November 25, 2024
Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images
Jalen Hurts has had this view of Saquon Barkley often this season.
In Week 12, the Philadelphia Eagles dominated another opponent, this time the Los Angeles Rams, on their way to a seventh straight win.
As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards.
Barkley had 26 carries for 255 yards and 2 TDs, and added 4 catches on 4 targets for 47 yards. He finished with 302 (!) yards from scrimmage. Here were 70 of those yards:
And here were 72 more of those yards:
On the season, Barkley has 223 carries for 1392 yards, and 10 TDs. He also has 27 catches for 257 yards and 2 TDs. He is on pace for 2151 rushing yards. The NFL record is 2105, by Eric Dickerson in 1984.
He should be the NFL favorite for MVP honors.
The win came at a cost, as the team may have lost Brandon Graham for the season with a torn triceps.
Before the season, Graham said that the 2024 season, his 15th in the NFL, would be his last. He played very well, and was arguably the team's best edge defender. If indeed his season is over, Graham will have finished with 20 tackles and 3.5 sacks, with his stats not truly showing his actual impact, as has been the case throughout his career.
He had a sack on a third down in the second quarter that led to a Rams punt.
Brown had 6 catches on 7 targets for 109 yards and a TD. The Eagles ran the ball 45 times vs. 22 pass attempts, so Brown didn't get many opportunities, but it was clear that the Rams didn't have any corners who could match up with him.
How many Rams players does it take to bring down AJ Brown? 😱
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) November 25, 2024
🎥 @NFLpic.twitter.com/tkanrhM2K1
On their first two drives, the Rams moved the ball well against the Eagles defense. They gained 53 yards on 5 plays on their first drive, with ended with a lost fumble by Kyren Williams.
On their second drive, they drove 70 yards on 9 plays for a TD.
Two drives, 14 plays, 123 yards.
But as he has done during the Eagles' winning streak, Vic Fangio adjusted, and the defense played far better the rest of the game. On their next four drives during the first half, the Rams ran 10 plays for -6 yards.
MORE: Saquon Barkley's historic night carries Eagles to victory over Rams
The Eagles sacked Matthew Stafford 5 times. Milton Williams had 2, while Graham, Josh Sweat and Nakobe Dean each had 1.
And when they didn't get home, the Eagles' pass rush often forced Stafford into rushed throws that ended up as incompletions.
Remember when the Eagles would seemingly give up endless third-down conversions? Well, the Rams were 0 for 8 on third down. That's been a trend.
• Rams: 0/8
• Commanders: 3/12
• Cowboys: 3/14
• Jaguars: 3/10
That would be 9 for 44, or 20.5%.
MORE: The pivotal plays from the Eagles' blowout win over the Rams
Cooper DeJean is just really good. Example No. 1:
Cooper vs. Cooper.
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) November 25, 2024
Against one of the most skilled route runners in the NFL…
Cooper DeJean completely shuts DOWN Cooper Kupp to get a big 3rd down stop.
DeJean continues to make an instant impact in the NFL. pic.twitter.com/m3oFQbbaWV
And example No. 2:
The fluidness of Cooper DeJean is impressive. pic.twitter.com/mcbL2OH0Tj
— Aidan Doc 🧸 (@AidanDoc__) November 25, 2024
The Eagles struck gold with Quinyon Mitchell in Round 1 and DeJean in Round 2. It still blows my mind that DeJean was not a first-round pick.
Hurts was 15 of 22 for 179 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs. He also ran 12 times for 39 yards. On a night when Barkley was dominating, Hurts did well not to turn the ball over.
He now has just one INT in the last 7 games.
I'm just going to update this chart every week until the Eagles finally don't dominate their opponent:
| Eagles opponent | Eagles yards | Opponent yards | Differential |
| Browns | 372 | 244 | +128 |
| At Giants | 339 | 119 | +220 |
| At Bengals | 397 | 280 | +117 |
| Jaguars | 447 | 215 | +232 |
| At Cowboys | 348 | 146 | +202 |
| Commanders | 434 | 264 | +170 |
| At Rams | 481 | 290 | +191 |
| TOTAL | 2818 | 1558 | +1260 |
In addition to the Eagles' win, the Commanders lost to the Cowboys. The updated NFC East standings:
| NFC East | Record | Div record | GB |
| Eagles | 9-2 | 3-0 | - |
| Commanders | 7-5 | 2-2 | 2.5 |
| Cowboys | 4-7 | 2-1 | 5 |
| Giants | 2-9 | 0-4 | 8 |
The Commanders' loss was particularly damaging because it came against a divisional opponent. The Eagles hold a head-to-head advantage over the Commanders, and they have a 3-0 record in the division, while the Commanders are now 2-2 in divisional play. Even if the Commanders are able to beat the Eagles Week 16, evening the head-to-head series, the Eagles would only need to beat the Cowboys and Giants at home to clinch the tiebreaker.
It's also noteworthy that the Eagles have a three-game edge over the leaders in the NFC West (the Seahawks) and NFC South (the Falcons), who are both 6-5.
The Eagles are a good bet to at least earn the 2 seed, while they continue to apply pressure to the 10-1 Lions for the 1 seed.
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