CT’s Top 3: Takeaways From Sunday’s NFL Action

NFL Sunday without the Eagles? Part of it feels empty, with no game to gear up for. Part of it feels relaxing, knowing that the victory for week 11 had already been secured on Thursday Night Football. Either way, it gave us a chance to fully check out the rest of the NFL contenders, and there were definitely some things to be learned. We talked about some of our takeaways today on Kincade And Salciunas: 

So yes, the Eagles look pretty darn good. But they also have some stiff competition around football as they start to turn their attention towards a playoff push. Here are my biggest takeaways from yesterday’s Eagle-less action: 

Yesterday, the Lions played to their latest blowout score of the year, eviscerating the Jaguars 52-6. That same Jaguars team played the Eagles to a tight 28-23 game just 2 weeks ago. Detroit is legit, and they don’t have a lot of signs of weakness, even without Aiden Hutchinson, who is done for the year. If the Eagles have to go on the road to Detroit in the playoffs, it certainly won’t be an easy matchup. 

San Francisco has had a nightmare season, with multiple major injury issues to traverse over the course of the year so far. They came into this week at 5-4, with a lot still to prove in their division, and suffered a tough 20-17 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Now at 5-5, the Niners are in last place in the NFC West, if you can believe it. They’re not completely out of it, but at .500, San Francisco could very well be out of the postseason when everything is all said and done 

The Kansas City Chiefs are no longer undefeated. It took an MVP-caliber performance from Josh Allen, but Kansas City's quest for the perfect season has come to an end following their 30-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills. It felt like there was this sort of unstoppable magic surrounding the Chiefs this season, and that narrative took a hit with that loss yesterday.

The question is, are they the 2023 Eagles, who collapsed at the first sign of adversity? Or, are they the unkillable back-to-back Super Bowl Champs that will once again take this like water off a duck's back? Only time will tell, but if I was a betting man, I would wager on the latter.

Last week, after the Eagles crushed the Cowboys, we talked about how it was time to buy into the Eagles as the real deal. If you didn't buy it then, you will certainly have to now. While the Cowboys were a weak opponent, the Commanders are not. And they fairly easily beat who going into the week everyone claimed was the Eagles toughest test yet.

Related: It's Officially Time to Stop Doubting The Philadelphia Eagles

The game looked ugly for 3 quarters. The Eagles offense had a hard time getting going. Jake Elliott seems to have developed the yips. The refs missed multiple face masks and extended a Commanders drive with a phantom Pass Interference Call on Cooper DeJean.

But in the end, they pulled it together. They beat the Commanders, took a multi-game lead in the division, and improved to 8-2. The defense shut down what had been one of the most dominant offenses in the league. The offense scored 26 points despite the Elliott misses and the slow start. And they have now won 6 straight games, and have yet to lose a game where AJ Brown plays.

It is time to admit it. This team is very good. Not just in the mix good, but a true contender, up there with any other team in the league. You can no longer hide behind the argument that they haven't played anyone. They faced the test the Commanders offered and passed it with flying colors.

Still don't believe? Well this article is for you. Because these numbers will change your mind. Well 6 of them will. 1 of the 6 numbers is a real concern for them. But outside that one thing, there is a lot to love about this Eagles team.

Quinyon Mitchell is the real deal. He went up against Ja'Marr Chase and shut him down. He went up against Malik Nabers and shut him down. He went up against Cee Dee Lamb and shut him down. After all that, he got another tough matchup on a short week, drawing Terry McLaurin.

McLaurin came into the game as one of the most productive WRs in the game. 71.1 yards per game, 6 TDS, and 47 catches. He was a no-show against the Eagles. Mitchell put the clamp on him and held him to just 10 yards and 1 catch. But that catch did not come against Mitchell. On the night, Mitchell allowed a grand total of 0 catches.

How many elite WRs does Mitchell need to shut down before he is talked about as the Rookie of The Year? It may be a stat award, and he doesn't have the picks. but the only reason he doesn't have picks is he covers his WR so well opposing QBs don't even bother to throw his way. Mitchell is a true Super Star and proved it once again vs the Commanders.

But it was not just Quinyon who impressed. The whole defense deserves its kudos. They held the Commanders to just 264 yards. They came into the game averaging 377 yards per game, the 4th most in the league. That is 113 fewer yards than they averaged against the rest of the league. 

