Week 10 Eagles Power Rankings Round-Up: Sirianni Madness

The Eagles won their 4th straight game. They improved to 6-2. Only 4 teams have a better record than them, and 2 of those teams only do because they played 1 extra game. On paper, the Eagles are in great shape. But some awful decisions by Nick Sirianni, and last year's collapse, still loom large over this team, raining on their parade. What do the National media think? Here is your Week 10 Eagles Power Rankings Round-Up.

"Those games could very well determine the division winner with Washington (7-2) and Philadelphia (6-2) neck and neck right now. As it stands, the Commanders have a 50.6% chance of winning the NFC East compared to 48.2% for the Eagles, according to ESPN's FPI."

ESPN is still showing no love to the Eagles. They have the Packers above them. Even though the Eagles have a better record and point differential than them, and oh yeah, they already beat the Packers this season.

But yes, those Commanders games are absolutely the most important games left in the season. If either team wins both you can nearly guarantee that team wins the division.

"Don't look now, but Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and the Eagles' offense have been cooking since their Week 5 bye. In the past four games, Hurts has completed 72.3 percent of his passes for 844 yards, six TDs, and no interceptions, also rushing for 159 yards and six more TDs."

This offense has clicked on all cylinders with AJ Brown back in the mix. Now he did leave Sunday's game, and his status for the Cowboys game is still up in the air, but it is clear that when this offense is healthy, they can put up big numbers. Hurts has been fantastic of late, and even without Brown in the 2nd half, he still looked good.

Also thank you to NFL.com for giving them a more reasonable ranking this week.

"The Eagles are playing well. The second half vs. the Jaguars was concerning, with game management errors that allowed Jacksonville to stay in the game and almost win it. But a weird second half will keep the Eagles under the radar. Pretty soon, everyone will be talking about them."

I had nothing negative to say about the talent on the field Sunday. Nick Sirianni is the lone question mark. he left 9 points on the field. If he takes just 4 of those, 1 of the Fgs, and kicks one of the extra points, the Eagles win by 2 scores and there is no stress on that final Jaguars drive.

But head coach aside, there is a lot to like about the direction of this team. The players themselves are clicking on all cylinders. they played well enough to win 37-16 if Sirianni takes the points and you discount the bogus fumble return for a TD.

"With WR A.J. Brown's knee apparently OK, they evaded a desperate plunge into the trade market to shore up a thin position on their depth chart – an especially fortuitous turn with Dallas and Washington next up on the schedule."

As mentioned, Brown is vital to the success of their offense. So him avoiding a major injury is key. They are a bottom-10 offense with him off the field and a top-5 one when he is on it. The combination of him, Smith, Barkley, and Hurts, makes this an offense no one can stop.

"They made it interesting against the Jaguars but found a way to hold on. Their game management leaves a lot to be desired."

Yet another site with the Packers ranked above the Eagles. Can any of them explain why though? Jordan Love is struggling, while Hurts is playing like an elite QB. It just seems off to still give them more love than the Eagles when their Love is playing so poorly.

"The Nick Sirianni-coaster remains a ride worth enjoying. Seeing both Doug Pederson and Sirianni on the field together Sunday, both feeling the same vitriol from their fan base despite inverse records, was a true Philadelphia oil painting in real life."

Seriously, someone explain one thing the Packers do better than the Eagles of late. The Eagles are playing better defense, better offense, taking care of the ball, and winning more. And again, they beat the Packers when both teams were healthy.

We got 2 weeks of easy wins in Philly. The Eagles crushed the Giants and Bengals. Fans and players could kick their feet up in the 4th quarter. They were rare stress-free wins, something we haven't seen since 2022. That was not the case with the Jaguars. It looked like it might be at halftime, but the game came down to the final moments, with Nakobe Dean getting a pick in the end zone to seal the win.

Related: Eagles Survive Mistakes by Both Nick Sirianni And The Refs

The reason it was only a 5-point game comes down mostly to 2 things, Nick Sirianni, and the officials. The refs gifted the Jags 7 points that should have never existed. Saquon Barkley was clearly down, the review showed he was down, and showed a Jags player touched his shin before he went down, but somehow the refs ruled he went down on his own. The Jags defender getting a piece of his leg somehow had nothing to do with that.

That fumble turned into 7 the other way. Had it been ruled correctly, the Eagles would have won 28-16, and that final drive would be stress-free. We would still be complaining about Nick Sirianni today, but it would have been a convincing win.

But there is nothing they can do about the refs making a blatant mistake. So let's look at the stuff they can control.

What player stood out? How good has Jalen Hurts been? Is the Eagles young defense suddenly legit? How much did Nick Sirianni really hurt them this week? Are the Eagles in a good position to keep winning and take this division and maybe even the conference?

Let's break down the good, and the bad, from the Eagles win on Sunday.

