They played very well in the first half. And they played a really great second half.
The Eagles defeated the Rams 23-14 on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., becoming the first team in 32 years to open the season 5-0 after losing in the Super Bowl the previous year.
They are currently 19-3 over the past two years and 25-5 over the past 30 games.
The Eagles led 17-14 at halftime, but outscored the Rams 10-0 after halftime and were outscored 249-50 by the final 30 seconds of the second half.
The Rams played football for just 9 minutes, 43 seconds in the second half.
Let’s move on to 10 instant observations:
1. This was a masterpiece by new defensive coordinator Sean Desai. Everything the Rams did early, the Eagles shut down in the second half. Everything that went wrong in the early days, Desai found answers late. With a fairly potent Rams offense and an elite quarterback with two record-setting receivers, the Eagles shut them out in the second half, holding them to 50 yards. The Eagles covered, pressured and made tackles. It was a great performance by a defense with a patchwork secondary without Fletcher Cox against the No. 4 offense in the NFL. This is truly a signature achievement for Desai.
2. This was also a masterpiece by new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, who I thought really channeled his inner Steichen with a balanced and creative play. The Eagles were pretty bad in the red zone and could have scored more points, but they moved the ball up and down against the Rams all day, keeping the Rams defense off balance, neutralizing Aaron Donald, and attacking deep. , joined D’Andre Swift and Kenny Gainwell in the run game in the second half to keep the clock running. The Eagles piled up 453 yards, held the ball for 38 minutes, protected Jalen Hurts, went an incredible 13 of 18 on third down, threw for over 300 yards, ran for over 150 yards and the game went on. As time went on, the Rams were left in tatters.
3. I knew AJ Brown was good. I knew he was really good. We knew the Eagles got the best deal in last year’s draft day trade.But I’d be lying if I said I knew he was. this good. He’s only played in 22 games (26 including the postseason) in an Eagles uniform, but I can safely say he’s as good as any Eagles WR I’ve ever seen. That includes Mike Quick, who compiled five straight Pro Bowl seasons, and DeSean Jackson, who scored long touchdowns at an unprecedented rate. This includes TOs who have undermined their self-worth through necessary drama. Take him to Philadelphia. Brown is playing at an absolutely astronomical level right now, gaining 131 yards against Tampa, 175 yards against Washington, 127 yards on Sunday, and 432 yards over the past three games. His 432 yards over his last three games are the most in a three-week span by an Eagles receiver in at least the past 50 years. When he catches the ball and when he has that linebacker mentality with the ball in his hands, stomping defenders, attacking the corners hard, running through people as much as he runs past them. It’s very smooth. Brown is unstoppable.
Four. I liked the concept of bringing Dallas Goedert in right away. If the Eagles establish early on that the passing game is more than Hurts vs. AJ or Hurts vs. DeVonta, it will be very effective for this offense. Goedert entered the game with 88 yards on the year, more than half of which came on the opening drive, finishing with 4 of 45 hits and his first 6-yard TD of the year. He had more catches and yards (and a TD) on that drive than in any game in the first month of the season. Goedert is too talented, valuable, and important to average 22 yards per game, so the Eagles made a concerted effort to acquire him and it appeared to work. Goedert had eight catches for 117 yards, the second-most total of his career. That’s the real Dallas Goedert and what we need to see every week.
Five. When you think about the guys that were playing in the secondary, you couldn’t ask for more than what they gave us. Josh Jobe had never played a defensive snap before Opening Day. Eli Ricks had played one snap before Sunday. Mario Goodrich took the field on defense for one game of his life, in Week 2 against the Vikings. Bradley Roby just signed here on Wednesday. It’s easy to forget that Reed Blankenship was an undrafted rookie last year, making his eighth career start. The Rams went after them all, and the Eagles’ young D-backs held up better than anyone expected. What was most impressive was their great play in the second half. Cooper Kupp was 6-of-95 before halftime and 2-of-23 after halftime. Puka Nacua was 3-of-34 before halftime and 3-of-23 after halftime. A lot of it was pressure. The Eagles put a lot of pressure on Matt Stafford in the second half, but pressure on the QB is the young D-back’s best friend. But overall, considering who participated and who didn’t? This was a real victory for this anonymous derivative creator.
