The Eagles just keep winning. their trip down to Baltimore made it 8 straight. They went into the bye week a 2-2 team, with a lot of issues. But they have been perfect since their week off.

Now you can’t even say they haven’t played anyone. Sure the first 5 games in this streak weren’t against the strongest of competition. But Commanders, the Rams, and the Ravens are all good teams. Two of those wins came on the road. And yet, they finish up this mini-gauntlet having gone 3-0 to improve to 10-2, and nearly guarantee themselves the 2 seed.

Related: Eagles Make It 8 Straight In Road Win Over Ravens

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Eagles Capitalize After Early Bye Week

We thought that early bye week would be a bad thing. Usually, you want it later in the season to help, when you most need time off after getting beat up for 9 or so games. But the early bye wound up being a blessing for them. Not only did it let them get healthy, but it let them get their house in order.

Tim McManus had a fantastic piece about how during the bye week the O-Line had a meeting with Nick Sirianni, and convinced him to change the game plan to a run heavy attack. Since then the Eagles have averaged 29 points per game, despite sitting the starters in the 4th quarter several times, and Saquon Barkley has made a strong case to be the MVP of the whole league.

An Impressive Win Vs. The Ravens

Beating the Ravens is the latest example of that. They started slow again but quickly bounced back, and after taking a 14-12 lead going into halftime they never looked back.

But just how impressive were they in the win? How impressive have they been in this streak? Are they as good as the 8 straight wins suggest they are?

Let’s break down some key numbers from this game, and the 8-game winning streak overall. There should be no doubting this team anymore, but if you are, these numbers should change your mind. Because the Eagles are the real deal.

These 6 Numbers Tell The Story Of The eagles Win Over The Ravens

• 4

  It is impossible to overstate how great Quinyon Mitchell has been. He was coming off a down game by his standards where he finally allowed a TD. That TD came in garbage time when they were playing a very soft zone defense, and depending on how you look at the play you could blame Sydney Brown for it instead. But how did he respond? By giving up just 4 yards all game on 5 targets to a team that was 3rd in passing yards.

  Quinyon is not just good for a rookie. He is great, period. He has shut down some of the best WRs in the league. this week he did not have to match up against an elite WR, but the Ravens have put up huge passing numbers despite their weak WR room. Just not against Quinyon. They tried at times, but on those 5 targets, he had 2 pass break ups.

  Who cares if he has no picks? what he does for this team is way more valuable than any amount of interceptions.

  Shane Haff on X (formerly Twitter): "A really nice play by Quinyon Mitchell coming down on the drag route. pic.twitter.com/ZwDqocNs1V / X"

  A really nice play by Quinyon Mitchell coming down on the drag route. pic.twitter.com/ZwDqocNs1V

• 35

  With Brandon Graham going down, there was concern the Eagles D-Line depth would be tested. They showed up big time on Sunday though. Between the 10 guys who had a chance to rush the passer, they racked up 35 pressures on 45 dropbacks for Lamar Jackson. 

  Now Lamar is Lamar, and he made some guys miss and then made plays downfield. But the D-Line got after him. 3 guys, Jalen Carter, Milton Williams, and Josh Sweat all had at least 7 pressures. But 9 guys had at least 1.

  Jalen Carter is a monster. But we might have underestimated Milton Williams coming into the season. He leads the team with 9 pressures, and he has quietly been great as part of the Eagles rotation. Jalen Carter plays nearly every snap, but Williams, Davis, Ojomo, and Booker all play well whenever they see the field too. The Eagles gave up just 3 yards per rush attempt when Davis was on the field by the way, for anyone questioning what he is doing for the team.

  Jeff Kerr on X (formerly Twitter): "The #Eagles had 3 players with 7+ pressures on Lamar Jackson in win over #Ravens Milton Williams -- 9Jalen Carter -- 8Josh Sweat -- 7 / X"

  The #Eagles had 3 players with 7+ pressures on Lamar Jackson in win over #Ravens Milton Williams -- 9Jalen Carter -- 8Josh Sweat -- 7

• 4.7

  The Ravens have arguably the best run defense in the league. It is close between them and the Eagles, but you could go either way. Coming into the game they allowed just 3.5 yards per attempt. Saquon Barkley averaged 4.7 per attempt against them.

