December 17, 2024
Are power rankings completely dumb and meaningless? Yes. Yes, they are. However, personally speaking, whenever I see them, I click. And now that I've sucked you in with promises of many power rankings, you'll read it and like it.
Here's where people around the country have the Eagles ranked after Week 15 of the regular season. Oh, and here's our version of these sellout rankings, too.
Philadelphia passed its way to victory over Pittsburgh, and everything was suddenly OK again in Eagleland. Last week's drama did admittedly feel spicy at first, but the heat wore off pretty fast for me. Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown did their best to douse any narratives about off-field acrimony by connecting eight times for 110 yards, a touchdown and a celebration that, Brown explained, was intended "to tell everybody to shut up." Got it. DeVonta Smith silenced anyone questioning his health or role in the offense, giving Philly a true two-headed monster again. It’s nice to know that Saquon Barkley doesn't have to deliver a sonic boom every week. The league's leading rusher can have a relatively quiet day (65 rushing yards on 19 carries), and the Eagles can still roll -- against a good defensive team, to boot. Even with Hurts' first-quarter fumble, he and Brown were dialed in early and often. This is a really good football team that can hang with -- and beat -- anyone out there.
#JimmySays: The Eagles are pretty clearly the best team in the NFC, given the Lions' mountain of injuries.
Biggest improvement: Quarterback turnovers
Jalen Hurts had seven turnovers in the first four games -- second only to Will Levis over that span -- and the Eagles started 2-2. In the ensuing 10-game winning streak, he has had just three giveaways. The decision to become a more ground-heavy offense helped. But as shown in his 290-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Steelers, this offense is at its best when Hurts finds that sweet spot between being conservative and aggressive.
#JimmySays: During the streak heading into the Steelers game, Hurts had thrown 12 TDs vs. 1 INT, however, he was also averaging just 167.2 passing yards per game, and the ball often wasn't coming out when it should have. I agree that there is a "sweet spot" in between being too careless and too cautious, and that the Steelers game is an example of what that can be.
Side note: During the Eagles' 10-game win streak, Hurts has 26 TDs (14 passing, 12 rushing) vs. 3 turnovers (1 INT, 2 lost fumbles)
After winning their club-record 10th straight game Sunday, they're one victory shy of putting a Christmas bow on the NFC East. Now officially the league's No. 1 defense in terms of points and yards allowed, opponents are only averaging 15.1 points during Philly's heater. Hopefully the "little something" that began bothering RB Saquon Barkley on Sunday doesn't turn into a more serious issue that could potentially derail another season.
#JimmySays: Technically, there's a three-way tie for the No. 1 scoring defense, as the Eagles, Broncos, and Chargers have all allowed 247 points this season.
As for yards allowed per game, there's a pretty sizable gap between the Eagles (275.6 yards allowed per game) and the Titans (297.4 per game). Even if the Eagles allow 303 more yards than the Titans Week 16, they'll still have fewer yards per game allowed on the season.
Jalen Hurts putting up 290 yards and a 125.3 passer rating was telling. It was the Eagles’ way of responding to criticism — plenty of it brought on by A.J. Brown’s simple comment saying it wasn’t good enough — by letting the NFL world know that they can do everything well, if they want.
#JimmySays: The Eagles' passing offense looked good against the Steelers, but it was alarming in the three weeks that preceded that matchup. I'm sure they wanted to be good in those other games, too. Maybe the passing offense is fixed. I dunno, we'll see. There were encouraging signs on Sunday, but can they be consistent?
They keep on rolling in the NFC East, and the passing game came alive against the Steelers. But they do face a tough game on the road against the Commanders this week.
#JimmySays: The Chiefs hold the No. 1 spot in these power rankings, because 🤷♂️. They're not even in the top 10 in point differential, and Patrick Mahomes is hurt. The Bills? Sure.
The Eagles are the latest team to perfect the formula of, (1) creating an internal issue, (2) having the media notice it and talk about it, (3) fixing the issue, and (4) blaming the media for it.
#JimmySays: Amen. The backlash against "the media" in the aftermath of the Eagles' self-created drama this past week was weird as hell. Some dude even chartered a plane to fly over the stadium that read, "Enough fake news! Philly stands with 1 and 11."
When asked what the media did in the week leading up to the game that had him bothered, the person who claimed to have paid for the flyover responded, "Countless times, the media (local and national) pushed the objectively untrue narrative that there was a personal rift between Jalen and AJ. Maintained enough plausible deniability with BGs (sic) poorly worded comments, and used that to drive ratings at the obvious expense of the team."
"Objectively untrue," lol. The beloved 15-year vet said, direct quote, “I know 1 is trying and 11 could be better with how he responds to things. They were friends, but things have changed.”
But don't talk about it, media!
Anyway, I guess the full explanation of the beef with the media didn't fit on the banner.
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