playoffs once more. Why? Because Sirianni has found a winning strategy that is built for long-term success.
Over the first month of the 2024 NFL season, the Eagles’ offense looked disjointed. They – still – didn’t throw to the middle of the field, took unnecessarily risky shots down the sidelines, and ultimately turned the ball over at a clip that the defense didn’t match.
Sure, they entered the bye week with a 2-2 record and easily could have been 3-1 if it wasn’t for a single drop from Barkley, but the Buccaneers showed the offense was flawed, and if Kellen Moore and company didn’t come up with a creative solution to get things back on track, chances are they would get exposed in a big way down the stretch.
Fortunately, the Eagles did just that and have figured out a way to remain effective in both the passing and rushing game without forcing things too much one way or the other.
They’ve controlled the clock with their strong rushing offense – even if the Browns technically had the ball for two minutes longer because of their turnover issues – and have used Barkley’s reputation as a big-league slugger to...
