After the Eagles walkthrough on Christmas Eve, it was time for presents too big to fit under a tree.
Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley came through.
The Eagles’ offensive linemen were led into the players parking lot on Tuesday to discover a fleet of personalized, souped-up golf carts waiting for them.
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“We were all really surprised,” backup offensive lineman Jack Driscoll said. “We were all stoked. It’s always really nice when Jalen gives the O-line a gift but we’re not expecting anything. So for him to do that and for Saquon to be in on it as well is awesome. It was something that was really generous.”
How do you get a bunch of 300 pound men to react like children on Christmas morning? The answer is pretty simple. Give them big-boy toys.
“Awesome,” center Cam Jurgens said. “That thing is fully loaded, stereo-system, back-up camera. That thing is bad-a—.”
NFL
Jurgens wasn’t sure if his golf cart will live here or back in his home state of Nebraska. But he thinks it might be fun to drive it around the shore this summer.
“I might drive it to work,” Jurgens joked (we think).
Barkley said that during his years in New York, he would often team up with his friend and former Giants starting quarterback Daniel Jones to go in on gifts for the O-line. So in his first year with the Eagles, Barkley called Hurts to ask if he wanted team up with him this year.
From there, Hurts took the initiative to get the golf carts. In fact, Barkley didn’t even know that he and Hurts were getting their own but on Tuesday he was pretty happy to see one with No. 26 on it.
But he was even happier to see the excitement from his teammates.
“They deserve it,” Barkley said. “The offensive line is really special. And either one of us wouldn’t be having the year that we’re having and we wouldn’t be the team that we are without the guys up front. Hopefully, we’ll continue to finish the season off strong and probably get another gift for those guys.”
Close to an incredible play
If a quarterback ever gets too relaxed trying to spike a football, Jalen Carter is going to try to get it.
He made another attempt last Sunday against the Commanders, just like he once did against the Chiefs.
How close is he to pulling off the interception?
“I don’t know,” Carter said. “I gotta keep looking at film, seeing how close I am under the ball and stuff like that. I’m still learning about that. Hopefully, it happens once in my career.”
After Sunday’s attempt, Carter and Jayden Daniels shared a laugh about it.
“That’s just my boy, man,” Carter said. “He’s been positive throughout the whole game, helping me up. All the little stuff. We just had little talks. … He’s just a cool guy, man. Ever since I played him in college, we’ve just been locked in. That’s it.”
Punching the ball out
The Eagles’ defense gave up three fourth-quarter touchdowns to the Commanders last week and that’s obviously not good enough.
But it wasn’t all bad for the defense last Sunday.
The biggest bright spot is that they had five takeaways in that game — 2 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Eagles also had five takeaways against the Cowboys earlier this season. It’s the Eagles’ first time with two games with 5+ takeaways in a single season since 2010.
What led to the takeaways on Sunday?
“I think guys just wanting it,” linebacker Zack Baun said. “Punching at the ball. You see [Jalen Carter’s], you see [Cooper DeJean] diving in there late and punching out the ball, myself, I had one punching at the ball. Being in the right spot in coverage. A lot of things go into that.”
It’s rare for the Eagles to have five takeaways in a game but it’s even rarer to lose such a game. In the modern era (since 1970), the Eagles have had 60 games with 5+ takeaways and are now 54-5-1 in those games.
It obviously wasn’t enough to get a win on Sunday but if the Eagles keep forcing turnovers, good things are generally going to happen.
“We work really hard at that in practice and we have all year long,” Baun said. “But you gotta get those shots on goal. You can’t score if you don’t shoot. Just punch at the ball whenever you can.”
Sending some blitzes
The Eagles aren’t a heavy-blitzing team under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. This season, the Eagles have blitzed on just 19.1% of their opponents’ passing plays, which ranks 29th in the NFL, according to NextGen Stats.
But Fangio dialed up some pressure last week in Washington.
Against Jayden Daniels and the Commanders, the Eagles blitzed on 33.3% of their pass plays. That’s the second-highest rate for them all season. The only bigger blitz game was against the Brown in Week 6 (36.7%).
Whey did they blitz so much against the Commanders?
“The quarterback was scrambling,” Fangio said. “We weren't quite getting the necessary four-man rush pressure that we needed, so that was why.”
Despite not having an All-Pro edge rusher, the Eagles have gotten pretty good pressure this season but they weren’t able to really get after Daniels on Sunday.
Here’s how Daniels handled those blitzes, according to ProFootballFocus:
Not blitzed: 13/20 (65%), 80 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT
Blitzed: 11/19 (57.9%), 178 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT
Almost automatic
The Dallas Cowboys have one of the best kickers in the NFL in Brandon Aubrey, who was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro in his first NFL season in 2023.
In 2024, Aubrey has made 36 of 42 field goals (85.7%) and has made 14 of 16 from 50+. He leads the NFL in field goals made from 50+ and his percentage is second among kickers with at least 10 attempts.
But the Eagles won’t change anything to try to block his kicks. Special teams coordinator Michael Clay feels good about that unit.
“If you really look at our field goal blocking, they get great penetration,” said Clay, shouting out Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Moro Ojomo and Thomas Booker by name.
“They all do an outstanding job of getting some penetration up through the middle. And you see Isaiah [Rodgers], he gets very close every time going on the outside. Our personnel has been outstanding in terms of field goal (coverage). If it’s not broken, don't fix it. It's just an added thing.
“As you get into these later months, lower trajectory, we get our hands up just a little bit quicker with some penetration. And hopefully, you know, we tip one or block one, but Aubrey’s a great kicker, we all know that. So, it's another challenge for us to make sure we keep three off the board.”
Clay always talks about how difficult it can be to kick late in the season in the elements. In his NFL career, Aubrey has made 28 of 33 field goals from Week 12 on and all five of his misses have come on the road — four in Washington and one in Carolina. His misses in Washington have come from 42, 36, 35 and 32, while his miss in Carolina was an attempt of 70(!) yards a couple weeks ago just before halftime.
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