Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Winning Up Front

Posted December 3rd, 2024 | 3 Comments »

We can debate whether the Eagles are the best team in the league. The Lions and Bills look great and might be better. One thing that isn’t up for debate is which team has the best OL/DL units. That is the Eagles.

The Ravens have one of the best DLs in the league. The Eagles ran for 140 yards on them, the most Baltimore has allowed in a game this year. The Ravens are third in the league in sacks. Against the Eagles they only had 3 QB hits. The Eagles OL was able to control the line of scrimmage.

The Eagles pass rush was able to overwhelm the Baltimore OL.

Howie Roseman loves to talk about how the Eagles focus on the line of scrimmage. They want the best OL and DL they can build. When the Eagles are able to put together great lines, they can be a great team.

Jalen Carter has taken his game to another level this year.

It is one things for lines to have good players. They become dominant when there are great players and that’s exactly what Carter is. Offenses can gameplan for him. At best that usually means doubling him. When they do that, Milton Williams is able to be disrutive and make plays. Jordan Davis is becoming a force against the run and playing some of the best football of his young career.

With Carter creating havoc up the middle, it helps Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith to get pressure off the edge. Where is the QB going to go? Sweat leads the team in sacks and QB hits. Smith has 4.5 sacks and has emerged as a good edge player. Jalyx Hunt played his most snaps on Sunday and showed some promise.

The Eagles are the best defense in the league because they have playmakers at all three levels. Winning up front is most important and the Eagles DL is playing at a high level this year.

The OL is also one of the best units in the league. They might be behind the Lions. You can probably make an argument the Eagles have the best OL, especially when you factor in backups.

Lane Johnson remains the top dog and most experts consider him to still be the best OT in the league.

Jordan Mailata is having the best year of his career. He and Johnson give the coaches the ability to call a variety of plays. Both guys are agile enough to pull and move on run plays. Both are strong enough to win at the point of attack.

Mekhi Becton can still be up and down, but his good moments are special. Becton played well against Baltimore. He’s getting better every week and is able to have dominant moments because of his rare combination of size, strength and agility. Becton is not your normal OG.

The Eagles had great line play when they won the Super Bowl in 2017. They had great line play when they made it back to the Super Bowl in 2022. The lines might be even better this year. I can’t guarantee another trip to the big game, but it sure doesn’t hurt when you are able to win the battle at the line of scrimmage just about every week.

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Eagles Prove a Lot in Win

Posted December 1st, 2024 | 1 Comment »

The Eagles drew a lot of praise after the past two weeks, but there were still some doubters. People questioned the winning streak because the Eagles hadn’t played any top teams. As good as the defense was, some people wanted to see them tested by a great offense. As great as Saquon Barkley has been, some people pointed out that he hadn’t faced many good defenses.

Questions answered.

The Eagles went to Baltimore and beat the Ravens 24-19. That is a good team, having gone 8-2 in their last 10 games. The Eagles fell behind 9-0 and I think most people will admit that they started to wonder if this was the week when the Eagles might have their winning streak stopped. Lamar Jackson is a special QB and he was giving the defense fits early on.

There wasn’t any panic. The defense tightened up and then the offense woke up. Next thing you know the score is 14-12 and it felt like the Eagles had control of the game. It was fair to wonder if the Ravens would then counter-punch and take control back. Nope. The Eagles defense did give up yards, but they came through in key situations. Justin Tucker missed a pair of FGs and the Ravens didn’t score again until the closing seconds of the game.

If you had to sum up this game in one play, here it is.

That is Eagles rookie DB Cooper DeJean stuffing Hall of Fame RB Derrick Henry, a physical freak who has punished defenders for almost a decade. DeJean didn’t care about King Henry’s resume. He just put the big fella down. I can’t tell you how impressive that play is. I’m not sure how you quantify that.

The Ravens were going to have season lows in yards and points until their garbage time TD drive. And that was grealy aided by the officials not calling a blatant hold of Milton Williams. Baltimore finished with 19 points and 372 yards. That is only the second time all year they scored less than 20 points.

The Eagles defense is legit.

The offense got off to another slow start before coming alive in the second quarter. Saquon Barkley was 10-45 in the first half. He looked fine, but didn’t do anything crazy. The Ravens had the second best run defense in the league so every yard against them had to be earned. Barkley was shut down in the third quarter. Have no fear. The fourth quarter brought out the best in him.

Barkley finished the game 24-107-1 and helped his MVP cause. He came up big in the fourth quarter of the Eagles biggest game of the year. National audiences have now seen him do big things for three weeks in a row.

Jalen Hurts had somewhat of a quiet game, but did enough to help the team win. He ran for a TD and threw for a TD, while protecting the ball and running effectively. He made key plays when they were needed.

The Eagles are now 10-2, winners of eight in a row. I think you’ll start to hear them mentioned as being in the same class as the Lions, with the rest of the NFL a level below them. The Eagles are playing their best football of the year at the right time of the year. This team has good vibes and a real confidence about them.

A lot of that is due to the defense. Vic Fangio has his guys playing at an elite level. They don’t panic when a team gets off to a fast start. They adjust. Some of that is schematic and some is just players getting the feel for the opposing offense. Offenses challenge you in different ways.

The Eagles defense also just has some dudes who make plays.

Carter is an absolute stud. Zack Baun also had a great game. He led the team with 13 tackles. He had a TFL, a FF and half a sack. The sack came on a third down and pushed the Ravens back, making their FG attempt longer. Justin Tucker missed it. The Eagles make you earn every yard and every point.

The biggest compliment I can give the defense is that they pressured and bothered Lamar Jackson, but covered well enough that when he broke free he didn’t always have someone to throw to. Usually there is pressure or coverage, but not both.

Let’s hope the players can block out the noise and stay focused. This team has a ton of potential if they can just live in the moment and not buy into the hype.

Fun team.

Good team.

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