Eagles Offense Quiets The Critics On Way To The Super Bowl
In the first two weeks of the playoffs, the Eagles made their fans sweat things out until pretty much the end of the game. That was not the case today though. The offense hardly blinked, racking up 55 points, despite a missed FG at one point. They steamrolled their way to a win over the Commanders, and are heading back to the Super Bowl for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Eagles Critics Will Need To Find A New Talking Point
All week all the National media wanted to talk about how Jalen Hurts had struggled. He was the constant subject of doubt and scorn. It seemed like his “struggles” were the only things anyone outside of Philly wanted to talk about coming into this game.
They will need to find a new topic for the next 2 weeks. The Eagles QB was fantastic. 246 yards, a passing TD, 2 rushing TDs, and 3 rushing TDs. He completed 20 of 28 pass attempts. More importantly, another clean game. Since the bye week, he has protected the ball better than any other QB. Today he did more than that. He was arguably the bets player on that field, yes even better than the rookie QB on the other side.
Saquon Barkley had 3 TDs of his own to go with 118 yards on just 15 carries. He took it 60 yards to the house on the Eagles’ first play. It is his 3rd 50+ yard TD run this postseason, and his 9th overall this season. We have seen with the Eagles you need to keep a safety deep to stop their run game because their run game is more explosive than any other team’s passing game.
AJ Brown racked up 96 yards and a TD. Dallas Goedert had 85 catches on 7 catches, and Devonta Smith had 45 on 4. Will Shipley even joined the party with 77 yards and a TD. They punted twice and had 0 turnovers. All the issues of the past 2 weeks vanished. The offense was nearly unstoppable.
It is almost like awful conditions played a factor vs the Rams, and maybe the Packers were just a very good defense. They still scored over 20 on both teams and only trailed once between the 2 games. It is almost like this offense was 7th in points per game and 8th in yards per game. It is almost like we saw similar production from the Chiefs’ and Bills’ offenses (just without the lopsided rushing numbers) but never heard a peep about those offenses struggling.
The Eagles offense went out and handled business. They put up 55 points. The most they have all season. The Commanders defense didn’t have a prayer of stopping them.
Give Defense Some Credit Too
The Eagles defense was a bit leaky at times today. Zach Ertz was beating them all game long for first downs, and they let Terry McLaurin slip loose once for a long TD too. But they still forced 4 turnovers and got some key sacks.
3 forced fumbles and an interception. The Eagles are now +10 on turnovers this postseason. They have seemingly mastered the art of the Peanut Punch. Oren Burks and Zack Baun both punched one out, and then Will Shipley punched one out on a kick return. To top it all off, Quinyon Mitchell put the final nail in the coffin with a pick in the End Zone.
And how about Nolan Smith? He is now up to 4.5 playoff sacks, the 2nd most in team history. He has 1 in every playoff game so far. He passed Reggie White on the All-Time playoff sack list for the Eagles.
The Eagles defense has been the engine that makes this team run all season long. Even in those games where the offense had to work out some issues, the defense has been as reliable as it gets. This is only the 4th time since the bye that a team put up 20 or more points on them. Two of those 4 came against the Commanders.
Not only are they a takeaway machine, but they regularly shut down dangerous offenses. Ravens, Rams, Commanders, Bengals. This is a defense that can win a Super Bowl with or without the help of the offense. But if the offense plays like it did today the opposing team has no hope.
Eagles Heading To The Super Bowl
In 2 weeks, the Eagles will have a chance to retake the Lombardi Trophy. We don’t know if it is the Bills or Chiefs yet, but the Eagles will be in New Orleans on February 9th along with likely a lot of Eagles fans.
The Eagles have lost just 1 game since the Bye Week, and that was in a game where Jalen Hurts was knocked out early. They have lost no games where both Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown play all year. They have a +42 point differential in the playoffs now. No matter how much doubt has been heaped on them from outside of the city, they keep coming out on top.
The job is not done, but for now, Philadelphia can celebrate. The Eagles are NFC Champions, and we have a real chance at throwing another parade. The Eagles have a date with history coming up, and everything about how they have played tells you they are more than prepared for it.
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