  The most any RB had against the Ravens before Sunday was Najee Harris with 63 yards. Saquon blew that away by 44 yards. He finished with 107, becoming the only RB to rush for over 70 against them all year long.

  They can run on anyone. Between the Eagles O-Line opening up massive holes, and Saquon having the vision and the speed to hit those holes, there is no stopping them. You can contain them for a bit, like the Ravens did. But good luck stopping them for 4 quarters.

  He now has 481 rushing yards in the 4th quarter alone, and 4 TDs. This team is too physical, and eventually, they break through. We saw it again vs the Ravens.

  NFL on X (formerly Twitter): "DON'T LET SAQUON GET HOT.📺: #PHIvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/RxqsLUp7cc / X"

  DON'T LET SAQUON GET HOT.📺: #PHIvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/RxqsLUp7cc

• 3.4

  On the other side of the field is the only RB playing even close to as well as Saquon, Derrick Henry. On the season he is averaging 5.9 yards per carry and has 1,409 yards on the season to go with 13 TDs.

  It looked early on like he might get the best of the Eagles defense. In the first two drives, he had 38 yards on 6 carries. 6.3 yards per carry. But in his final 13 carries he had just 44 yards. That is 3.4 yards per carry.

  This defense started slow. They gave up 10 points on the first two drives, and the Ravens were moving the ball with ease. It looked the same to start the Rams and Bengals game. But then they adjusted and kept Henry and the Ravens offense in check for the rest of the game.

  Henry still had a decent game overall. But 4.3 yards per carry overall is his lowest total of the season. And as we mentioned, most of that came in the first two drives.

  By the way, credit to Cooper DeJean for this amazing open-field tackle on Henry, one of the hardest guys in the league to tackle.

  NFL on X (formerly Twitter): "Cooper DeJean takes down Derrick Henry 💪📺: #PHIvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/Lwq9S0PfZo / X"

  Cooper DeJean takes down Derrick Henry 💪📺: #PHIvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/Lwq9S0PfZo

• 21.1

  Let’s stick with the defense adjustments for a bit. Because it was not just Henry they shut down after the first two drives. They gave up 133 total yards on those first two drives, and then 70 yards on that final drive that didn’t mean anything. 16 of their 19 points came on those 3 drives.

  The rest of the game the Eagles gave up just 169 yards on 8 drives. That is 21.1 yards per drive.  They held them under 10 yards on 3 of those drives.

  This is one of the greatest offenses in the league. Only the Lions have been better than the Ravens. But the Eagles allowed just 12 points, plus a garbage time TD. They did the same thing to the Bengals prolific offense, and to the Rams offense. They have more than proven themselves, and it is time we just admit they are elite.

  John Gonoude on X (formerly Twitter): "#Eagles Defense Since Week 6:1st in defensive points allowed/game (13.4)1st in total defense (241.3 ypg)1st in yards per play allowed (4.1)1st in passing defense (148.5 ypg)1st in yards per pass allowed (4.7)1st in three-and-out percentage (44.2%)1st in sacks (30)1st in... / X"

  Eagles Defense Since Week 6:1st in defensive points allowed/game (13.4)1st in total defense (241.3 ypg)1st in yards per play allowed (4.1)1st in passing defense (148.5 ypg)1st in yards per pass allowed (4.7)1st in three-and-out percentage (44.2%)1st in sacks (30)1st in...

• 3

  Obviously the goal is to win the 1-seed, and for that to happen the Eagles will need some help from other teams around the league beating the Lions. They do have some tough games left, including the Packers, Vikings, and Bills. But the Eagles do not control their destiny with the 1 seed.

  Control of at least the 2-seed and the NFC East is within arms reach though. The best any team in the South can go is 11-6, and that would require either the Falcons or Bucs winning out. Not going to happen. 2 more wins by the Eagles, or even 1 win and a loss by those two teams, guaranteed they finish ahead of those teams.

  Even if the Seahawks win out, they can go 12-5 at best. The same goes for the Commanders. That is a magic number of 3 for the Eagles before you even factor in the tiebreaker.

  Any combination of 3 wins, or losses by those 2 teams, secures them the 2 seed.

  

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