November 27, 2023
For the fourth straight game, the Eagles were down at the half.
And for the fourth straight game, they looked like a mess in the process, well on their way to a defeat in the short term, and concerningly appearing vulnerable in the long term.
But then, for the fourth straight game, they found a way to win yet again.
Jalen Hurts would buckle down, the run game would get re-established, DeVonta Smith would somehow, someway make the big catch, Jake Elliott would make the impossible kick, and the defense, while not making all the stops, would always seem to make the timely ones to send the Eagles out on top.
First it was the win over Washington in Week 8, then Dallas, and then Kansas City at Arrowhead in the prime-time Super Bowl rematch last week.
Then on Sunday, in a total downpour down in South Philly, it was Hurts facing the Lincoln Financial Field crowd and holding out his arms in victory after a walk-off trot into the end zone to complete the 37-34 comeback over the Buffalo Bills in overtime.
They were down 10 at the half. They looked like a mess. But they found a way to win yet again, and within that gauntlet of a stretch in the schedule.
It wasn't pretty. Hardly any of it's been. But these Eagles just outright refuse to die.
"We always find a way, and that’s something you can’t really take for granted," Hurts said postgame. "It’s hard to quantify. Obviously, we have a ton to clean up. I have a ton to clean up. I have not executed to the level of my standard – what that is yet? You know, it seems to be enough. But in terms of the standard that I like to play to consistently and I’d like us to play to consistently, as a team, enough is never enough. So you just want to continue to strive for more and play to that standard.
"But, I think, in those moments, you just truly never want to get too high, never get too low. We found a way in the end and made it happen.”
All the way, so far, to an NFL-best 10-1 record and over contending teams like the Dolphins, Cowboys, Chiefs, and now the Bills (well, maybe not so much now), with the ever-salty but still fearsome 49ers on deck.
THE EAGLES WIN A THRILLER IN OT! #BUFvsPHI pic.twitter.com/sZpCdrwc7d
— NFL (@NFL) November 27, 2023
If the theme of the 2022 Eagles was simply pummeling most of their opponents, the 2023 team looks to have adopted an identity of down but never out.
Has the offense looked as fluid and the defense as fierce as they did throughout much of last season? At times, yeah, but never fully or consistently to that same extent.
The bulk of the performances, even going back to Week 1 in New England, have often felt roughly stitched together by a handful of big, momentum-seizing plays amidst a bunch of stagnant drives and prolonged defensive lapses, all while everyone waits for the Eagles to put a full 60 minutes together.
They haven't still. Yet at the same time, they still pulled off wins over two of the NFL's elite QBs in back-to-back weeks regardless, and after trailing too, which is arguably even more dangerous than a powerhouse that just runs right through all of its opponents without much pushback.
"Our guys know how to win," head coach Nick Sirianni said. "Why do our guys know how to win? Part of that's a product of what we've done here the last couple of years. Part of that is a product of we've got some guys that are still here from the 2017 Super Bowl team. Part of that is we got a lot of guys from Georgia that have won a lot. We have a lot of guys from Alabama that have won a lot.
"Again, I think the most important one is that we've done it together, right? You can win at all these different places, but when you find ways to win together, nobody flinches."
Even when they're down, and even if they look like a mess while they're at it.
They'll find a way.
Because they've done it before – multiple times now – and they'll do it again before this season is over.
Because these Eagles just outright refuse to die.
Which might make them the most dangerous team in the NFL right now.
"That’s 10 games won," Hurts said. "We just kind of want to keep it rolling, but we want to keep growing. We gotta continue to get better."
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