By: Kylan Watson
The Philadelphia Eagles are the hottest team in the league and have a six-game winning streak. They faced the Los Angeles Rams with a chance to push their winning streak to seven games. Thanks to a scoring explosion from Saquon Barkley, they were able to rout the Rams 37-20 and push their winning streak to seven straight.
The Eagles started this game off hot they were able to drive right down the field on their first two drives which both ended in field goals. They were finally able to score their first touchdown in the second quarter thanks to a beautiful pass from Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown, which was initially ruled as an incomplete pass which was changed to a touchdown upon review.
The last few weeks the Eagles offense has been rounding into form since their bye week and this was probably the most complete performance for them. They were able to dominate this game from start to finish thanks to Hurts and Saquon Barkley who imposed his will on this game. He had two touchdown runs from 70-plus yards away and almost took a screen pass from Hurts for another touchdown. Barkley carried the ball 26 times for 255 yards (302 total purpose yards) and caught the ball four times for 47 yards. In an offense filled with weapons he is the finisher for the Eagles, he closed this game out for them, scoring the final touchdown that put them ahead in this game.
One of the things that the Eagles offense has been missing is a player who can get some hard yards. That is Barkley and his ability to create big plays has allowed Philly to have one of the most explosive offenses in the league. There is an argument that can be made that Philly does not feature him enough on the offensive side, but he has to share the scoring load with AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, just to name a few.
The Eagles were able to wear the Rams down in this game thanks to their multi-faceted offensive attack that can beat opposing teams in multiple ways. The Rams defense just did not have an answer for what they were doing tonight, and if Kellen Moore can continue to call plays that maximize Philly’s offensive capabilities. They will be a super bowl contender and could win a ring at the end of this season.
Philly’s defense also played a crucial role in this game, LA took an early lead in this game thanks to pass interference penalties by the Eagles. When they had to go the full length of the field to score points the Rams could not do it in this game. Philly’s defensive line was able to sack Matthew Stafford five times in this game and Milton Williams was the featured player in this game. He sacked Stafford two times in this game to lead the Eagles defensive unit. He was a beneficiary of the fact that the Rams were double teaming Jalen Carter to make sure he did not blow up their offensive scheme. However, with all that attention on Carter allowed other members of the defensive unit to put pressure on Stafford. Philly forced the Rams to punt the ball three consecutive times by half-time, after the early touchdown drive. Once again, the defensive unit kept the game just close enough until the offensive unit could find their footing and then Philly imposed their will on this contest.
The Eagles will need to find some better plays to use in the red zone so they can score more touchdowns instead of settling for field goals. Once the Eagles can fix their red zone offense, they will really be able to take their offensive capabilities to the next level. Red Zone efficiency is really the only thing that is holding this team back from really being a dominant unit.
Philly will now prepare to face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon, this upcoming matchup could be a super bowl preview that features two of the best teams in the NFL. The Eagles will have to find a way to keep Lamar Jackson in the pocket and put some pressure on him. Making Jackson uncomfortable and forcing him to make mistakes will be a key factor in slowing down the Ravens’ explosive offense. In addition, the Eagles will have to do what they did tonight and dominate the time of possession and score touchdowns. They cannot settle for field goals and expect to beat the Ravens. Implementing these things into their gameplan for this matchup will put them in great shape to win their 10th game of the season and extend their winning streak to eight straight games.