With the Los Angeles Rams in position for a game-winning field goal make, it looked like the Philadelphia Eagles would have to settle for a “moral win.”
There would’ve been reason to feel good about an all too dormant offense finally coming to life in a commendable comeback effort!
Instead, in no small part due to big man Jordan Davis, the Eagles came away with an actual win.
Because of course they did.
That’s all they do!
This is a team that’s won 19 of their last 20 games.
Picking them to lose at this point just feels foolish.
With the Birds advancing to 3-0 on the season, it’s time to hand out winners, losers, and I don’t knows.
For even more analysis, check out my appearance on The Ringer’s Philly Special postgame podcast with Sheil Kapadia (and Ace Producer Cliff Augustin).
WINNERS
JORDAN DAVIS
The Jordan Davis game!
It’s been a slow burn for the Eagles’ 2022 first-round pick but he finally has a signature game to his name.
Davis obviously made the play of the day when he blocked the game-winning field goal attempt from Joshua Karty … and then took the ball to the end zone for his first NFL touchdown.
But his impact was hardly limited to that play alone.
Other high-leverage moments from Davis included:
- A sack on Matthew Stafford where he prevented the Rams quarterback from running for a first down on 3rd-and-2 to instead force a punt.
- A tackle for loss on 4th-and-1 to force a turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter.
For the third straight game, Davis showed up big in the box score. That just wasn’t the norm for him prior to this season.
Case in point:
- Davis has logged 16 total tackles through three games this season. He’s on pace for 91, which would more than double his career high of 45.
- Davis has logged one sack through three games this season. He had one sack through 17 regular season games last year.
- Davis has logged one QB hit through three games this season. He had one QB hit through 17 regular season games last year.
- Davis has logged two TFLs through three games this season. He had three TFLs through 17 regular season games last year.
The Eagles picking up his fifth-year option for the 2026 season hardly felt like a no-brainer at the time. But that move sure has aged well. At the very least, the Eagles will have Davis for one more season. But he’s very much playing his way into a long-term contract extension.
JALEN HURTS
The Eagles had negative one passing yard entering halftime, which makes it pretty impressive that Hurts finished with these numbers:
21/32 (65.6%), 226 yards (7.1 average), 3 TD, 0 INT, 117.4 passer rating … 9 runs, 40 yards (4.4 average), 1 TD
The Eagles finally took the straitjacket off Hurts in the second half and that move really paid dividends as the offense came alive. Hurts got the Eagles back into the game with his arm. He delivered in the most important situations; he was clutch.
Look no further than these gotta-have-it moments from the 17-play, 91-yard touchdown drive he led to give the Eagles the late lead:
- 3rd-and-10, 25-yard completion to A.J. Brown
- 3rd-and-3, 10-yard completion to DeVonta Smith
- 3rd-and-10, 23-yard completion to A.J. Brown
- 4th-and-goal, 4-yard touchdown thrown to DeVonta Smith
In addition to playing well, Hurts’ evolving role as a leader was on display in this game. Cameras caught him looking especially active and engaged on the sideline.
After the game, Hurts spoke candidly about how the Eagles “need to get out of this playing not to lose.”
“We got to come out aggressive and play our game,” he added. “You saw our game in the second half.”
Bingo!
Spoiler alert: We’ll touch more on this topic in the “I don’t knows” section.
For now, we’ll just point out that the Eagles have a quarterback who simply just wins.
17-0 in the last 17 games that he’s started and finished. An entire regular season’s worth of games.
Incredible.
A.J. BROWN
What a concept: throw the football to A.J. Brown and good things happen.
Kudos to the Eagles fans who contributed loud, sarcastic cheers after Brown finally logged his first reception with 14:00 remaining in the third quarter. A few plays later, Hurts unleashed a deep target to Brown for a 38-yard completion. It was at that moment that the bad energy from the first half started to change. One play later, Hurts hit Dallas Goedert for a touchdown and the offense had some life!
Brown made some really big grabs on the Eagles’ final drive, which resulted in the go-ahead touchdown. And not just good catches but physical runs after possessing the ball to break tackles for even more yardage. Again, this is all perfectly legal for the Eagles to do!
Brown finished with 10 targets that resulted in six catches for 109 yards (18.2 average) and one touchdown. He also drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone to directly set up the Eagles’ Tush Push touchdown for the first score of the day.
This after he saw just nine targets for six receptions, 35 yards, and zero touchdowns in the first two games combined.
After the game, Brown correctly pointed out how the Eagles have been way too conservative on offense. Good on him for speaking up to try to enact change.
DEVONTA SMITH
The box score numbers aren’t super sexy: nine targets, eight receptions, 60 yards (7.5 average), 1 TD.
But Smith made key grabs on the Eagles’ final drive, including the game-winning touchdown on 4th-and-goal.
FRED JOHNSON
The Eagles’ offense turned around as soon as Matt Pryor — who was filling in for an injured Lane Johnson — was benched and replaced by Fred Johnson.
Lane Johnson at right tackle: 9 plays, 38 yards, 1 TD, 0 turnovers
Matt Pryor at right tackle: 15 plays, -10 yards, 0 TD, 1 turnover
Fred Johnson at right tackle: 39 plays, 260 yards, 3 TD, 0 turnovers
Good on Howie Roseman for re-acquiring Johnson in a trade back in late August. He’s clearly a credible swing tackle option.
