The Wide World of Dirt

We’re back! Apologies for the tardiness of this Philly Report.

A couple of reasons for this:

1) work has been very busy, not allowing me to put in a ton of effort into this. I don’t want to have anything published that I didn’t feel like I gave it my best.

2) I really wanted to take a back seat and let the Eagles’ season breathe. I wanted to see if I was going to have to talk about Nick Sirianni making questionable decisions (newsflash, he made questionable decisions once again.)

I wanted to see if the Eagles were actually ready to use their new offensive coordinator. I wanted to see if the Eagles defense actually took a step forward.

I wanted to see if Jalen Hurts started protecting the ball more and showed that he can be the $250 million guy on a consistent basis.

Side note: I was lucky enough to be at the Eagles-Jags game this past week to see those sweet Kelly Greens in person as well as that incredible Saquon Barkley 180-degree hurdle. 

Over the past three weeks, Jalen Hurts has gained a total of 706 yards, going 44/58 for a 75.8% completion clip, with 10 total touchdowns. And, wait for it … ZERO turnovers. He is back to being what made him so dynamic in 2022.

Hurts has also been taking snaps under center, which has made him better at picking up defensive coverages.

In particular, playing under center allows Hurts to improve his ability to read blitzes, something that Hurts has struggled with over his career.

Hurts hasn’t been made to carry the team over this stretch, so he doesn’t have those big 300-yards-with-3-TDs-and-a-rush TD games that he has had before.

That said, Hurts has been a force and has this offense finally playing up to the potential we all thought possible when Kellen Moore was hired and Saquon Barkley was signed. Speaking of which…

Saquon Barkley has been feasting.

Over this three-week stretch, he’s racked up 66 carries for 443 yards with 2 TDs while tacking on 3 catches for 54 yards with a TD.

He also picked up his third NFC Player of the Week as a member of the Eagles. He had three total Player of the Week awards in six years with the Giants.

Saquon Barkley has been as good as advertised.

AJ Brown is perhaps the Eagles’ best player, but this offense’s potency is directly linked to Saquon’s dynamic big-play ability, leading me to believe that Barkley is the Eagles’ most valuable offensive weapon.

It really is such a treat to watch Barkley week in and week out. I’ve always been a fan of the position, and as an Eagles fan I have been spoiled with some truly great running backs in my life.

Watching Barkley throws me back to growing up watching Brian Westbrook and later LeSean McCoy.

I really hope Barkley never puts on another jersey again.

Perhaps the NFL has undervalued the running back position for too long? I don’t know; either way, I hope Giants GM Joe Schoen keeps the job for life. Maybe he repeats this cycle all over again with say, Malik Nabers?

Much like how much fun I have had watching the Eagles’ offense, I am also having a really fun time watching the Eagles’ defense, something I wasn’t thinking I’d do a few weeks ago.

It starts with the young guys making a difference, especially in the secondary. Quinyon Mitchell is going to be a problem in this league.

Mitchell goes out there every week, matches up with the opposing team’s top wideout, and he has stepped up every time.

Though Mitchell is still hunting for that first career interception, he has truly been a lockdown corner. Still insane to think he fell all the way to the 22nd pick.

Cooper DeJean — who also fell far — has been really good as well. He tackles and has been really good keeping guys in front of him.

DeJean’s strong performances have come mostly in the nickel corner spot, something I was unsure he’d be able to do at the NFL level. He has also been a really solid punt returner.

These two young guys look like they can be stalwarts in the secondary for years, something the Eagles have desperately needed.

The Georgia Dawgs have been really good as well, particularly Nakobe Dean. He finally looks to have turned the corner. Dean will always struggle with his size, but he is such a smart player.

Dean and Zack Baun have been massive upgrades at the linebacker spots and make this Eagles’ defense not easy to run/pass over.

Credit to Vic Fangio, he has gotten these guys playing.

Just like I wrote about at the beginning of the season, I wasn’t expecting a top 10 defense again, but by the end of the year, I needed to see progress from the young core to feel like the Eagles had the potential to have a top unit in football.

That might come true sooner rather than later. 

Through all of this, you’d think the head coach would deserve a ton of credit, yet Sirianni won’t. He still is the scapegoat. He won’t get the praise if they win, but will get the blame if they lose. It really is a tough look.

I give him credit for rallying them to a 6-2 record when they easily could be worse than that. He has gotten them ready to play recently; he needs to keep that up.

With all that said, Sirianni still makes questionable decisions in-game that will come back and bite them in the future.

The Jacksonville game felt eerily similar to the Atlanta game in week 2, and I thought I was going to watch the Eagles lose.

Fortunately, the Jaguars are bad. The Eagles scraped by, but come January, they will not be able to have coaching mishaps like they did.

If the the tush push is stopped, maybe lineup with your stud RB instead of calling a horrible passing play? Maybe after you score a TD, take the extra point instead to keep your kicker fresh? Maybe instead of trying to go for it in enemy territory over and over again, you give it to your kicker who’s been one of the best in football the past few seasons? Just brainstorming here!

The Eagles obviously are winning, which is important. However, people are not happy with how they won against Jacksonville. Believe me, I was there.

No one leaving the Linc this past Sunday was happy — they were just relieved they didn’t watch the team lose.

The Eagles need to be successful in every other aspect of the game that Sirianni doesn’t call (i.e. offense/defense/special teams.)

If not, it makes Sirianni have a direct impact on the game, often coming back to burn the Birds. It feels like they are winning in spite of the guy in charge, which the other contenders aren’t doing.

It’s a shame because the Eagles have the talent to go far come January… it’s what they don’t have that makes me nervous of how legit the Birds are. Time will tell.

Go Birds. 

(Top Photo Credit: Chris Szagola/AP Photo)