Week 7 Eagles Power Rankings Round-Up: Another Ugly Win

The Eagles got a win on Sunday. So why does it feel like they lost? They turned in a lackluster performance vs maybe the worst team in the NFL, and the head coach became a national punching bag. So what are they saying about the Eagles around the NFL? Let's find out in the Week 7 Eagles Power Rankings Round-Up.

It is hard to feel optimistic about this team right now. We saw them underperform all of last year, and now they have underperformed through the first 5 weeks. You can say the roster on defense is just flawed, but the defense has actually been fine. It is the offense that is underperforming, and on paper, they should be a top 5 offense in the league.

"They’re 3-2 now but have been outscored on the season, largely thanks to opponents’ 23-0 first-quarter scoring advantage. Yep, we’re five games in, and the Eagles haven’t scored in the first 15 minutes in any of them."

More than that, they have barely moved the ball in the first quarter. In the first two drives of the game this year, they have just 140 yards. That is 14 yards per drive. They also have 4 turnovers on those drives. They have scored on two drives this year that started in the 1st but ended in the 2nd. But slow starts have been a problem in every game this season.

"They won a game against Cleveland, but it still doesn't look right. The offense isn't good, which remains a concern. Nick Sirianni needs to focus on coaching and not the fans."

The offense still looks the same as last year. We were told Kellen Moore was bringing over his offense. But it looks more like Nick's offense with a little bit of Moore thrown in. What happened to the 95% new offense? Why are they still doing the same things that failed last year?

The Eagles aren't going to fire him unless things completely collapse. But his job is absolutely on the line, and after his PR written apology, it is clear some people in that building are not happy with his antics. For a guy on the hot seat, it would do him well to start acting more like a professional, especially considering these antics were already a talking point before the season.

It is hard to see a Super Bowl in this team's future right now. They have the talent to change that, but after watching them play 5 games, there is nothing from those games that screams Super Bowl for this team.

A win is a win. We told ourselves that so many times last year, we started to believe it. But those ugly Eagles wins eventually turned into ugly losses. And now it carried into this season despite the new Coordinators and some new faces on the roster. Their latest ugly win came over the Browns.

Related: Eagles Get The Week 6 Win, But Questions Linger On Offense

They did get the win. It is more than you can say about any other team in their division. But squeaking out a win vs the now 1-5 Browns is not going to make anyone feel better. They were 9.5-point favorites over this team. The expectation was that they would demolish them. But this offense, with all the weapons they have, crawled across the finish line, managing just 20 points.

This offense was talented last year. It got even better this year with the addition of Saquon Barkley. Yet somehow it is still underperforming. The Browns' defense is not Swiss Cheese, but a roster this talented should score more than 20 points.

The defense meanwhile looked great. They allowed just 3 field goals and held the Browns to 244 points. They also finally got pressure, specifically from the edge where both Bryce Huff and Nolan Smith got in on sacks. But it is also the Browns, the worst offense in the league. They deserve credit for doing what they need to do, but it is hard to crown them for doing what every team has done to the Browns.

Still, they got the win and kept themselves in the running for the NFC and the NFC East. With the schedule coming up, they could be 7-2 when they go into the Thursday Night Game vs the Commanders. But they don't look right, just like they didn't look right last year when they were 10-1.

So what should we take away? Were there any positive takeaways to be had? How bad are they in the 1st quarter right now?

Let's start with a positive, Jalen Hurts had a turnover-free game. 0 interceptions, and 0 fumbles. It is something we haven't seen in a long time. Hurts stats may not jump off the page, but he had a pretty decent game despite the team scoring just 20 points. His TD pass to AJ Brown was a thing of beauty, as was the pass to Brown that sealed the win. Jonathan Vilma might have called it an underthrow, but it was placed right into Brown's breadbasket where he was the only player who could make a play on it.

His season so far has been underwhelming. Yes, he was without his best weapons, but he also should be able to carry the team when those guys are out. The mistakes have been far too common. But we also have seen glimpses of the guy they paid that big contract to. Maybe now that everyone is healthy, they can finally get the offense moving.

Quinyon Mitchell has looked the part in his 1st 5 games so far. On Sunday he had his best game yet. Again, it is the Browns, so take everything with a grain of salt. But even when playing a bad team, you can tell how good an individual player is, and Mitchell was amazing.

He allowed a passer rating of 39.6 when targeted. Deshaun Watson had a passer rating over 90, so it is not just that Watson was bad. He was efficient, just not productive. But Mitchell was drawing some of the toughest assignments on the team, especially once Slay was ruled out, and he shut his side of the field down, allowing just 1 catch for 10 years. Mitchell should have had his 1st interception, but CJ Gardner Johnson ran into him stealing that chance.

If you are looking for a bright spot, Mitchell is it. Cooper DeJean also looked pretty great. The Eagles very well may have found their CB tandem for at least the next 4 years.

The Eagles have played 5 games this season. That is 5 chances to score in the first quarter, 75 minutes of game. In those 75 minutes though, they had 13 drives, controlled the clock for 32:39 minutes, and scored 0 points.

Now it should be said that they ended the 1st quarter with the ball in week 1, and then went on to score on that same drive in the 2nd quarter. Vs the Browns, they had the ball to end the 1st quarter and went on the score an FG. But both of those were the 3rd drive of the game. The first two drives have been the real problem. In the first 2 drives of every game, a total of 10 drives, they have 140 yards, 0 points, and 4 turnovers. That is 14 yards a drive. They have 2 Interceptions, a bad snap for a fumble, and a turnover on downs.

Those drives should be their best drives. They are the plays you get to script. But for the Eagles, they are their worst drives of the game every week.

The Eagles D-Line has been a major issue this year. They showed up in week 3 vs the Saints but otherwise had been missing in action the other 3 games. But they showed up vs the Browns. The Browns O-line is a mess, and every team has done this to them, but it was refreshing to see consistent pressure out of this defense.

The Browns had 33 pass-block snaps, the Eagles had 21 pressures. Some of those came on the same snap, but there was consistent pressure. And it came from places we hadn't seen yet this year, Bryce Huff and Nolan Smith got sacks. Well in Huff's case, a half sack, but still, it is .5 more sacks than he had in the first 4 games. Jalen Carter had another monster game with 5 pressures and a sack.

We need to see it more, and vs better O-Lines, but it was a very encouraging sign.

We didn't need to see AJ brown play again to know how much they missed him. But even if the offense overall was underwhelming on Sunday, he was not. AJ Brown came back after missing 3 games and looked as good as a WR can look. 6 catches, 116 yards, and a TD. Including as we mentioned the great play that sealed the win.

But perhaps even more impressive, he averaged 4.5 yards per route run. YPRR is a stat that does exactly what it sounds like it does. It takes the WRs yards, vs how many routes they ran, and averages it out. It tells you how impactful that WR is, taking into account how much playing them they get. 4.5 is a very good number. For context, 6 weeks in, Nico Collins leads the league with 3.61 YPRR.

That part of the Eagles game we know works. Hurts and Brown have as good a connection as any QB/WR duo. The Eagles just need to figure out how to get everything else to work.

This Eagles offense should be great. It has the talent to be a top 5 offense. But 5 games in, they look average. They average only 21.2 pts per game. That is 18th in the league. not only are they not a top offense, but they are also a bottom-half offense. They are 10th in yards per game at 366.8. Something is wrong. The talent is there, which makes it a coaching issue. Whether it is Nick or Kellen Moore, they need to get more out of this talented roster. You can say they have missed some of their players, but they had both WRs this week and still struggled to score. If this offense is not elite, this team isn't winning anything.