Week 11 Eagles Power Rankings Roundup- Finally Some Respect
All the Eagles have done since their early bye week is win. In those 5 wins, they have risen to 6th in scoring on both offense and defense, and 2nd in yards allowed. Yet, in the weekly power rankings, they have yet to get the respect. Will the 5th straight win that made them 7-2 change that? Find out in the Week 11 Eagles Power Rankings Round-Up.
Week 11 Eagles Power Rankings
ESPN- 6 (Previously 9)
“Barkley has been the offensive engine for the Eagles. He ranks second in the NFL in rushing yards (991) and rushing yards per game (110.1), trailing only the Ravens’ Derrick Henry… Safe to say, Barkley has been well worth the three-year, $38 million investment the Eagles made in the offseason.“
Barkley and Henry have done serious damage to the narrative that RBs don’t matter. Both guys went to a new team, and transformed that offense, and the offense they left behind has gotten even worse than they were. The stats don’t do justice to how much of a difference Barkley makes vs D’Andre Swift last year.
USA Today- 5 (Previously 10)
“QB Jalen Hurts has caught fire simultaneously with a team back atop the NFC East. His lowest passer rating during Philly’s five-game win streak is 115.0, a stretch during which Hurts became the first quarterback ever to rush for at least 10 TDs in four seasons (all consecutively incidentally).“
Hurts has been fantastic in this stretch. The raw numbers dont do it justice. For 1, in 3 of these games, they took their foot off the gas in the 4th quarter, with him being able to rest the full 4th quarter in two of them. But he is just playing smart efficient Football. Even the 1 interception was not a bad decision by him, just a great play by the defense.
Yahoo Sports- 5 (Previously 6)
“The Eagles let the Cowboys hang around for a while, but then cruised to a 34-6 win. If they beat the Commanders on Thursday night, they’ll be up a game and a half in the NFC East, and they seem to be getting better as the season goes on.”
5-6 seems more than fair for the Eagles. At least so far no one has put the Vikings or Packers over them like they did last week.
The Eagles are improving as they go too. It is important to remember in that ugly 3 game stretch heading into the Bye, they had no AJ Brown, and in the Bucs game, they also had no Devonta Smith and Lane Johnson. Find me the team where you can take away the top 2 passing weapons and the best Tackle, and they still look good.
CBS Sports- 6 (Previously 9)
“They have righted things in a big way. Their game Thursday with the Commanders is a big one in terms of division race. They are playing a lot better.”
Other than some head coach blunders, what is there to complain about with this team the past 5 weeks? That Hurts had one half where he was taking too many sacks? The defense has played out of its mind, and the Eagles are scoring as many points as any other team.
Sirianni’s bad in-game decisions in the Browns and Jags game aside (he also made some great in-game decisions vs the Giants), this team has played near-perfect football the past 5 games.
Sports Illustrated- 6 (Previously 9)
“Credit to Nick Sirianni for staying the course. An interception and a fumble in the first half against Dallas didn’t lead to some kind of spiral. This team is playing a more steady brand of football… This is the most maligned 7–2 team I can remember in recent history. But, remove Philadelphia from the storm and you have one of the best clubs in football over the last five weeks.”
I think that is a good point about Sirianni. We give him a ton of grief, often deserved. But last year this team crumbled when they saw trouble. What we are seeing this year is a more resilent team. They didnt let the sturggles early derail them, and they didnt let some hiccups early against the Cowboys do so either. That starts with the Head Coach.
NFL.com- 5 (Previously 7)
“Given how last year unfolded, when Philly went from a 10-1 start to losing a road wild-card game, it’s a bit foolish to look too far ahead, especially with more tough remaining opponents than easy ones. But for those who care to look beyond the records, this team feels a whole lot more steady and secure than its 2023 version.”
Eagles fans can’t live in fear of the shadow of 2023 for the rest of time. Just because they had a good record last year and it fell apart, does not mean it will happen again. Other than having a good record, the two teams have very little in common.
They weren’t beating up on bad teams last year, they were sneaking by good and bad teams alike. They beat the Chiefs, Bills, Dolphins, and Cowboys last year, all playoff teams, then lost to the Jets, Giants (with a backup QB), Cardinals, and Seahawks (with a backup QB).
This team is not doing that. They are demolishing the teams in front of them. It is way more similar to how the 2017 and 2022 seasons went, than it is to 2023.
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