Article By Peter Visalli – After the come from behind win against Jacksonville two weeks ago, we saw perseverance from this Eagles squad for the first time. Last Sunday we saw perseverance again, even though the Eagles had the lead for the majority of the game it didn’t totally feel that way. There was just something in the air that felt like the Eagles were beatable in this game. They seemed to be less invincible than the games have felt the first four weeks. Even against Jacksonville with a 14-0 deficit, it didn’t seem to faze the Birds offense or defense.
After the slow start the defense only allowed one garbage time touchdown in the fourth quarter. The offense was firmly committed to the run and looked mighty frightening. Last week the run game wasn’t totally clicking and Nick Sirianni all but abandoned the run game in the second half.
We saw this style of offense last season. Before the Eagles had established themselves as the number one rushing offense in the league, they were sitting at 2-3 at this stage of last season. Fortunately, on the final drive of the game the Birds went on a 17 play drive that took 7:58 off of the clock while regaining the lead with a late Cameron Dicker field goal. Firmly committing back to the run game seemed effortless the way the Eagles as they marched down the field.
After all was said and I done I thought, what else do we need to see from this team? They have blown out bad teams. They’ve out dueled the Lions, who had the number one scoring offense in the NFL, come from behind against a Jaguars team that went into LA three weeks ago and fed the Chargers their lunch at home and now showing a lack luster performance they prevailed to never fall behind against the Cardinals.
Aside from light scoring totals in the second half the Eagles are looking very complete at this
moment. I’ve got to say that the way they are having fun and playing as a team they’re in a strong position to make a deep run. I’ve been watching this team since 1988 in my Uncle Tony’s living room and the teams that have had fun and were unfazed by adversity have always had the most success. I.e. the 2017 team that never flinched when times were tough.
This week a potentially dangerous Dallas Cowboys team is coming to town and this could be another measuring stick game, which will help us see the direction they will pivot to this
season. The Sunday night slug fest to see who truly sits at the top of the NFC East for the moment. In past years, particularly the Andy Reid years, the week before and week after Dallas games had a tendency to be lack luster efforts, which we saw on Sunday. Sunday afternoon in Arizona with Dallas looming the following Sunday night followed a trend we’ve seen for years.
This oncoming Cowboys duel could tell us all we need to know about this Eagles team. All in all, I’d say right now that the amazingly complete team doesn’t leave us any reason to be concerned other than let’s hope the Birds can keep their foot on the gas the whole game on Sunday night, not just the first half.
I don’t think it’s time for the 72 Dolphins team to sweat, but as the saying goes, “any given Sunday”. With 12 more games to go, it’s hard say anything other than the rest of the league has to be concerned playing against the Eagles right now. This team is finding ways to win games and having a blast doing it. Article By Peter Visalli