JALEN CARTER
Carter tied Jalyx Hunt for a team-high two quarterback hits. He nearly forced Stafford into a third down incompletion on one of those.
Much more noticeably, he contributed a blocked field goal and helped to stuff the Rams’ 4th-and-1 run that resulted in a turnover on downs.
Carter did have an avoidable unnecessary roughness penalty after his block. He really needs to cut the BS out. But he obviously did more good than bad.
ZACK BAUN
Baun is just so freaking good at football.
He intercepted Matthew Stafford on the Rams’ first two drive, which set up the Eagles’ first touchdown. Baun also logged two passes defensed. Just really good in coverage and strong as a run defender as well.
Total stud.
QUINYON MITCHELL
The second-year cornerback was tasked with shadowing Davante Adams for most of the game and he did well to limit the Rams’ wide receiver.
Mitchell did get beat on a play late in the game where Stafford could’ve hit Adams for a touchdown with a better throw. But it did not come to fruition.
VIC FANGIO
The grizzled defensive coordinator is now 4-0 against boy wonder Sean McVay.
While it’s definitely not ideal to allow 356 yards, this was a bend but don’t break showing from the defense. Fangio’s unit managed to prevent the Rams’ offense from taking over the game while the Eagles’ offense was stuck in the mud.
The Eagles’ defense came up big in big spots; they limited the Rams to just 3/11 on third and fourth downs combined. They came up with a takeaway and one turnover on downs.
Of the 26 points scored by the Rams, 20 of them came on short drives:
- One TD drive started at minus 46-yard line
- One FG drive started at minus 46-yard line
- One FG drive started at plus 48-yard line
- One TD drive started at plus 10-yard line
Ultimately, the Rams didn’t score on their final four drives.
The defense was undoubtedly aided by two blocked field goals and some flat out missed throws by Stafford. But they also pulled their weight when they needed to do so.
LOSERS
SEAN MCVAY
0-4 against Vic Fangio.
0-4 against Nick Sirianni.
McVay’s conservative approach did the Rams no favors in this game. He consistently opted for field goals and punts that ultimately allowed the Eagles to hang around instead of going for the kill shot.
Good offensive mind and all but he’s just SUCH a coward.
KOBIE TURNER
Back in the offseason, Turner said the Rams had this Week 3 game against the Eagles circled on their calendar.
The Rams wanted to get “revenge” for their Divisional Round loss and yet failed to do so.
MATT PRYOR and WHOEVER THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO PLAY HIM AT RIGHT TACKLE
I was surprised to see Pryor at right tackle instead of Johnson.
Pryor had looked bad at tackle in his first stint with the Eagles. He fared no better at tackle during training camp practices this summer.
But apparently this is why he was in ahead of Fred:
This is dumb!
Johnson has 301 career snaps at right tackle, including 134 from just last season. It’s not like he’s brand new to the position.
And the idea that Johnson, who was re-acquired by the team he previously spent three years with, is still working back into the playbook nearly one month after he was traded back to Philly? That’s hard to buy as an acceptable reason for him not playing over Pryor.
Jeff Stoutland gets so many things right. He’s an elite position coach. But, assuming he’s the one who picked Pryor over Johnson, that’s just a really bad miss that could’ve cost the Eagles the game. At least it was eventually rectified.
Pryor can’t play tackle unless it’s a last resort. He’s more playable at guard.
THE EAGLES’ KICK RETURN OPERATION
Good video breakdown here from my friend Shawn Syed on the Rams’ kickoff strategy:
The Eagles simply didn’t have a good answer for the Rams’ approach.
In fairness, I’m not sure what the answer is. But it sure didn’t feel good seeing John Metchie and Tank Bigsby (both of whom the Eagles traded assets to acquire) muff kick return after kick return, only to set the Eagles up with terrible field position.
These were the starting points for the Eagles on Rams kickoffs:
- Minus 20-yard line
- Minus 19-yard line
- Minus 7-yard line
- Minus 14-yard line
- Minus 21-yard line
By contrast, let’s look at the starting points for the Rams on Eagles kickoffs:
- Minus 23-yard line
- Minus 30-yard line
- Minus 31-yard line
- Minus 30-yard line
- Minus 30-yard line
Michael Clay’s gotta figure this one out.
JAKORIAN BENNETT
With Adoree’ Jackson banged up late in the game, the Eagles brought Bennett in to replace him. And the Rams went right after him for three straight completions on their final drive to move into field goal range. If Davis don’t block the kick, Bennett is getting more heat.
I DON’T KNOWS
NICK SIRIANNI and KEVIN PATULLO
Getting back to what Hurts and Browns talked about with the Eagles playing “not to lose” and “conservative,” that’s not just about play-calling. It’s a philosophical approach, and one seemingly set by Sirianni, who is hellbent on avoiding turnovers.
Indeed, giving the ball away is bad. No one disagrees. But the Eagles have clearly taken this mindset to an extreme where the passing offense has been neutered in the process. And that’s no good! Especially when you see what these players can accomplish when they’re no longer artificially constricted.
One would hope Sirianni and Patullo learned from this experience. There needs to be a better balance between being cautious with the ball and allowing Hurts to cook by throwing to his talented targets.
SAQUON BARKLEY
Barkley’s had struggles in pass protection early this season. That’s been an issue.
After he tormented the Rams last season, Barkley was held to just 55 yards from scrimmage on 22 total touches in this game. He didn’t look bad as much as he just didn’t have much room to run. The Eagles have things to figure out with their running game in addition to their passing game.
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