Christmas Came Early

Vic Fangio’s defense pitched a shutout! I felt confident the Eagles would beat the hapless Raiders. And they did, 31-0. I did not anticipate the Eagles defense dominating the way they did, allowing just 75 yards and no points. Zero. Goose egg.

Christmas came early for me.

I love shutouts. Always have, always will. Why? Despite the Eagles having so many great defenses over the years, shutouts haven’t been common since Buddy Ryan left town.

1996 – PHI 24, NYG 0

2014 – PHI 27, NYG 0

2018 – PHI 24, WAS 0

I didn’t have to look those up. I know those games by heart. The great Jim Johnson never had a shutout in his decade of running the Eagles defense. Now we can add today’s butt-kicking to that list.

It wasn’t just a day of defense. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense bounced back in a big way. They posted 387 yards and 31 points. Hurts actually got to sit out the final 10 minutes of the game. That should tell you how things went. He threw 3 TDs and ran an efficient offense that felt different that what we’ve seen for most of the season.

Hurts was 7-39 as a runner, several of those designed. There were RPOs. There were a lot of plays under center, both runs and passes. Kevin Patullo did a good job of being creative and keeping the Raiders off-balance. The Eagles were 3 for 5 in the red zone, with only a drop by Dallas Goedert keeping them from being even better.

That’s another Dallas (Goedert) touchdown!

Dallas Goedert x #ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/NW9ciEZ4Xg

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 14, 2025

Goedert led the pass catchers with 6 catches for 70 yards and 2 TDs. The Raiders had no answers for him. DeVonta and AJ each caught two passes. Smitty delivered a big play, Brown caught a TD. The playmakers made plays. Saquon Barkley was 22-78-1. Tank Bigsby was 17-57 and just missed a TD of his own.

Vic Fangio’s defense gave up 26 yards on the opening drive. Las Vegas used Kenny Pickett’s legs effectively. Once the defense saw that, they tightened up and shut everything down. The Raiders only gained 49 yards the rest of the game. That is nuts. Absolutely insane.

The Eagles didn’t overwhelm the Raiders, they just shut them down. Coverage was great. The rush was very good. Tackling was very good. The defense played smart and didn’t extend drives with dumb penalties. Brandon Graham had a pair of sacks. Nakobe Dean had 8 tackles and 2 TFLs. Zack Baun picked off a pass. The defense finished with 4 sacks and 9 QB hits.

Brandon Graham gets his first sack of the season!

LVvsPHI on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Wn3PAoUTui

— NFL (@NFL) December 14, 2025

The Eagles played good football today. That’s the team we’ve been expecting to see. It is absolutely fair to point out that the Raiders stink. That sure looked like the worst team in the league. They were awful.

The Eagles have played a brutally tough schedule. They’ve been tested just about every week. That’s made it tough for them to catch their breath and get some things cleaned up. The Raiders were the “get right game” that the Birds have needed. I wish I could tell you that the Eagles will definitely build on this performance and get into a groove. I have no idea.

I do know the team finally had a day when they could go play football and not every second and every play felt like the end of the world. The Eagles were able to have some fun. Saquon has talked about their need to have more joy. They got that today. We’ll see if that helps them to get their heads right and play better football over the final three games.

The Eagles are now 9-5. They have a two-game lead in the division. They came out of this game pretty healthy, with some key players even being able to sit out the final 10 minutes of the game.

And they gave us a shutout.

Thank you Eagles.

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