By: Kylan Watson
Fresh off of beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the battle of PA last week, the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Houston Texans tonight. The Texans made it difficult for Philly tonight, but they got hot at the right time in the second half and were able to beat Houston 29-to-17. The Eagles now have their first 8-and-nothing record for the first time in the team’s history.
The Eagles started the game off slowly, they seemed to be affected by the short week to prepare for the Texans. They had to punt on their first few possessions, Houston threw everything at them defensively and were able to stop the offense in its tracks. The Texans took full advantage on their second drive as they went right down the field and took an early seven-to-nothing lead over the Eagles. They were able to use the elusiveness of Dameon Pierce to their advantage. He ran it right down Philly’s throat and before the Eagles knew it, he had rushed for 103-yards by the third quarter, they had no answers for him. They tried everything to stop him and just could not. He would break through tackles and turn nothing into something. Philly’s rushing defense really suffered in the absence of 2022 first round pick Jordan Davis who will be out four to six weeks with a high ankle sprain. Without him to take up the offensive line’s attention. Houston was able to get double teams on Fletcher Cox and Hassan Reddick and Pierce had all the running room he needed to put the Eagles on their heels.
Philly’s offense finally woke up late in the first quarter as they were able to tie the game up, and then used their multi-faceted offense to keep the Texans defense on the field. They were able to use Jalen Hurts’ arm to march right down the field, he made the most of returning to his hometown for the first-time as an NFL player. He was able to connect with AJ Brown and Dallas Goedert to put the game away for the Eagles. Specifically on the game-winning drive that was capped off with a Goedert touchdown pass. He showed complete command of the offense once again and was finding his receivers in tight windows. On that drive in the fourth quarter, he was able to connect with Goedert a couple of times over the middle. Hurts made the Texans pay for leaving one of the top tight ends in the game wide open. With each game the Eagles play it becomes apparent that Hurts is here to stay and if he continues to show command of the offense the Eagles will be one of the top teams in the league and may end up in Arizona as the NFC’s representative in the Super Bowl.
The Eagles defense also came to play tonight after giving up two early touchdowns to the Texans they were able to finally get some pressure on Davis Mills and force him into two turnovers, that ultimately help the Eagles to keep the Texans at bay. They also sacked Mills three-times, the defense was able to make some adjustments to get in Mills face and make him think about it. That allowed for them to stifle the Texans on the offensive side. The Eagles will need to figure out their rushing defense, which hurt them tonight, but did not cost Philly this game. Without Davis for the next couple of weeks the Eagles will need to find a run stopper to anchor the defensive front if they want to continue to stay dominant on the defensive end throughout the rest of this season.
Philly will now get a full week to prepare for the Washington Commanders on Monday night. They will need to find a way to stifle the rushing attack of the Commanders and to keep Terry McLaurin at bay. Additionally, the Eagles will need for their offensive rhythm to come together in the first quarter they cannot afford another slow start against a streaking Commanders team next week. If they want to get their ninth win of the season.
