Sunday’s 37-17 win in Cincinnati served as a statement for the Eagles while exorcising a franchise demon and highlighting how the 2024 team wants to play.
Tied 10-10 at the half, Philadelphia (5-2) dominated the second 30 minutes, quickly turning what looked like a nip-and-tuck affair into a laugher. It was the Eagles’ third straight win coming off an early bye week and easily the team’s most well-rounded performance of the season.
Philadelphia was able to run the football and pass the football with efficacy and the defense was splashy against one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks in Joe Burrow after a rough start.
Jalen Hurts finished the day completing 16-of-20 passes for 236 yards with one touchdown and a 132.5 passer rating. The QB1 added three more TDs on the ground while star running back Saquon Barkley put together his second consecutive game with 100-plus rushing yards, finishing with 108 yards.
The defense generated two turnovers — an interception by C.J. Gardner-Johnson and fumble recovery by Nakobe Dean — along with a big fourth-down stop in the fourth quarter when rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean sniffed out superstar Ja’Marr Chase with a tackle that essentially extinguished all Cincinnati hope.
Here’s the weekly stock market on the impressive performance:
THE BULLS:
JALEN HURTS – Many have claimed something is off with Hurts but that sentiment seems to be losing steam. Sunday was the third consecutive game in which the Eagles quarterback has posted a 100-plus passer rating, and his efficiency running and throwing against the Bengals had the Cincinnati defense looking overmatched in the second half.
“Jalen put the puts the work in,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “That’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough. … The amount of time, how much he loves football, and how much time he puts into this game. And that’s how you want one of your leaders on your team to be is the time he puts into this game. We were able to look at some of the things that we were inefficient on [during the bye week], some of the things that we were good on, and he just put so much work into it.
SENSATIONAL SAQUON: The Eagles zigged while most were zagging by allocating big money to the running back position in the offseason with the idea that Saquon Barkley would be a weapon. Boy, did Howie Roseman get that one right. Barkley has had 100 or more scrimmage yards in six of the first seven games for the Eagles becoming the third Eagles back to produce 100-plus scrimmage yards in six of the first seven games of the season, joining franchise legends LeSean McCoy (2011) and Wilbert Montgomery (1979).
AFC’S ANGST: The Eagles are now 13-1 (a gaudy .929 winning percentage) in their last 14 contests vs. AFC opponents. Over the Sirianni era, Philadelphia owns the highest interconference winning percentage (.765, 13-4) in the NFC.
SECONDARY WEAPON: Grant Calcaterra, once a college teammate of Hurts at Oklahoma, is developing into a solid complement in the passing game while Dallas Goedert recovers from a hamstring issue. While everyone was focused on A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, Calcaterra was able to leak out for 19- and 28-yard gains as the Eagles’ gained traction with that part of the offense. Calcaterra is really taking advantage of his limited opportunities with five of his 11 receptions on the season going for more than 15 yards.
BACKUP BIG MEN: The Eagles entered Sunday’s game down 40% of their vaunted offensive line with Fred Johnson in for the injured Jordan Mailata (on IR with a hamstring injury) again and Tyler Steen filling in for Mekhi Becton (concussion) at right guard. Despite that the Eagles has their most well-rounded offensive game of the season with Barkley going over 100 on the ground and both Brown and Smith crossing 80 in the passing game. Despite matching up with star pass rusher Try Hendrickson, Johnson held up well and Hurts was not sacked in the game.
THE BEARS:
NARRATIVES – Much has been made of Philadelphia trying to carve out “an identity,” something the Eagles coach tends to dismiss.
“Identity gets overblown. I really believe that,” Sirianni said. “What’s the identity? What’s the identity? And I tell you, I’ve told you guys this a bunch, like, our identity is playing with great detail. Our identity is to play physical with toughness and our identity is to play together, and everything else changes week to week.”
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