With Sunday’s win over the Washington Commanders, and the Miami Dolphins loss on Thursday Night Football, the Philadelphia Eagles are the only undefeated team left in the NFL. The Eagles have looked like a formidable force in the NFC thus far and have started to gain momentum. The season is early, but this team is looking special. Let’s take a closer look at how the Eagles performed on Sunday.
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Recap
Philadelphia faced Carson Wentz for the first time since he was traded away, and the outcome could not have been better for the Eagles. Wentz was sacked 9 times and was under duress the entire game, forcing him into bad throws. The Eagles offense continued to look electric, accumulating 400 total yards over the course of the game. The final score of the game was 24-8 in favor of Philadelphia, but that score was not indicative of how the Eagles dominated the Commanders throughout Sunday’s game.
Positive Observations
1.) Jalen Hurts
Hurts has quickly become the talk of the NFL; his improvement as a passer has been outstanding so far. Jalen threw for 340 yards, 3 TD’s, and a 63% completion percentage; he constantly put the ball in the perfect place for his receivers to make a play. Hurts’ reads have been on time & accurate and the work that he put in during the offseason has certainly showed. The “Jalen Hurts can’t throw” club is in shambles right now.
Nick Sirianni had this to say about Hurts after the game: “I don’t think we’ve seen Jalen’s ceiling. I know we haven’t seen Jalen’s ceiling, he just continues to get better. I just think you’ve seen tremendous progression from him because he works at it and he loves it.”
Jalen Hurts’ play has vaulted him into the MVP conversation during the early parts of this season; he leads the NFL in yards per attempt and yards per completion, as well as having the 5th highest passer rating in the NFL at 106.5. Hurts’ improvement has done wonders for this young Eagles team; I am extremely impressed with how he has been playing.
2.) Skinny Batman
DeVonta Smith had a career day during Sunday’s game; he had 8 receptions on 12 targets, 169 yards and a Touchdown. He made some really beautiful receptions, including one where he jumped over two defenders at the one yard line on a long throw from Hurts. Smith’s speed and elusiveness also came into play in Sunday’s game; he seemed to always be open. His 169 receiving yards is the most that an Eagles Wide Receiver has had in a game since Jeremy Maclin in 2014. Overall outstanding game from Smith; the Eagles have a stud at WR.
3.) First Half Offense
After a slow 1st Quarter start, the Eagles offense exploded out to a 24-point lead courtesy of Jalen Hurts & Co. In short, the offense simply looked unstoppable; the play calling was immaculate from Sirianni and the execution was equally as good. Out of the 86 points that the Eagles have accumulated over the first 3 games of the season, 72 of them have come in the first half. The Eagles are starting fast, and that is paying dividends.
4.) Defense Showing Up
The Eagles defense had a rough start to the season against Detroit but quickly bounced back against Minnesota. The defense continued its upward trend in Sunday’s game by holding the Commanders offense to only 240 total yards and 6 points that came from a garbage time drive. At halftime, the Eagles had held Wentz to only 24 passing yards. The most impressive stat of the day for the Eagles defense was the 9 (!) sacks that they recorded. Gannon’s scheme is finally paying off; absolutely outstanding performance by the defense.
Negative Observations
1.) Slow Second Half
The Eagles offense has been fairly quiet in the second half of their games this season; granted, that’s usually because the Eagles typically have a double digit lead by halftime. With that being said, I really would like to see the Eagles keep their foot on the gas throughout the entirety of the game; at some point the second half coasting will come back to bite them. I’m sure that this issue will be fixed when the Eagles start to play stronger teams as the season progresses.
Standings
It’s official: The Philadelphia Eagles are the only undefeated team in the NFL. Here are the updated NFC East standings.
- Philadelphia Eagles: 3-0
- Dallas Cowboys: 2-1
- New York Giants: 2-1
- Washington Commanders: 1-2
Upcoming Opponent
The Eagles host a familiar face in their former coach, Doug Pederson, this Sunday as the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to Philadelphia for their 1pm Sunday afternoon game. Although the Jaguars are having a better start to their season than they have in the previous years, I still believe that the Eagles will win decidedly. The Eagles are a better team on paper, but Pederson is a great coach & will be looking to get revenge.
Final Thoughts
The first 3 weeks of this 2022 NFL season has simply been fun. The Eagles have been rolling on all sides of the ball & if their momentum continues, they could be a tough team to beat. Hurts’ improvement as a passer has been enjoyable to watch and the Eagles defense seems as if they are beginning to click as a squad. Its still early, so I’m not going to make any crazy predictions just yet, but I’m enjoying this ride so far. As always, Go Birds!
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Nate Eichner is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Nate, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
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