The Philadelphia Eagles may be 11-4 and still have a shot at a first-round bye, but even they recognize that they have been more lucky than good.
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
ABOVE PHOTO: Fans express Christmas dreams. Photo: Webster Riddick
For the first time in four weeks, the Philadelphia Eagles (11-4) will be taking the field on
Sunday after a win.
Monday’s 33-25 win over the New York Giants means that the team comes into its game against the Arizona Cardinals on a winning note. Despite that, the Eagles are still unsure if they have what it takes to make a return to the Super Bowl despite having 11 wins and a shot at home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
“Eleven wins? We’re not playing good football right now,” said Eagles wide receiver Devonta Smith after Monday’s game. “On offense, we’re not where we want to be. We’re not satisfied. Yeah, we got 11 wins. I’m not happy.”
The feeling in the Eagles locker room Monday night was that the victory against the Giants was like barely passing a test that would have been much easier had you bothered to study. While everyone loves a win, narrowly escaping a bad football team playing with not one, but two backup quarterbacks is a reason for concern.
Eagles defense attacks Giants QB Tommy Devito (15). Photo: Webster Riddick
Just about every reporter in the Birds locker room noticed that quarterback Jalen Hurts was seen in the locker room having individual conversations with players including A.J Brown and Jason Kelce that the media were not allowed to hear. That’s a clear indication that there is more than a bit of anxiety in the Eagles locker room.
“What I want to do, what everybody else in here wants to do, where we want to be, we’re nowhere near that,” Smith told reporters. “I’m not happy. We know what we can be, and we know that we’re not there yet. We have a lot we need to do.”
In a game in which the Eagles held a comfortable 20-3 lead at halftime, the Giants nearly came back from that deficit thanks to a comedy of errors on all sides of the ball. Eagles running back and kick-return specialist Boston Scott fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half when Eagles backup wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus collided with him at the Eagles 15-yard line.
The Giants recovered the ball at the Eagles’ 13. Three plays later, New York running back Saquon Barkley scored on a 7-yard run. On the Eagles’ next possession, a Jalen Hurts pass intended for Dallas Goedert, who fell, was intercepted by Giants cornerback Adorre’ Jackson who returned it 76 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversions cut the Eagles lead to 20-18
On their next two possessions, the Eagles got a five-yard touchdown run by De’Andre Swift and a 44-yard field goal by Jake Elliott to make it 30-18 with 6:04 left in the game and it once again appeared that the Eagles had the game under control.
It took the Giants’ offense just one big play to plant a seed of doubt. Tyrod Taylor, who came into the game early in the second in relief of a struggling Tommy DeVito, hit wide receiver Darius Slayton who burned Eagles safety Reed Blankenship for a 69-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 30-25 with 5:22 left.
The Eagles got another field goal from Elliott with 1:22 left. The Birds’ defense finally closed out the game on an interception by Eagles cornerback Kelee Ringo as time ran out.
Even in the big wins over teams like the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, and the Kansas City Chiefs, there is a belief, especially among the players, that the Eagles have yet to play their best game of the season. With two games in the season before the playoffs, the Birds need to figure out a way to generate some momentum.
“We know that we have better football in us,” said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. “To be 11 and 4 and still have better left in you. That’s encouraging, but we’ve gotta get there. We got two more games before the playoffs start. All we’re thinking about is this next game.”
Hurts, who passed for 301 yards including a 36-yard touchdown to Smith, believes that the win over the Giants is at the very least a start in the right direction.
“I would love to say we are close. I love to say we are close, and I think it is trending in the right direction. I think it’s trending in the right direction; we demand such excellence of ourselves,” Hurts said.
The Birds can ill afford to duplicate those up-and-down performances from this whole season in the playoffs. Some of you may rightly argue that if the Eagles haven’t played their best set of games, what makes us think they’re going to do it in the playoffs?
That’s a legitimate question.
But I have been around long enough to see many teams struggle during the regular season and then get it right during the playoffs and win a Super Bowl. For that to happen, the Eagles must play mistake-free football, or their season will come to an abrupt end.
To see how they do against the Cardinals, catch the game on Sunday at 1 pm on Fox 29.
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