November 16, 2024
The Eagles are on a six-game heater, just put away the Cowboys and Commanders back-to-back to stay undefeated in the division, and now sit completely alone atop the NFC East now that their work for Week 11 is done early with a 26-18 over Washington on Thursday night.
The Birds have just been a different team since coming back from the bye week in early October, preceded by a highly shaky 2-2 start that had just about everyone in the Delaware Valley calling for head coach Nick Sirianni's job (even though they still kind of are now).
But no matter where you look now, it all points to the Eagles being good, the NFL's best even in some cases.
Detroit's still out there, along with Minnesota, an upstart Washington team still, and maybe even the 49ers if they're healthy enough.
But see the numbers don't lie, and they're spelling disaster for the NFC.
Here's a look at the Eagles' wins streak by the numbers...
Starting with Philly's new big star, Saquon Barkley reached 1,137 yards rushing with Thursday night's win over Washington, eclipsing the 1,000-yard milestone for the fourth time in his seven-year career and, for now, putting him in the league rushing lead after 10 games.
Baltimore's Derrick Henry trails him slightly with 1,120 yards, though the Ravens will face the Steelers on Sunday with the running back undoubtedly set to receive a good amount of carries.
Still, it's basically Barkley and Henry gunning for the rushing title, as Carolina's Chuba Hubbard is the distant third with 818 yards on the ground.
The number of 100-plus yard rushing games Barkley has on the season, which leads the NFL. He has four of those performances in the past five games alone, with the latest being the 146 he ran for on Thursday night.
Henry and Houston's Joe Mixon are each behind him in second with five.
The number of turnovers Jalen Hurts has had in the six games since the bye week – an interception and a fumble lost, both of which happened in last week's big win over the Cowboys in Dallas.
Could you argue that he still needs to show more MVP-level play at quarterback? Sure.
Has he taken much better care of the ball though since opening up the season with eight turnovers in that rough 2-2 start? Absolutely.
Also the number of times Commanders safety Percy Butler just had to eat a downfield block from Cam Jurgens on Barkley's 39-yard touchdown pitch late into Thursday night's Eagles win.
There's blocks & then there's CAM JURGENS’ BLOCKS 😳 pic.twitter.com/Ju4XuyYu65
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 15, 2024
Butler saw green on that play, just nowhere close to the shade he was looking for.
The Eagles, meanwhile, are doing great at center in the post-Jason Kelce era. Jurgens has made sure of that.
The Eagles' average yards of offense per game, which ranks fourth in the NFL behind Green Bay in third (390.6), San Francisco in second (412.4), and Baltimore at the top (440.2).
The Eagles' offense has been notoriously slow to start this season. However, once they get going, they more often than not get going, typically sparked by a big play from either Barkley, A.J. Brown, or DeVonta Smith.
The number of field goals Jake Elliott has missed this season, including two on Thursday night and three in the past three games.
Elliott only missed two of 32 field goals all of last season, and was up there in the conversation as one of the best kickers in the league.
But he has struggled of late, and that is going to be a concern as the season wears on unless he instantly gets back to being near-automatic from 50-plus yards away.
Terry McLaurin's receiving yards Thursday night, on one reception and just two targets.
The Eagles' defense made the Washington star receiver invisible on Thursday night.
And Quinyon Mitchell played a big factor in that. The rookie corner has been lights out as a starter in the Eagles's secondary, getting targeted in coverage 46 times so far this season, but only allowing 24 completions and zero touchdowns, per Pro-Football-Reference.
Mitchell is still looking for his first career interception, but has eight pass breakups, and since getting tagged for 73 yards in the Week 4 loss at Tampa Bay, has drastically cut down on his yards allowed per game – 10 vs. Cleveland, 15 at New York, 25 at Cincinnati, 23 vs. Jacksonville, 17 at Dallas, and then just 9 vs. Washington.
Quinyon Mitchell had Terry McLaurin in JAIL last night 🔒
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) November 15, 2024
When matching up against Mitchell, McLaurin had:
• 20 routes ran
• 0 targets
McLaurin finished the game with 1 reception for 10 yards.
The Eagles rookie CB had the CLAMPS on one of the league’s best WR’s. pic.twitter.com/FPUsU0iL5k
Zack Baun has also been a major piece in the Eagles' defense, a total revelation at linebacker, and maybe the biggest steal of the offseason.
After Thursday night's win, Pro Football Focus rated Baun with a 91.3 coverage grade for the season, which is second only to the 49ers' Fred Warner among all linebackers.
The average yards per game the Eagles' defense has allowed, which stands as the best rate in the NFL entering Sunday.
Be it Mitchell, Baun, Cooper DeJean, Nakobe Dean, Reed Blankenship Jalen Carter, even Nolan Smith, or whoever you want to point to, Vic Fangio's personnel has turned things around quickly since that 2-2 start, and have been suffocating opposing offenses ever since.
The number of turnovers the Eagles' defense has forced since returning from the early October bye, all of which have come in the past four games, with five of them being made last week against Dallas alone.
There are a lot of reasons the Eagles are hot right now, but the sudden surge in turnover fortune has been a massive one, and goes a long way toward putting games completely away, like Blankenship's fourth-quarter pick did Thursday night (of course, followed by another big Barkley touchdown).
ALL ABOARD THE BLANKENSHIP 🚢@reedus99_reed | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/Q1L5mSvcCm
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 15, 2024
MORE: The 2024 Eagles just feel different from last year's version
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