Eagles Shutdown the Dolphins
Posted October 23rd, 2023 | 2 Comments »Miami’s offense is off to a historically good start. They came into Philly averaging 498 yards and 37 points per game. The Eagles defense shut them down in a way no other team had, limiting them to 244 yards and 17 points (only 10 on offense!).
What a game.
The Eagles put on the Kelly green uniforms and the defense transformed into Gang Green. They had 4 sacks, 8 TFLs and an INT. They had a couple of 4th down stops.
What a game.
Dolphins came in averaging over 37 PPG. Eagles held them to 1 TD on 8 possessions. Eagles defense held Miami to season lows in:
* Yards
* TDs
* 1st downs
* EPA/Drive
* Success rateEagles were down 3 members of their secondary. That's a big Sean Desai performance right there.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) October 23, 2023
Give Sean Desai a ton of credit. He had a back seven that was cobbled together from miscellaneous parts and got them to come up big in a huge game. Desai mixed up his looks and gave Tua some issues.
Desai and the defense got a lot of help from the Eagles offense. The Eagles possessed the ball for 36:43. Time of possession can be vastly overrated, but it was important in this game. The Eagles ran 68 plays, Miami only 48.
Jalen Hurts was far from perfect. He lost a fumble and threw a pick-six. But Hurts made some big plays and big throws. He finished 23-31-279 with a pair of TDs. He also ran for a TD.
Last week Hurts didn’t get help from his guys. That changed. Dallas Goedert was terrific, going 5-77-1. DeVonta 4-49 and had a couple of key catches. AJ was great, going 11-137-1. Hurts hit AJ for a 42-yard play that was a back-breaker late in the game.
The defense was fun to watch tonight. Josh Sweat had a pair of sacks and drew a holding call. Haason Reddick had a pair of TFLs. He played the run well and just missed a couple of sacks. Jordan Davis clogged the middle on run plays and also had an impact vs the pass. He shared a sack with Fletcher Cox. He collapsed the pocket on the play where Tua got picked off by Darius Slay. The pass rush affected Tua even when they didn’t sack him.
https://twitter.com/EaglesBurna/status/1716254335087059190
The whole defense tackled well. Miami can turn short plays into big ones. That wasn’t happening tonight.
The Eagles were sloppy last week and that cost them in their loss to the Jets. They played much cleaner on Sunday night. No penalties. No key dropped passes. Guys did their jobs and made plays when possible.
There is still plenty to clean up from this game, but the Eagles have to feel really good about winning this game. They were 4 for 6 in the red zone. They were 4 for 4 on fourth down. This was a clutch performance. The defense only allowed 10 points. They gave up some yards, but tightened things up in scoring territory.
The Eagles are now 6-1. After winning on national TV, they might go back to being the flavor of the month. There is still a lot of work to be done, but there is a lot to be happy about as well.
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