6. The red zone continues to be a big problem for the Eagles. They scored touchdowns on just 46 percent of their red zone drives, ranking 24th in the league entering the week, and Sunday in Los Angeles was no different. They pushed it up to 16 points and earned 3 points. Thanks to turnovers, the net was pushed to 20 points, but it was no points. He scored a field goal on the drive to No. 8. It wasn’t one thing. A penalty here, a dropped pass there, a communication error here, a throw error there. Whatever the reason, the Eagles can’t continue to waste these opportunities. They were third in the league in red zone last year and should be there again with their offensive talent. We managed to escape on Sunday, but we have to be better.
7. Kudos to Sua Opeta, who held his own as the second right guard in his sixth career start. This meant that, at least for the majority of this game, the undrafted free agent would be facing off against one of the best interior linemen of all time, but as the Eagles have always done, Opeta had Aaron Donald in check. did. Donald is a beast against everyone else, but in five games against the Eagles (2014, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2023) Donald has zero sacks and the Rams have won 1 and 3 in those five games. It’s a loss. He had one solo tackle Sunday, but that was it. No pressure, no QB hits, no tackles for loss. Talking to Opeta that week, I really liked his mentality. He accepted the challenge. He said he has the utmost confidence in himself and is looking forward to proving himself against a guy like Donald. Cam Jurgens won’t be back for at least three more weeks, but the Eagles should be happy with how Opeta went out and played against Donald and then the Rams.
8. British Covey was a solid, reliable punt returner last year, but this year he’s become a real weapon. Covey averaged 9.3 yards per return last year and is up to 11.1 yards per return over the last 13 games, seventh-best in the league during that span. And the Eagles would have been happy to have something like that, too. However, Covey has shown tremendous growth as a returner this year. He sees the field better, makes quicker cutbacks, runs away from traffic, and the results are impressive. On Sunday, Covey had a return of at least 20 yards for the fourth time this year (he only had one last year), increasing his season average to 16.9 yards. Covey became the first Eagle to complete 20-yard returns in three consecutive games since Darren Sproles in 2014 against the 49ers, Rams and Giants. Covey entered the game ranked second in the NFL, but he did nothing to hurt his ranking. . The Eagles signed Covey as a safe, reliable player who could catch anything and gain six or seven yards of field position. So far, he has been much more than that. He’s turning into a guy who can truly flip field positions and make life easier for the offensive line.
9. If there were still any questions about Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ passing game after Sunday, those are gone. The inconsistency, mistakes, and lack of cohesion seen in the first few weeks of the season are gone, and Jalen Hurts and company are back in 2022 mode, where they just expected to score on every drive. Ta. Or every play. Hurts had a great performance Sunday and is currently putting together back-to-back 300-yard games. Hurts finished 25-of-38 for 303 yards with a TD pass to Goedert, an interception that probably shouldn’t have been thrown, and a rushing TD. And a 75-yard TD drive in 32 seconds? How is that possible? And he looked like the old Jalen running the ball. The Eagles needed it, and he finished with 72 rushing yards. The numbers are staggering. Hurts is now 28-11 in his career, but only seven QBs have won more games after starting his first 39 games, including Dan Marino, Kurt Warner and Patrick Mahomes. He’s 25-3 since Nick Sirianni’s Roots Underground speech in late October 2021, and most importantly, he looks unstoppable once again. And he’s seen what can happen when Hurts becomes unstoppable.
Ten. D’Andre Swift has had better games in the past, but I really liked his performance on Sunday. Swift didn’t do much early on, but he completed 5 of 7 rushes in the first half and caught three passes for 18 yards. But in the second half, Swift came into play as the Eagles pulled away and took control of the game. In the second half, when the Eagles held the ball for 19 1/2 minutes, Swift completed 12 of 63 rushes (most against a stacked box) and caught three more passes for 20 yards. Obtained. That equated to 83 net yards after halftime against a defense the Eagles knew they wanted to run away with. Swift is very tough and therefore very difficult to defeat. Through five games, he has 434 rushing yards and 509 scrimmage yards, more than 100 yards per game. What an acquisition.