Let's start with the good. It was a 4th straight great game for Jalen Hurts. He has not amassed huge passing yards over this span. But look deeper and you will see just how great he has been. Take his performance on deep balls this week. He threw 4 passes of at least 20 yards on Sunday. He was a perfect 4 of 4 with 2 TDs. It gave him a perfect rating of 158.3 on those deep throws. It was also a 4th straight week with no turnover-worthy plays.

Not to mention he is running like it is 2022 again. He picked up 3 first downs with his legs, a rushing TD, and 5.1 yards per carry. This is the best he has looked in a while. Hurts looks like he is in complete control of this offense, and has had wow throws every week. Devonta Smith gets the credit for this play because he deserves it, but it was also a great throw by Hurts.

Jalen Carter got off to a bit of a slow start in the first couple of games. But it is safe to say he has found his groove. Carter did not register a sack on Sunday, but this is why sacks are a bit overrated. What he did do was amass a new career-high 6 pressures on 33 pass rush snaps. Half of those pressures came while being double-teamed. Those pressures came mostly against Brandon Scherf who is one of the most dependable Offensive Guards in the league. According to Next Gen Stats, he had not allowed 4 pressures in a game to any player for the past 7 years. Then he had to play against Jalen Carter and that streak was snapped.

The thing that separates great DTs from good ones is the ability to beat double teams. Good ones will draw those double teams, and open things up for other players, but they won't always beat them. Great players draw them, make things easier for their team, and also still get after the QB. That is what Aaron Donald did, it is what Fletcher Cox used to do, and now it is what Jalen Carter does. He is a disruptive force, and his pressures have led to sacks for other players.

Let's get to Nick Sirianni. Because his decisions were poor all game long. He passed up 2 chances for an easy FG and went for two 3 times. That is 9 points left on the board. By just taking those points, it would be a 37-23 win instead of 28-23.

Now I dont think it is fair to say he should have taken the easy points every time. Going for it has benefits. We saw from the Jaguars the downside of being too conservative. He punted on 4 and 3 on the other side of the 50 in the 4th quarter while down 5. The Eagles then marched down the field and scored a TD to make it a 2 score game. Doug should have gone for it there.

We also saw against the Giants that when these go-for-it situations work, it can lead to huge point swings. Nick went for it on 3 4th downs vs the Giants. All 3 led to TDs. If he had just kicked the FGs, or punted, they would have scored 15 fewer points. Suddenly an easy 28-3 win is a tight 13-3 game. There are moments, but the mistake Sirianni made is the mistake gamblers make in casinos every day. You keep doubling down to try to make your money back because it failed early. He should have adjusted and started taking the points after the defense stopped him a few times.

If he had kicked just 1 of those FGs, specifically the 2nd one where they could have gone up 9 points, and kicked the PAT on one of those 3 tries, it is a 9-point lead on that final drive and they aren't sweating at all. Nick needs to make better choices. He can't just go the opposite way and never be aggressive, though that is what some fans seem to want. But he needs to be smarter about when to be aggressive, and when to just take the points.

There were 16 snaps on defense that were considered run defense. The Jags technically had 18 runs, but 2 were pass plays that turned into scrambles, so the Eagles were not actually playing the run. On those 16 snaps, the Eagles got 9 stops. A stop is any run play that results in a negative result for the offense. What that actually means varies by situation, but pretty much you either held them to a minimal gain, no gain, or the offense loses yards. That is a success rate of 56.3%.

This run defense has looked good several weeks in a row now. They were struggling going into the bye week, and often getting too apart on the ground. But now teams are getting nothing against them. They are making offenses one-dimensional. And as we will talk about next, the secondary is also stopping teams through the air.

Quinyon Mitchell is out there all game long on defense. Teams have the chance to take advantage of him if there was anything to take advantage of. He is the main CB, especially when Slay is out, and is often on the other team's best weapon. Which makes it crazy that in the past 4 weeks, he has allowed just 7 catches. Amari Cooper, Malik Nabers, Ja'Marr Chase, Brian Thomas... He is drawing some tough matchups, and he is not blinking.

You could have watched the game on Sunday, and not noticed him. That is how good he is. Teams hardly even try him anymore. He is a rookie, and teams have looked away from him 8 games into his career. The Eagles got something special in him. They also have something special in Cooper DeJean, who continues to excel as the slot corner. That is a dynamic pair of young corners, that the Eagles have for at least 4 seasons. Suddenly this once-weak secondary looks like a major strength for the foreseeable future.

There has been a lot of negativity around the Eagles. But it is important to have perspective. Are there concerns? Sure. But there are concerns for a lot of teams. As it stands, only 4 teams have a better record than the Eagles. Two of those teams are only better because they played 1 more game. Only the Chiefs and Lions are ahead of them by a full game or more. They are one of the best teams in the league, even with Nick Sirianni's mistakes.

They also have a lot of winnable games left on the schedule. The Cowboys look like a mess, and they get them twice, including this week without Dak Prescott and maybe without Cee Dee Lamb. They also get the Panthers, the Rams, and the Giants again. You can easily see this team getting to 12-5, and maybe 13-4.