The Philadelphia Eagles annihilated the Detroit Lions, 44-6 on Sunday. The Eagles moved to 3-5 on the regular season.
In the win, the Eagles racked up over 200 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground. This was the first time the Eagles had rushed for over 200 yards and 4 touchdowns in 8 years.
Offensively, it was the thunder and lightning show with Boston Scott and Jordan Howard powering the offense.
Howard provided something the Eagles offense has lacked all season: a physical presence. Howard always seems to gain positive yardage, no matter the down and distance.
Jalen Hurts didn’t have to do much through the air (9/14 for 103 passing yards). The trio of Hurts-Scott-Howard rushed 31 times for 188 yards.
Defensively the Eagles front four got after Jared Goff all afternoon, racking up 6 sacks. Josh Sweat (2), Hassan Ridgeway (1), Derek Barnett (1), Milton Williams (1), and Tarron Jackson (1) all got hands on the Lions quarterback.
Darius Slay also made his presence felt in his return to Detroit with a fumble recovery for a touchdown, the defense’s 1st score of the year.
In this game, we saw Jonathan Gannon get aggressive (shocker) and dial up several blitzes.
The Lions simply could not handle the Eagles front four.
For most of the season, the Eagles defense have been demoralized on the ground. Opposing offenses have had the Eagles at their will on the ground. In this game, the Eagles were the ones doing the demoralizing. This was a level of domination that hadn’t been seen from the Eagles in quite some time. So much so, that we even saw Gardner Minshew and his puzzling sleeves.
Overall, the biggest takeaway from this game was that the Eagles offensive staff saw an advantage they had over the opponent and exploited it all game because they couldn’t be stopped.
There seems to be a trend over the last two games. Early last week the Eagles ran the ball heavy on their opening drive with Miles Sanders and the offense moved down the field with ease. This week, it was all run. The offensive staff seems to have received the memo that running the ball helps young dual threat quarterbacks.
The Eagles broke the Lions spirit in this game. And they did so, by doing what they do best: winning in the trenches. The lines on both sides were able to set the tone early and it led to success on both sides of the ball.
Nick Sirianni and Jonathan Gannon were more creative and aggressive in this game, than they have been at any point in the season.
Philosophically, this is the type of offense that Jalen Hurts can succeed in. One that is run heavy and structures it’s passing game off the running game.
This win, although over an obvious inferior opponent, was needed. It was a confidence builder. We’ll see if the results from this game can bleed over into next week when the Eagles take on the Los Angeles Chargers at home.
Cover Image Credit: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
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