The Eagles are the best football team in the state of Pennsylvania.
It wasn't a foregone conclusion until Sunday evening, but the now 12-2 Eagles bested a Steelers team that many feared, 27-13, in Week 15. With a Lions loss to the Bills in Detroit, Philly is now tied for the best record in the NFC with three games left to play — all against NFC East rivals.
Like we do after each and every game, here's a look at a reason for optimism, and for despair as the season reaches the postseason stretch run:
Stock up — Passing offense 📈
The two things the Eagles were fighting off like mosquitos this past week were their nagging inability to start games quickly, and their sluggish passing attack. They won in spite of that last week, in a nail-biter against the lowly Panthers (and that had been talked about ad nauseam all week long).
Jalen Hurts — broken finger (on his non-throwing hand) and all — came out firing, and it silenced doubters pretty quickly.
In the opening drive against the Steelers, Hurts hit tight end Grant Calcaterra on the first play from scrimmage for 22 yards and would go on to complete four passes in six plays to lead to a field goal and an all-too rare first quarter lead.
After an overcome Hurts fumble, the Eagles saw the quarterback fire back-to-back bullets to A.J Brown, and after a 22-yard Saquon Barkley scamper, Brown caught a touchdown in the back of the end zone to put Philly up 10-3. Best friends again.
Last week, Brown started the "controversy" when he said the Eagles needed to get better at "passing." Veteran pass rusher Brandon Graham made things worse by implying that Hurts and Brown were having issues in the locker room before walking it back.
After four targets in Week 14, Brown had 11 of them, catching eight passes for 110 yards on the day.
Philly's other aerial star, DeVonta Smith got his touchdown pass later in the second, after a nine-play drive that put the Eagles up convincingly 17-3. He had 11 catches for 109 yards.
Following last week's 108-yard effort, Hurts threw for 291 yards, including four of them on this play:
Hurts might be flawed — who isn't — but he can win games in a variety of ways and showed that through the air in the Birds' most recent win. In contrast to using Saquon Barkley as a closer in the fourth, the Birds threw the ball down the stretch and it worked, as they kept the ball away from Russell Wilson and the Steelers offense for most of the second half (they dominated time of possession in this one).
Stock down — Ball security 📉
A win like this over a contending team like the Steelers leaves a much better taste in Eagles fans' mouths than last week's stinker near loss against Carolina. And so the knock against them after this win is something that didn't really hurt them in this game. But it could, and will, in the future.
The Eagles fumbled the ball twice in the first half — and their top 5 NFL defense made it irrelevant — first forcing a three-and-out, and then saving Cooper DeJean's butt by holding the Steelers to a field goal inside the red zone.
Hurts was the first culprit, coughing up the ball on a scramble in the early going that he really should have just given up on. Not long after, DeJean fumbled a punt return, setting up Pittsburgh at the 11-yard line. These are blemishes that happen from time to time and the Eagles, frankly were due.
Prior to kickoff Sunday, Philly hadn't turned the ball over since November 10th in Dallas — a game that saw Hurts commit two turnovers but the defense forced five of its own. It was the first game the Eagles won while also losing the turnover battle since Week 3 when they beat the Saints in New Orleans.
In all, the Eagles' season-long turnover differential (they collected a Najee Harris fumble) drops to plus-3, a gigantic improvement after they started the year at minus-six through four games. Philadelphia's high-powered defense has caused a turnover in seven of its last eight games during their franchise-best 10-game win streak.
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