Appreciating the Eagles

Since the Eagles had the day off, I spent Sunday watching other teams. After watching 7 hours of sloppy football, bad coaching and overall ineptitude, it is hard not to appreciate what the Eagles have done this year.

Let’s start with offense. The Eagles have scored 20 or more points in 13 straight regular season games. How about teams today?

Green Bay – 9
Tampa – 16
LA Rams – 13
Buffalo – 17

That is two Hall of Fame QBs, the reigning Super Bowl winning QB and potential MVP for this year.

Tom Brady has five games this year with less than 20 points. Aaron Rodgers as well. Matthew Stafford too. Crazy.

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The Raiders built a 17-0 lead over Jacksonville today. The Jaguars came back and won 27-20. This is the third time this year the Raiders have gotten a lead of 17 or more points and lost. They’ve only done that five times in franchise history prior to this season.

The Eagles have not blown a 17-point lead and lost under Nick Sirianni.

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Frank Reich helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl in 2017. He was a mentor to Sirianni for three years in Indy. I offer these compliments because I have to say some not so nice things about Reich’s current team.

The Colts had 121 yards and 3 points today. In a full game. Yikes.

Even the putrid 2020 Eagles didn’t have a game like that. I don’t know if Reich is going to survive this season. It isn’t all his fault. Chris Ballard hasn’t given Reich a strong OL to work with.

Colts RG Pryor was one of the slowest linemen I've seen on film this year. Patriots are killing him early.

— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) November 6, 2022

Pryor has started at LT, RT and RG this year. He was a functional backup for the Eagles, but simply isn’t a player you want starting. I’m shocked they have used him as much as they have.

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I saw a lot of turnovers in scoring territory. There were interceptions in the red zone. Heck, I saw multiple picks in the end zone. I’m all for QBs being aggressive, but a lot of this was careless football.

You have to really appreciate Jalen Hurts taking care of the ball the way he has. The Eagles only have three turnovers all year. That’s not luck or an accident. Sirianni preaches it and his players play accordingly.

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After the Texans game, Sirianni made sure to thank Eagles fans for how great they’ve been, especially at road games. Eagles fans travel all over and really support the team. And then you have this.

It’s nuts here already in the FedEx Field parking lot. pic.twitter.com/ocLNWvFi95

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) November 6, 2022

I don’t blame Washington for not getting too fired up to support Daniel Snyder, but still…that’s wild.

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The Eagles “only” beat the Cardinals by 3 points and the Texans by 12 points.

• The Chiefs lost to the Colts.
• Buffalo is 0-2 in division games.
• The Seahawks lost to the Saints.
• SF lost to the Broncos.
• The Ravens have blown leads and lost games multiple times.

There are a lot of teams that have some ugly losses and/or bad performances on their resumes.

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Washington coach Ron Rivera challenged a 2nd down play that came up just short of the sticks. He wanted the 1st down. Rivera lost the challenge and it cost him a timeout in a game that came down to the final minutes. That wasted timeout would have helped his team a lot.

The crazy thing is that Washington could have moved the chains on 3rd down. Possibly 4th down. There was no reason to risk the challenge. It was a tough play, but you have to understand the big picture in that situation.

Nick Sirianni has been excellent this year with strategic decisions. That is an advantage for the Eagles.

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The Eagles looked into the availability of Deshaun Watson. That didn’t work out.

They looked into Russell Wilson. That didn’t work out

They didn’t make Aaron Rodgers list of acceptable trade destinations or you can bet they would have looked into that.

There was talk of Kyler Murray possibly asking for a trade, but that situation got resolved.

Look at how those QBs have fared. Watson is still suspended and the Browns are 3-5. Wilson has been awful and the Broncos are 3-5. Rodgers has struggled mightily and his team is 3-5. Murray has been mediocre and the Cards are 3-6.

Hurts has the Eagles at 8-0 and he might be the leading candidate for MVP. Thank goodness those other situations went as they did. Hurts has been terrific this year and has a bright future in Philly.

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Eagles fans appreciate OL play so I thought I’d share this great highlight from yesterday’s college action.

I love this stupid sport so, so much. pic.twitter.com/9K4HCr3o3n

— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) November 6, 2022

I’ve watched football a long time and I’ve never seen a double snap quite like that.

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