PHILADELPHIA: Let’s look on the intense aspect for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Yes, they’ve misplaced two straight video games, towards two of the NFC’s greatest groups. Yes, they’ve been sloppy. Yes, confidence has waned in Philly that the Eagles can return to the Super Bowl. Yes, your complete teaching employees is getting second-guessed.
The excellent news is that this: Through all of the slop of the final two weeks, the Eagles can nonetheless win the NFC East. Oh, and the No. 1 general seed within the convention continues to be in play, although they need assistance to get there.
The Eagles adopted a house blowout loss to San Francisco with a beatdown defeat at Dallas. The 33-13 loss gave the Eagles a sequence break up with the Cowboys and put each groups at 10-3. As of Monday, the Eagles are the No. 5 seed within the NFC. Not nice for a workforce that was 10-1 two weeks in the past.
The Eagles went 2-2 throughout a difficult stretch that included wins over Kansas City and Buffalo. The schedule simply might get the Eagles again to the highest spot because of video games towards Seattle and Arizona and two towards the Giants. Philly’s remaining opponents have a mixed 13-25 file.
Jalen Hurts hadn’t misplaced consecutive video games as Philadelphia’s beginning quarterback since October 2021.
“You don’t win without some type of adversity,” Hurts mentioned. “That’s just the name of it. We’d love to come out here and be perfect. But perfection is only an illusion.”
The 49ers have a tiebreaker edge with the Eagles, ought to each groups end the season with the identical file. The Eagles must win out and the 49ers must lose a minimum of as soon as over their last 4 video games — towards Arizona, Baltimore, Washington and the Rams — for Philadelphia to earn the No. 1 seed. If the Eagles win out, they’d maintain all of the tiebreakers towards the Cowboys.
The Eagles know this supposedly straightforward stretch to shut the season may be their ticket again to one of many prime two spots within the NFC, with a possible bye or residence-discipline edge as their postseason reward.
“We’ve played a lot of high-profile games here before and executed well. I don’t think it is the magnitude,” middle Jason Kelce mentioned. “These are good teams, and you can’t make mistakes against good teams. We’ve done far too much of that.”
WHAT’S WORKING
Special groups. Jake Elliott nailed discipline objectives from 52 and 44 yards. Braden Mann linked with Olamide Zaccheaus for 28 yards on a pretend punt. Britain Covey had an 18-yard punt return.
WHAT NEEDS HELP
Holding onto the ball. Three of the Eagles’ prime offensive gamers had fumbles — Hurts on their opening drive, A.J. Brown to begin the second half and DeVonta Smith within the fourth quarter.
“We are trying to make plays, man,” Brown mentioned. (*1*)
STOCK UP
Jalen Carter. The Cowboys had been cruising when Dak Prescott misplaced management of the ball whereas he was sacked by Fletcher Cox within the third quarter. Carter picked up the free ball and ran untouched for a landing to get the Eagles inside 24-13.
STOCK DOWN
Hurts. He was outplayed by Prescott and his fumble on the 20 on the opening drive was an enormous setback. Hurts has 15 turnovers this season, together with 5 misplaced fumbles.
“They had good technique. On their rips, it seemed like they had really good technique in all three of their turnovers,” Hurts mentioned. “It’s a testament to them. But we’ve got to be better on ball security as a runner.”
INJURIES
S Reed Blankenship suffered a concussion.
KEY NUMBER
1,200 — Brown grew to become the primary participant in Eagles historical past with 1,200 yards receiving in consecutive seasons, together with a file 1,496 final season. He has 1,258 thus far this season. Brown is the second participant in Eagles historical past to have a minimum of two seasons with 1,200 or extra receiving yards, becoming a member of Mike Quick (1983 and 1985). With 9 catches towards the Cowboys, Brown now has a profession-excessive 90 this season.
NEXT STEPS
The Eagles play at Seattle within the first NFL recreation flexed to Monday night time. This is the primary season the league has allowed the potential of transferring video games into and out of Monday nights between Weeks 12 and 17.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
