Battle Tested

Posted: January 20th, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »

The good news is that the Eagles are in the NFC championship game. They survived the wild card and divisional rounds by gritting out tough wins. The bad news is that the Eagles made mistakes that kept those games closer than they should have been. They struggled to create separation.

There is an advantage in having to play tough, challenging games. Nick Sirianni described his team as “battle tested”. That can serve them well next week, and also in the Super Bowl, should they get that far.

Think back to 2022. The Eagles won a lot of blowouts. They got to the postseason and had more of the same. They beat a mediocre Giants team 31-7, in a game that wasn’t that close. They beat the Niners 31-7 in the NFC title game. You might remember the Eagles knocking out both SF QBs in that game. It wasn’t competitive beyond the first quarter.

Those blowouts were fun. Then the Eagles got to the Super Bowl and stormed out to a 24-14 lead. Life felt pretty darn good. Unfortunately KC got going in the second half. They made it 24-21 and took their first lead at 28-27. They extended that to 35-27. The Eagles tied the game at 35-35 before KC kicked the winning FG.

My apologies for making you re-live a bad memory, but it is worth bringing up. The Eagles seemed to get tight in that second half. The Chiefs started making plays and that put pressure on the Eagles. They struggled to match the Chiefs and it cost them the game. I think the easy road to the SB hurt them when they suddenly were in a tight game with a great team. The Eagles hadn’t had to really battle in more than a month. They didn’t respond well to a tight game.

The current Eagles team got tested by GB. The Eagles were up 16-10 in the early part of the fourth quarter. The pressure was on. The Eagles responded with a long drive for a FG to make it a two-possession lead. They added another FG to put the game away. The Rams game was even tighter. The Eagles were only up 16-15 heading to the fourth quarter. The Rams had chances to take the lead. The Eagles were able to come up with key stops. The Eagles then made it a 28-15 game. We all thought it was over.

Oops.

Vic Fangio got conservative and LA flew down the field to score and make it 28-22. The Rams were a TD away from winning. They got a 3& out and the Eagles had to punt the ball away. The Rams drove down into the red zone before Jalen Carter made a couple of huge plays to seal the win.

That was some serious pressure. The Eagles didn’t panic. They just kept plugging away, knowing they just needed to make a play or two in order to win. Jalen Carter got the huge sack on third down and then pressured Matthew Stafford into throwing the ball away on fourth down.

W.

Watching the Eagles win that game 38-15 would have been a lot more fun that going through a nail-biter that went down to the final seconds. Just hope that games like that will have them prepared for the NFC championship and possibly the SB. If you remember 2017, the Eagles had to survive Atlanta in the divisional round, winning just 15-10. The Falcons were at the PHI 2 with 1:05 left. They tried to get the ball to Julio Jones, but good coverage forced an incompletion.

Teams that can come up key plays in tight games have a chance to win a championship. You need the playmaking ability of course, but also the mental and emotional toughness to handle the pressure of the moment and stay focused. This team is showing us that they have that toughness.

We’ll see if that translates to another win or two. It certainly should give you some confidence that this team can keep winning.

*****

Some real praise here for the Eagles defense, especially the secondary.

I talked to a friend recently and told him this is the best Eagles secondary I’ve seen. That’s high praise when you think about the teams from 2000-2002, led by Troy Vincent and Brian Dawkins.

*****

Parts of this season feel like a dream.

2000 yards.

205 yards in a playoff game.

Hosting the NFC championship.

I hoped for good things when Barkley got signed, but I never expected things to go this well. Just magical.

_

2 Comments on “Battle Tested”

  1. 1 The Linc - “Over their past six games, the Commanders have a bottom-six run defense” - SportSourcio said at 11:02 AM on January 21st, 2025:

    […] Battle Tested – Iggles Blitz […]

  2. 2 The Linc -six run defense” – Over View – Your Daily News Source said at 6:32 PM on January 21st, 2025:

    […] Battle Tested – Iggles BlitzWatching the Eagles win that game 38-15 would have been a lot more fun that going through a nail-biter that went down to the final seconds. Just hope that games like that will have them prepared for the NFC championship and possibly the SB. If you remember 2017, the Eagles had to survive Atlanta in the divisional round, winning just 15-10. The Falcons were at the PHI 2 with 1:05 left. They tried to get the ball to Julio Jones, but good coverage forced an incompletion. Teams that can come up key plays in tight games have a chance to win a championship. You need the playmaking ability of course, but also the mental and emotional toughness to handle the pressure of the moment and stay focused. This team is showing us that they have that toughness. We’ll see if that translates to another win or two. It certainly should give you some confidence that this team can keep winning. […]