This Commanders' offense has been great. They were 4th in the league with 29 points per game. And the Eagles defense smothered them. It took a garbage time TD for the Commanders to make it a 1 score game. But for the vast majority of the game, they shut Jayden Daniels and the Commanders down. They have worked their way into being a top 5 defense in both yards allowed per game and points allowed per game. They shut down the run, they shut down the pass. Now, you can't even say it was a weak opponent because now they have done this to both the Bengals and the Commanders.

They have become elite on 3rd down. Last year they allowed the offense to convert 46.2% of 3rd downs. Nearly half. This year it was down to 35% coming into the game, and then they stopped them on 9 of the 12 3rd downs. A conversion rate of just 25% for the Commanders.

At one point the Commanders had the ball near the Red Zone, with it being 2nd and 1. The Eagles defense stuffed them twice to force 4th down, and then for good measure stuffed them on 4th down to preserve the lead. That is the type of stop we have not seen this Eagles defense make in a long time. But they make it regularly this year. Remember the 4th and 1 stop against the Bengals where Cooper DeJean stopped Ja'Marr Chase behind the line. This defense suddenly has a knack for this, when they were absolutely terrible at it all of last year. This is what championship defenses do. Right now, it is hard to argue that the Eagles don't have one of the best defenses in the league. It is young too. Be very excited Eagles fans.

Saquon Barkley was having trouble on the ground for most of the game. In his first 21 carries, he had just 73 yards. About 3.5 per carry. It was looking like a 2nd straight down game for the Eagles' star back. Keeping in mind that is a down game by his standards, which is still pretty good for most RBs.

But the magic of Barkley is how quickly a bad game can turn into a great 1. Because he finished with 146 yards on 26 carries. Meaning he had 73 yards on 5 carries to close out the game, with 2 of those carries finishing with a TD. That is 14.6 yards per carry on those final 5 touches. 5 important touches that helped turn a close game into a blowout.

Barkley is a true game-changer, in the sense he can change the entire game at any moment. He was struggling, but all it took was 2 explosive runs to completely change the course of not just his night, but the entire game itself.

There will be one negative stat because the Eagles have a Jake Elliott problem. He went 2-4 tonight, along with a missed Extra Point. It makes him 14 for 19 on the season (76.7%). He is now 0 for 3 on the season from 50+. They left 7 points on the board because he couldn't make what should be easy kicks.

What makes that so concerning is how automatic he has from 50+ in the last few seasons. 7 of 8 last year. 5 for 6 in 2022. 3 for 3 in 2021. In fact he missed just 2 all of last year from any distance and matched that number tonight. Maybe now we know why Sirianni didn't want to kick FGs against the Saints or Jags because based on what we have seen from Elliot so far, he is hard to trust.

Jalen Carter is a bonafide star. He did not get a sack last night, but honestly, who cares? What Carter is doing this year, and did last night, goes way beyond the box score. Just watch him for a drive, you will see him disrupting the offense nearly every down.

What makes that even more impressive? He played every snap. The Eagles defense was on the field for 66 snaps, and he played all 66. He had played 90% of the snaps in most of the games over this winning streak, but vs the Commanders he just stayed out there all game. Yet he didn't wane and was still making plays at the end of the game including blowing up multiple run plays. He is a huge reason why the Eagles got that stand from 2nd and 1 to a turnover on downs.

It is something to monitor. We saw him lose steam at the end of last season. It was at around this same time. Not saying he will lose steam again, so far he has passed every test with flying colors. But he is playing a lot of snaps, and that many snaps could wear down any player. We have not seen it take a toll on him yet though, and conditioning was something he focused on after his rookie season. if he can keep this up while playing this many snaps, we will be talking about him as 1 of the best players in the league.

Zack Baun might be the MVP of the team. What he has done for this defense can't be undervalued, and kudos to Vic Fangio for seeing this in a guy who until now had been a rotational pass rusher/ special teamer. He came into the game with 40 Stops. He added 6 more. Including that huge stop on 4th down that you could argue was the play of the game.

He also had a big pass breakup early, and 15 total tackles. Baun could genuinely be an All-Pro Linebacker this year. That is the level he is playing at. They went from having the worst LBs in 2023 to having one of the best ones this year. By the way, Nakobe Dean has been pretty great too. He added 10 tackles, and 5 stops of his own, plus a pass deflection. It sure is nice having LB be a strength of the team.