Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Battle Tested

Posted January 20th, 2025 | 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.

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Eagles Survive the Rams

Posted January 19th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

There is one simple goal when you play in a single-elimination postseason. You need to survive and advance. The Eagles did just that, beating the Rams 28-22 in a snowy, sloppy game that was way closer than it should have been.

There are a lot of issues that need to be discussed and addressed. The game had a great outcome, but a very frustrating performance. Before that, we have to give the Eagles credit for making the key plays that led to the win. I think some people forget how hard it is to win in the NFL, especially in the postseason. The Eagles are going to the NFC championship for the second time in three years. The Cowboys last appearance was 1995. Both of this year’s postseason wins have been closer than they should have been. But they were wins.

Saquon Barkley is the headliner. He ran for 205 yards, including TDs of 62 and 78 yards. Barkley has had a magical season and that continued in the win over the Rams.

The Eagles defense had 5 sacks, 2 takeaways and multiple red zone stops. Jalen Carter had 2 sacks, a PD, a FF and multiple pressures. He probably played his best game of the season. Most importantly, he came up big on the final two Rams plays of the game. They had driven into scoring territory. That’s when Carter put his stamp on the game.

After that third down sack, Carter got pressure on fourth down and forced an errant pass. That sealed the game and gave the Birds a big W.

There were a bunch of guys on defense who played well. Zack Baun had 6 tackles, a TFL, a PD and recovered a fumble. Nolan Smith had a strip sack and was disruptive. Darius Slay broke up 3 passes and just missed an INT.

As well as the stars played, you also have to give credit to some key backups. Jalyx Hunt and Moro Ojomo each had sacks. Oren Burks played well. He had 2 TFLs and a PD. Isaiah Rodgers had to fill in for Quinyon Mitchell for most of the game and had some good moments. Howie Roseman built a talented team and a deep team as well.

Now let’s talk about some issues. Jake Elliott went 3 for 3 on FGs, but missed 2 extra points. That almost cost the Eagles the game. The Eagles have to see what went wrong on those kicks. You can’t have that moving forward.

Jalen Hurts was up and down. He had a 44-yard TD run and made some key throws. He also took some big sacks, including one for a safety. That almost cost the Eagles the game. Hurts got hurt in the second half and toughed his way through the injury. Give him credit for helping his team win, but this was another frustrating performance.

He did have bad luck on a couple of plays. Hurts threw a good pass to DeVonta for what should have been a big gain, but an illegal hit broke it up. AJ Brown dropped 2 passes, including one that was a deep ball that would have put the Eagles at the 2-yard line. Hurts also executed a TE screen for a good gain, only to have it wiped out by a penalty on Mekhi Becton. Hurts could have had another 100 yards passing if not for mistakes that weren’t his fault.

The OL was very up and down. They were dominant at times, but also had some key penalties and missed blocks/assignments. Hurts was sacked 7 times. Some of that was on him, but some was due to poor protection.

There was some sloppy tackling in the game. Some of that was due to the weather, but some of it came before the snow really fell.

Nick Sirianni will be happy his team made the key plays needed to win. He’ll be frustrated with the sloppy mistakes that kept the game closer than it should have been. They don’t give  you style points in the postseason so focus on the win.

The big question now becomes injuries. Hurts said something after the game about expecting to play next week, but we’ll have to see how his knee is after a few days. Quinyon banged up his shoulder. The initial reports say it doesn’t look too serious. Rodgers hurt his leg in the game, but came back for the final series. AJ Brown’s knee must be bugging him. We’ll have to hope it feels a bit better for next week.

Let’s hope these guys are physically ready for next week’s NFC championship game…at The Linc.

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