Who Are These Eagles?

The Eagles were supposed to be good this year. Just not this good. That has made it challenging to get a handle on who this team is.

The team is 16-1 with Jalen Hurts as the starter. They have more Pro Bowl players than anyone else. They were third in yards gained this year and second in yards allowed. They have the the best OL in the league. They have the best DL in the league and almost broke the NFL record for sacks in a season.

@ESPNStatsInfo: The #Eagles are the 5th team to win the Divisional Playoffs and Conference Championship by at least 21 points. Each of the previous 4 teams won the Super Bowl.

The others: 1989 49ers, 1988 49ers, 1985 Bears, 1978 Steelers

— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) January 29, 2023

The @Eagles are the first @NFL team to allow 7-or-fewer points multiple times in a single postseason since… the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. #FlyEaglesFly

— John Gonoude (@john_gonoude) January 30, 2023

We love to compare this team to the 2017 Super Bowl champs. That team was different. They were also outstanding, but they felt more like an anomaly. The pieces came together and performed at a high level. They didn’t have the star power this team does. We can certainly see in hindsight that was a one-year deal. You couldn’t sustain that kind of football.

So who does this team remind me of?

I thought about this for a while. There isn’t an ideal comparison. Then it hit me. This team actually compares to the 1992 Dallas Cowboys.

• Both teams made the playoffs the season before, but were beaten soundly.
• Both teams were expected to compete, but not be great.
• Both teams had dominant OLs.
• The Cowboys didn’t have nearly as many sacks, but used a 7-man rotation on the DL and could be dominant at times.
• They were fourth in yards gained and first in yards allowed.
• Both teams had franchise QBs.
• Dallas went 13-3, Eagles 14-3
• Both teams had similar WRs…a big physical guy and a speedster (Irvin/Harper and Brown/Smith).
• Both teams had outstanding TEs.

There are differences. The Eagles are more creative schematically. Part of that is due to the times. The early 90’s were the era of the I-formation and nobody did that better than Dallas.

The Cowboys were a young team on the rise. They only had a couple of veterans sprinkled in. The Eagles have a combination of youth and older players. Dallas was launching a dynasty. The Eagles have a lot of tough offseason decisions. The Eagles will have more than a few new faces in 2023.

What the Eagles do in the Super Bowl will be key to figuring out just how good this team really is. Legacies are tied to rings, not stats. As good as the 1991 Eagles defense was, people think about the ’85 Bears, 2000 Ravens or 2002 Bucs first because they all won Super Bowls.

If the Eagles lose, we’ll talk about what a fun season this was. It just had a disappointing finish. And it has been a fun season. This team got off to a hot start and didn’t slow down until Hurts injury. Then they gave us a pair of playoff blowouts. There have only been a couple of close games.

If the Eagles win the Super Bowl, we’ll talk about what an amazing season this has been and just how special this team is. The 2004 and 2017 teams were awesome, but this group is on a whole other level.

The Eagles faced playoff teams 7 times this year when Jalen Hurts was the starter.

They were 7-0 and won by a combined score of 218-97.

The average margin of victory was 17.28 points.

Brock Purdy getting hurt (because our dline dominated btw) doesn't undermine how great they.

— Patrick (@PhillyPMC) January 31, 2023

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Howie Roseman got some good news.

The NFL has told the 32 teams the 2023 salary cap number will be $224.8M, per source.

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 30, 2023

That’s up from $208.2M. The NFL will provide information regarding total projected costs, including player benefits, in early March.

Teams think there will be a relatively big spike in 2024, too.

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 30, 2023

The Eagles need as much cap space as possible because they’ll have a lot of key free agents. The higher cap figure will give them a chance to keep an extra player or two.

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I’m down in Mobile for the Senior Bowl.

It is hard to know who to look at because of the uncertainty with the Eagles lineup next year.

I’m going to concentrate on DL since Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave and Brandon Graham could be gone. I hope they’re able to keep Hargrave, but there aren’t any guarantees.

I’ll also have an eye on CBs. Darius Slay and James Bradberry aren’t young guys.

This isn’t an elite bunch of prospects, but there are some guys who definitely intrigue me. Should be a fun week.

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It feels like the Eagles might be able to keep Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon. That would be a big help for next year. The 2017 team lost Frank Reich and John DeFilippo and that hurt them in the ensuing seasons. They weren’t able to replicate what the 2017 coaching staff had.

It still is possible for the Eagles to lose assistants like Brian Johnson and Dennard Wilson. Teams might try to hire them away to become coordinators.

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