Eagles Run Over the Vikings to Improve to 2-0
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 14: D'Andre Swift #0 of the Philadelphia Eagles runs with the ball during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field on September 14, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It turns out the Eagles are still very good at running the ball. After a mostly quiet day on the ground in week 1, the Eagles ran all over the Vikings on Thursday Night to improve to 2-0. 259 yards on the ground, and 3 rushing TDs. 175 of those yards came from D’Andre Swift, who touched the ball just twice against the Patriots. It carried them to a 34-28 win. A score that is closer than the game actually was.
Is there some stuff to complain about? Sure. And you know as Philadelphians, we will complain about them with over a week until they play again. The backups in the secondary looked confused, and there were two times when miscommunication in the zone scheme lead to a wide-open TD. They gave up 364 yards and 4 TDs through the air. But that probably makes the defense look worse than they were.
Because they also kept the Vikings to just 28 yards on the ground. The defense forced 3 fumbles, with the Special Teams adding a 4th. The linebacker group looked far better against both the run and the pass, with Zach Cunningham’s improvement sticking out in particular. Hopefully, Bradberry will be back soon, and hopefully, it will be good news about Avonte Maddox. The D-Line was putting in work all night. They had only 2 sacks but hit Kirk Cousins 10 times. Josh Sweat was responsible for 5 of those.
The Eagles passing attack? Still a work in progress. Hurts looked better as the game went on, but took two bad sacks on one drive that pushed them out of field goal range. Devonta Smith had two long plays though. One went for a TD, and the other should have if Hurts had hit Smith in stride. AJ Brown was mostly quiet but did have a TD taken off the board by a penalty. Swift was the star of the night though. And he should continue to be a huge part of the offense after what he did tonight.
The Eagles don’t play again until Monday Night in week 3. Meaning they have 9 days off. Plenty of time to work out the remaining kins, and for the injured players to get healthy.
Overreacting to One Week? - Eagles Week 2 Power Rankings Roundup
There is a rule I have when it comes to week 1 in the NFL. Try your best to not overreact to anything, whether it is positive or negative. Many teams have looked good in week 1 throughout NFL history, then struggled the rest of the year. Likewise, many teams have looked bad in week 1 but then bounced back. Last year the Bengals started the season 0-2, and then they finished 13-4 and made it to the AFC Championship game. The goal should usually be to survive, and make it to week 2, hopefully with a win. Which is what the Eagles did. It was ugly, but it was a win.
And there is certainly a lot of teams that should be living by that going into week 2 this year. The Chiefs and Bengals had ugly week 1 losses. Does that mean they are not as good as we think they are? No. It just means they had a bad start. Are the Cowboys suddenly the best team in the league team just because they blew out the Giants? Also no.
Take everything with a grain of salt. Your opinion of each team should not be changing wildly after just one game, especially the first game of the season. If your opinions are already different, clearly they were not very strong opinions to begin with.
But of course, there are a lot of people in the National Media who do not follow that advice. In fact they will go into week 2 with wildly different opinions, and be hitting the panic button after just one loss, or be making Super Bowl plans for other teams who looked good. But how does that impact the Eagles? Are those writers hitting the panic button, or do they still think the Eagles are among the League’s best?
Let’s see where the Eagles fell in the week 2 power rankings:
Tyrone Johnson is the host of “The Best Show Ever” on 97.5 The Fanatic. He has been with the station for the past 8 years. Before working at the Fanatic, Tyrone produced political radio, did financial reports, and was assistant chief engineer of another radio station. As a content creator for 97.5 The Fanatic, Tyrone writes articles on the Sixers, Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers.
