The 5 Numbers That Tell The Story of The Eagles Win Over The Colts
The Eagles pulled out an ugly win over the Colts. But an ugly win is always better than a loss. It is not college. There are no style points, and there is no committee deciding which team is best. A win is a win. And they pulled one out with a late game-winning drive to improve to 9-1. But how did they get that win over the Colts? Here are 5 numbers that tell that story.
35
Things did not start great for the Eagles against the run. Jonathan Taylor took the Colts right down the field to score a TD with 49 yards on 7 carries. It looked like it would be a repeat of last week. But then the Eagles’ run defense really settled in. Taylor gained only 35 yards for the rest of the game, on 15 carries. It seems like the additions of Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh paid off. That is just 2.3 yards per carry. Taylor averages 4.6 per carry. They made him a non-factor in the game after the first drive. And they will need more play like that from this run defense, with some great run teams coming up over the next few games.
10
The Eagles trailed for most of this game. In fact, they were down 10 pts going into the final quarter of play. But when they needed him to the most, Hurts played his best football. First, he opens the quarter with a Quick TD to Quez Watkins. On the next drive they were driving again, but AJ Brown made a rare mistake and coughed up the Football. But the Defense held the Colts to an FG to keep it a one-score game. And Hurts took advantage. With under 5 minutes to go, he produced a game-winning drive and took it into the end zone himself. It was an ugly game by the offense. But Hurts came up huge at the end of the game.
-46
Dallas Goedert was sorely missed on Sunday. Not only because you lost his production. But because the guys who replaced him, gave you nothing. In fact less than nothing. The Tight Ends had 1 catch for 7 yards. But they also had 3 penalties that cost you -25 yards. Worse yet, those 3 penalties also erased two plays that went for a combined 23 yards. So that is a net loss of 46 yards because of the tight ends. Now Tyree Jackson was in his first game back from a gruesome injury. He has the potential to be something more. But will we see that anytime soon? The Eagles’ offense really needs Dallas Goedert to work. But they will be without him for the next 3 games. So they are going to need to find a way to make it work. They cant perform like this and beat teams every week.
3
Boston Scott had 3 carries in the game. Which out of context seems like the right number. The problem is, all 3 carries came on the final drive of the game in the red zone. Why put him in cold at the most important part of the game? Well, that is the question everyone was asking. It was baffling. And the runs didn’t really work. He got 8 yards on those 3 carries, to set up a 4th and 2. Which Hurts converted. But why use Scott in that situation at all? Mile Sanders didn’t have a great game, but he is much better than Scott. Luckily it didn’t cost them, but it could have.
1.5
The Eagles are alone atop the NFC again. The Vikings fell back to Earth hard. The Cowboys crushed them. Leaving the Eagles the only 1 loss team in the NFC. The Cowboys and Giants each have 3 losses, and one of those Cowboys losses is to the Eagles. The Vikings now have 2, and the Eagles have the tiebreaker. The 49ers have at least 4 going into Monday Night Football. And the Seahawks have 4. The Eagles have at least a 1.5-game lead over everyone. They are still in a great position to win the top seed in the NFC.
