The Eagles regular season is over. They closed things out by watching their backups beat the Giants and finished 14-3 and in the 2 seed. They now await the Packers this Sunday at 4:30 pm, and we will see where their season goes from there.
Related: Eagles Will Host Packers In The 1st Round Of The Playoffs
But before we move on to the playoffs, let’s take a moment to appreciate how impressive this regular season was. Very few people saw this coming, especially after last season. To go from losing 6 of your last 7 games, and speculation that the head coach would be fired, to 14-3, is an impressive feat. Several talking heads from around the league picked the Eagles to miss the playoffs period, and now you could argue they are the best team in the league.
Eagles Start Slow, But Finish Hot
It got off to a slow start. 2-2 going into the bye, with the final game being a blowout loss down in Tampa. At that point, people were close to panicking. Even beating the Browns coming off the bye did nothing to calm people’s nerves. But they just kept winning. They lost just 1 game after that bye week, and that was with Jalen Hurts being knocked out of the game with a concussion.
There were some speed bumps. Nick Sirianni was raked over the coals for his decision-making vs the Jaguars. They won the game, but him leaving points on the board made a game that should have been a blowout close. Then there was the Panthers game that sparkled a huge debate about the passing game.
They kept answering the call though. After that Panthers game, and the comments by AJ Brown and Brandon Graham, the Eagles proved they could beat teams through the air by beating the Steelers through the air. Sirianni’s decision-making was never much of an issue again after the Jaguars.
But just how good of a team are they? Are we underrating how great they have been? Let’s dive into the numbers.
These 6 Numbers Show Just How Impressive The Eagles Have Been:
33%
It is not just the pass defense that has been great. They are 9th in yards allowed per rush, and 10th in rushing yards allowed per game. But diving deeper into the advanced numbers might show they are even better than that. They are 3rd in run-stop win rate at 33%, and 1st in Defensive EPA per carry. They have also allowed only 9 rushing TDs.
They played the number 1, number 3, and number 11 rushing offenses in the league. The number 3 team, the Commanders, they played twice. They gave up 418 total rushing yards in those 4 games, but only 219 of those yards were given up to RBs. All season, they have given up 79.8 yards per game to RBs. Mobile QBs give them some trouble, but RBs have mostly been shut down. They faced Derrick Henry, the 2nd best back in the league, and held him to 82 yards and 4.3 yards per carry. Both Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun rank in the top 7 in run-stop win rate.
+171
As we all know, the Eagles are 12-1 since the bye week. But they didn’t just win games, they mostly dominated in games. They won 8 of those 13 games by at least a TD. They won 6 by double digits. Their point differential in that time is +171. Only the Lions have a better point differential overall, +222, and they are +204 in that same period. But the Lions are also a team that actively tries to run up the score, whereas the Eagles pulled their starters multiple times, took their foot off the gas several others, and played none of their starters in that final game.
It was not just vs bad teams either. They beat the Ravens, Rams, Steelers, and Packers, and split with the Commanders. That loss to the Commanders was without Jalen Hurts.
