How Long Can The Eagles Go Undefeated?
On Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles remained the only undefeated team in the NFL after overcoming a 14 point deficit against Doug Pederson and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coming out on top of 29-21 final during what could only be described as a monsoon.
This week. The Eagles are visiting the Arizona Cardinals in hopes of keeping the streak going. It’s been almost 2 years since the last time these teams played each other. It was only Jalen Hurts 2nd start after taking over the starting position for Carson Wentz.
A 26-33 game was closer than you might think. A last second hail mary from rookie Jalen Hurts had the potential to tie or win the game.
If only he wasn’t throwing to Nelson Agholor…
The Rematch
Currently, the Cardinals are 2-2 and tied with every team in the NFC West for first place. Kyler Murray has 991 Yards and a 65.3% completion rate through these 4 games, without DeAndre Hopkins for two more weeks. However, that hasn’t stopped the Cardinals offence from looking lackluster. In week 3 against the Rams, Kyler had 314 yards on 58 pass attempts and finished the day without a touchdown. The team only managed to score 4 Field Goals. Not exactly the stats you want to see when your defence is giving up an average of 25.75 points per game.
On the other hand, the Eagles have been rolling on both sides of the ball. The offence is averaging 28.75 points a game, while stagnating in the 2nd half of most games due to the several score leads the defence has maintained throughout games. Only allowing 17.75 points per game so far isn’t even reflective of the defence. The Jaguars scored 7 of their 21 points off of a Jalen Hurts pick 6 in the first quarter. Which brings the total points allowed per game to 16. As much as the Eagles offence has slowed down in the 2nd half, the week 4 matchup was a good test to watch this team come back from a 14 point deficit and come out with the win.
Now this Eagles team is much different from the 2020 roster the Cardinals got to play in the last time these teams saw each other. The Eagles were playing Michael Jacquet, Jalen Mills and Nickell Robey-Coleman at Cornerback. Luckily they were able to hold Christian Kirk and Larry Fitzgerald to under 40 yards each. But DeAndre Hopkins 9 receptions for 169 yards is what truly punished the Eagles that week.
Next Up
After the Cardinals game will be the Eagles biggest game so far. Playing the currently 3-1 Cowboys could have major implications towards the NFC East. Sitting 1 win ahead of the Cowboys currently, These teams could enter Week 6 all tied up, or with the Eagles still one game ahead. If the Birds still have that extra game in hand, a win against the Cowboys would be extremely important to start 2-0 against the division and increase that lead on the division for when the Eagles have some tougher match ups further down the road.
After the Bye Week the Eagles face the Steelers. And we all remember the last time these teams played. If you don’t, it was when Nate Gerry was 1on1 with Chase Claypool. Yikes.
Luckily the Steelers are having a QB problem themselves, having pulled Trubisky to start rookie Kenny Pickett. Things didn’t look much better for the offence. So we’ll have to see what sort of adjustments Mike Tomlin will make by Week 8.
When I predicted an 11-6 season, I saw the Cowboys as the next Loss on the schedule, however the way the team is rolling. I could see them getting all the way to the rematch against the Commanders, or even the Packers without many struggles.
How far do you think the Eagles undefeated streak will go?
Go Birds!
Photo Credit: Ross D. Franklin
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Categorized:Eagles