Eagles Pound The Rock In Blowout Win Against The Lions
Yeah, it was the Detroit Lions. We get it. But you can't deny it was nice to see the Eagles finally do some of the things we have been asking them to do for the entire season
Running the ball? Check. Aggressive defense? Check. Playing to your offense's strength? Check. Turnover(s)? Check.
The Eagles absolutely destroyed the Lions 44-6 in Detroit to improve to 3-5 on the season. The point I was trying to make it that regardless of who they were playing, the Eagles showed progress today. That's honestly all you can ask for at this point.
Nick Sirianni finally decided to lessen Jalen Hurts' workload today, and it worked to perfection. Even with Miles Sanders out for 3 weeks at least, the Eagles banked on their reserve backs all day. Boston Scott and Jordan Howard both had 2 touchdowns and 55+ yards on the day. You might be playing the worst defense in the league, but it just isn't a coincidence that this is the result when the Eagles decided to get the run game involved more. They need to keep this up against Los Angeles next week. You even got to see some Gardner Minshew time at the end!
Jonathan Gannon was under a lot of fire after last weeks performance. Not only was he challenged by Sirianni, but also some of his players like Fletcher Cox and Darius Slay. This week he did exactly what everyone thought he should; being more aggressive against a poor QB. Maybe this won't work against Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes, but Jared Goff is by no means on the same level as those guys. They blitzed the Lions so much more then any other game this week, which eventually lead to 6.0 sacks by the defensive line.
Let's talk a bit more about that defensive line, because they flat out balled today. They had a good start, but I think we expected more priduction then they have put out in recent weeks. But Josh Sweat had 2 sacks, Derek Barnett, Hassan Ridgeway, Milton Williams and Tarron Jackson had 1 each. I feel like I'm going to say this every week, but the Eagles will only go as far as this group takes them.
The offense as a whole just looked more smooth today. Hurts missed a whole quarter and his stat line doesn't look great, but that is what I expect his stat line to look like in some wins. If the Eagles utilize the run game in the right way. Hurts shouldn't have many pass attempts anyway. Jalen Reagor unfortunately was carted off with an ankle injury, but we saw how good he looked in jet sweep situations early in the game. Dallas Goedert also had his 2nd 70+ yard performance in as many games since Zach Ertz was traded.
It was nice to see Darius Slay get a touchdown against his former team at their place. I'm sure that felt good for him. Although that was the only turnover they had all game, there were plenty of other times that they were close. Jared Goff is really bad.
Not much else to say about this game. It was also good to get a lot of the backups into the game and get them some game time. I think I saw Tay Gowan, who I wrote about a couple weeks ago, get some snaps at corner in the 4th. In terms of the Eagles draft pick watch, the Dolphins are most likely going to lose to the Bills as I am writing this. The Colts are in a tight one with the Titans late in the 4th, so that one is a complete toss up right now. I'll update this when those games go final.
It was honestly just nice to relax and watch the guys dominate a team.
The Eagles are now 3-5 and will go back home to take on the Los Angeles Chargers(4-2). I'll see you then.