Week 16 Eagles Power Rankings Roundup- Eagles At The Top

After a week of adversity, the Eagles had their best game yet this season. They made a very good Steelers team look average. Was that enough to finally convince people still doubting them? Find out in the Week 16 Eagles Power Ranking Roundup.

"Jalen Hurts had seven turnovers in the first four games -- second only to Will Levis over that span -- and the Eagles started 2-2. In the ensuing 10-game win streak, he has had just three giveaways. The decision to become a more ground-heavy offense helped. But as shown in his 290-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Steelers, this offense is at its best when Hurts finds that sweet spot between being conservative and aggressive."

Hurts was maybe a bit too timid the past several weeks. But that was gone vs the Steelers. They were not necessarily taking many deep shots, but he was letting it rip and trusting his 2-star WRs even if they were not open yet. He was near perfect on Sunday.

"It’s nice to know that Saquon Barkley doesn't have to deliver a sonic boom every week. The league's leading rusher can have a relatively quiet day (65 rushing yards on 19 carries), and the Eagles can still roll -- against a good defensive team, to boot."

That was the biggest question people had for the Eagles, can they win if someone stops Saquon? The answer is yes. Because if you stop Saquon, it most likely means you left yourself vulnerable in the pass game. Pick your poison.

"After winning their club-record 10th straight game, they're one victory shy of putting a Christmas bow on the NFC East. Now officially the league's No. 1 defense in terms of points and yards allowed, opponents are only averaging 15.1 points during Philly's heater."

The 1 team USA Today ranked above them was the Bills. After they just beat up on the Lions, that is fair enough. But as USA Today pointed out, the Eagles have an elite defense. Number 1 in the league in the most important stat. Do the Bills? Their defense is okay, but also outside the top 10- in passing defense, rush defense, and points allowed per game.

"I read a lot of good stuff Monday morning on the Eagles’ weaponization of empty sets against Pittsburgh, but I’ll add that backfield motion was also a critical piece of this puzzle... they served to create space efficiently, or to freeze defenders and buy Jalen Hurts more time in the pocket indirectly. Down the stretch, Saquon Barkley will obviously matter, but the utilization of him as a decoy will matter nearly as much."

Saquon makes AJ and Devonta better, and they in turn make Saquon better. There is no right answer to defending this team. We have seen every other team keep their Safties back to help stop the passing game, and Saquon tore teams apart. But when the Steelers sold out to stop the run, Hurts tore them apart.

"Jalen Hurts putting up 290 yards and a 125.3 passer rating was telling. It was the Eagles’ way of responding to criticism — plenty of it brought on by A.J. Brown’s simple comment saying it wasn’t good enough — by letting the NFL world know that they can do everything well, if they want."

Like Hurts said, "Just because we don't doesn't mean we can't." The passing game had a couple of down weeks. But the Eagles averaged 8 yards per pass attempt on the season and averaged 9.1 vs the Steelers. There is no doubt they passed better, but they were already a top 5 team in that stat.

"They keep on rolling in the NFC East, and the passing game came alive against the Steelers. But they do face a tough game on the road against the Commanders this week."

I am not denying the Commanders on the road is a tough game. But they have had mostly tough games for over a month. Rams and Ravens on the road. Commanders and Steelers at home. They far outplayed all of them. So I can't sit here and be concerned about any matchup being tough anymore.

Last week was not easy for the Eagles. Between struggling to beat the Panthers, and then the drama that ensued based of what AJ Brown and Brandon Graham said, it was the most adversity this team has faced all season.

We saw them implode last year when they faced adversity. So how they responded this year was important. Well, what we learned was this is not last year's team. For one they are much more talented and better coached. We already knew that based on everything we saw this year. However, how they responded to the drama from last week showed us that they are also mentally tougher than they were last year.

Champions are born from adversity. Every team faces it at some point. It can make you stronger if you let it, and it seems it made this Eagles team stronger.

The Steelers are very good. They are 10-4, 1st in the AFC North, and 3rd in the AFC overall. They did not have George Pickens, but it is their defense that has been their strength. They are 1 of only 6 teams who give up under 20 points per game. The Eagles put 27 up on them and left 3 more points on the field in that final drive. They easily could have scored 30, or even 34, if they wanted to, but they opted to bleed the clock instead.

Related: Eagles Silence Their Critics In Impressive Win Over Steelers

The Passing Game was the lone question left about this team. The passing game looked as good as it has since 2022 on Sunday. Jalen Hurts had his best game of the season, and both AJ Brown and Devonta Smith showed why they are star WRS.

But just how impressive was the win? How great could the Eagles be? let's take a deeper dive into the numbers from this game.

For me, the most impressive part of the win was the 10-and-a-half-minute drive at the end of the game. The Steelers punted it away with 10:40 left on the clock. when the Eagles offense came onto the field, there was 10:29 left to go. They never gave the Steelers the ball back. They ran 21 plays, including 3 QB kneels, and bleed out the remainder of the 4th quarter, to hold onto the 14-point lead.

