Great Opportunity

The Eagles spent the week talking about their disappointing passing attack, AJ’s comments, BG’s comments and Jalen Hurts. Nick Sirianni made sure to bring up the elephant in the room when talking to the team. He did that because he wanted to address the situation and then immediately move on to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Eagles take on the 10-3 Steelers on Sunday. That game is a great opportunity in a few ways. First, it gives the Eagles a chance to flush the past week down the drain. Go beat the Steelers and no one will care about last week. The score can be 31-30 or 14-13. Find a way to win and that will be what gets all the attention.

The other opportunity is the Eagles getting to show where they stand against a division leader and playoff team. When you don’t play a bunch of good teams, it helps to beat the ones you do face. The Eagles are 3-1 at this point. Beating the Steelers would boost that. The Eagles don’t have to worry about impressing a committee to get a good seed, but it does help to make annoying questions go away.

You aren’t going to beat Pittsburgh with a sloppy performance. The Eagles need to prepare well, practice well and play well. This is the kind of game they need coming off a weird week. Focus. Put all of your attention into beating the Steelers. If something is going to bring a team together, it is a tough opponent.

The Eagles goal is to be a Super Bowl team. You don’t do that by just racking up a bunch of wins. You need to play good teams. You need to be tested so you’re ready when January gets here. Hopefully the Eagles will pass that test on Sunday.

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“I know it’s a very black-and-white position, and easy to dissect from the outside. But I hit the ball great today [in practice]. And I’m just gonna keep going.”#Eagles K Jake Elliott says he’s not shaken after some atypical misses.https://t.co/Xsnldi1SNM

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) December 12, 2024

Elliott is 18 for 19 in kicks under 50 yards. He is 0 for 5 from 50 and beyond. Elliott has a strong enough track record that I think you let him work his way through this. That said, you can’t ignore long FG situations down the stretch. I’m sure Sirianni would love to have a comfortable lead in a game where he could send Elliott out for a long kick. Try to build his confidence back.

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The Niners are officially a mess. They lost 12-6 to the Rams and fell to 6-8.

Brock Purdy struggled all game and threw a terrible INT that probably was the difference in the game. Deebo Samuel has now gone four straight games without having 40 total yards.

I wonder if BG has any thoughts he’d like to share on the Niners.

Injuries have decimated the team, but they are still underachieving. The SF defense allowed TDs on 13 consecutive trips to the red zone by opposing offenses. Even the 2023 Eagles didn’t do that. Oddly, SF is reminding me of the ’23 Eagles. They aren’t playing to their talent level and have lost several games they shouldn’t have. And they can’t blame this on Matt Patricia or James Bradberry.

Shanahan just said that De’Vondre Campbell told the coaches that he didn’t want to play today. The Niners tried to put Campbell in during the 3rd quarter, but he went to the locker room instead.

Shanahan said that’s the first time a player has ever told him he didn’t wanna play.

— Kyle Posey (@KP_Show) December 13, 2024

Now SF officially has some drama of its own.

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The Eagles defense has played two games without Brandon Graham. They have allowed 19 and 16 points. The front played really well against the Ravens and gave that offense fits. The front played well against Carolina. If not for Bryce Young’s mobility, the Eagles might have had 5 or 6 sacks.

Jalyx Hunt is playing more and showing real potential. Milton Williams and Moro Ojomo are being active and disruptive. Nolan Smith has continued to play well.

It also helps to still have Jalen Carter dominating the middle.

Jalen Carter: destroyer of worlds pic.twitter.com/LgrZOU3iLN

— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) December 10, 2024

That is one special dude.

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