After a Week 7 loss to the Raiders in Las Vegas in which the Eagles once again looked hapless, lost, and disoriented, some wondered if the team could be headed for a “rock bottom” in the form of a loss to the winless Detroit Lions in Week 8.
But Sunday’s 44-6 thumping of the Lions was anything but. It actually may have been rock bottom for a Lions team that had battled against tough teams in recent weeks and may have thought it could get its first win against an Eagles team that was on the brink of a freefall. Let’s go over what happened in this game and what it means for this Eagles team going forward.
How did this Eagles team win a game?
Put bluntly, the Eagles ran over the Lions in Week 8. Quite literally, actually. With Miles Sanders on injured reserve, the Eagles ran the ball 46 times for 236 yards and four touchdowns, while quarterback Jalen Hurts was 9-for-14 passing for just 103 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. The Eagles averaged 5.1 yards per carry on the ground and had their way with the Detroit defense.
On the other side of the ball, this Eagles defense dominated and looked like a completely different unit. They were aggressive. They had tight coverage. They stopped the run. Those are things we didn’t see very often through the first seven weeks. Much of this is likely the product of just how bad the Lions are, but it was also very clear that defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon had a clear plan to be more aggressive in this one.
What does this mean going forward?
It might not mean much, once all is said and done. This is certainly a good sign for head coach Nick Sirianni and his staff, though. If he were losing the locker room, this team may not have played as inspired and with as much energy as they did on Sunday. This win was more than nothing, if only slightly.
NFL insider Jay Glazer recently had a report that Nick Sirianni was not on the hot seat in Philadelphia and would not be a one-and-done coach. That was before the embarrassing loss to the Raiders, however. If this team completely implodes down the stretch, it still isn’t out of the question that owner Jeffrey Lurie decides to pull the plug on the Sirianni experiment. At the very least, he could force staff changes, which is something we saw during the Doug Pederson era.
But this win, even though it was against perhaps the worst team in the NFL, was a step in the right direction. This showed that players have not checked out and that this coaching staff is capable of adapting.
But if the Eagles lose by 30 points to Justin Herbert and the Chargers next week, no one will remember this win over the Lions.
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Mike Maher is the editor and publisher of The Birds Blitz and Juiced Ball Era. Follow him on Twitter @mikeMaher and @TheBirdsBlitz and check out his Eagles news archive for all of his latest stories about the Eagles and the NFL.
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