But honestly, it gets even more impressive. Because they controlled the clock in the 2nd half for 24 minutes and 10 seconds in the 2nd half. The Steelers only had the ball twice for the entire half. They fumbled, and then they punted. The Eagles opened the half with a 13-play drive that lasted 7:08, eventually settling for a FG. The next time they had the ball they took 13 plays and 6:33 to score a TD. After that, they had that never-ending drive.

The ability to control the clock is vitally important. The Eagles are better at it than anyone. We have seen the Lions like to run up the score. But the Eagles don't need to do that. They would rather just protect their players, bleed the clock, and end it.

The punt by the Steelers was clearly a mistake. But it took the great play of the Eagles' offense to make them pay for that mistake.

How great the passing offense looked caused the defense to go under the radar a bit. But the Eagles defense was dominant. Obviously allowed just 13 points, even though they started 3 drives in Philadelphia territory. But more than that, they allowed only 2 drives all game to go for more than 30 yards. Only 1 went for more than 40. There was the TD in the 2nd Quarter where they drove 70 yards, and then there was their first drive of the 2nd half where they eventually fumbled.

They kicked two FGs, and both came on drives where they started either in FG range or within 10 yards of FG range. They held them to 163 yards total on 9 drives. That is 18 yards per drive.

It comes with the caveat that they were without George Pickens.  But given how well the defense has played this year, I can't put too much stock into that excuse. This is the 8th team they held under 20 points. The Jags only got to 20 points because of a bogus fumble return for a TD. The Rams only got there because of a garbage-time TD. The defense has been near perfect since the bye week.

Jalen Hurts had his best game of the season. 25 for 32, 290 yards, and 2 TDs. He was on the money all game long. He faced a ton of scrutiny after his bad game vs the Panthers. He did throw two Red Zone TDs in that game, but anyone who watched it will tell you it was not a good game by Hurts. But this week he was perfect. outside of a fumble where he was trying to fight for a 1st down, and TJ Watt made a great play, he was flawless. His QB rating was 125.3.

What makes it even more impressive is who they did it against. The Steelers have shut opposing QBs down all year. They came into the game allowing a passer rating of just 79.9. It was the 2nd lowest average QB Rating in the league. Lamar Jackson had a QB rating of 66.1 against them. They had given very good qbs fits this season. Hurts had no issue at all with them and went on to have his best game this season.

Jalen Hurts summed it up perfectly after the game when the spoke to Erin Andrews.

This is a negative stat, but I promise it is to make a positive point. We had asked all year what the Eagles do if someone took away the run game. The Steelers did that. They were stacking the box, and Saquon never got going. He averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. Him battling a minor injury certainly didn't help, but he was not the explosive force he usually is.

And yet, the Eagles still gained over 400 yards, and put up 27 points, against one of the best defenses in the league. Consider that question answered. If someone does sell out to stop the run, the passing game will pick you apart. They have not needed to do that, because the run game was working so well. But the 1st week in a while where they did need to do it, they did it with no problem.

You are picking your poison. Want to keep your safeties back to stop the pass? Saquon and its O-Line will bully you? Do you want to bring them up to stop Saquon? Good luck stopping AJ Brown and Devonta Smith.

Special shoutout to Nolan Smith. Coming into this year, he was not living up to the hype that came with him being a 1st round pick. He was ineffective as a rookie. Even in the preseason, he was not exactly flashing big-time talent. The start of the season was slow. But something has clicked, and he had his best game yet vs the Steelers.

A Sack, 2 pass deflections, and 5 pressures. He is up to 24 pressures and 5.5 sacks on the season. He also added a stop in the run game. Almost all of this production has come since the bye week. I am not sure what he did in that time off, but it worked. He went from being an afterthought to being a star coming off the EDGE.

The Eagles are very close to sealing the NFC East, and at least the 2 seed. This week they guaranteed they will have a better seed then the winner of the NFC West or South. The only thing left to do is seal their spot over the Commanders, and it will guarantee they have the 2 seed at worst.

To do that, all they need is 1 more win or 1 more Commander's loss. They play the Commanders this weekend, so a win would really seal the deal. But even if they lose this week, beating either the Cowboys or Giants at home, or the Commanders losing to the Falcons or Cowboys, would seal the deal for the Eagles.

Getting the 1 seed is a bit tougher. They will need to win out, and they will need both the Lions and the Vikings to lose. The Lions get the Bears, Niners, and the Vikings. The Vikings have the Bears, the Seahawks, the Packers, and The Lions. So 1 of them is guaranteed a loss, barring a tie. But they will need the team that goes on to win that game, to lose before the Final Week. It is possible though, mostly because the Eagles continue to handle their own business.