CINCINNATI — It wasn’t for lack of trying.
The Eagles have been harping on takeaways for weeks and they had gotten close plenty of times. But after six games, Vic Fangio’s defense had a grand total of two forced turnovers all season. Two.
“We’ve got to get off the schneid there and get some takeaways,” Fangio said this week. “We really do.”
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It finally happened on Sunday in the Eagles’ dominant 37-17 win over the Bengals in Cincinnati. The Eagles doubled up their season total.
The Eagles had two takeaways in a game for the first time since last November. And under Nick Sirianni, the Eagles are now 14-2 in games where they take the ball away at least twice.
“They come in bulk,” said C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who had a fourth-quarter interception. “Once one comes, they all start rolling. It’s a long season so it’s one of many for everybody. Punch-outs, interceptions, whatever it may be.”
Gardner-Johnson’s interception at the 12:21 mark of the fourth quarter was a huge play. The Eagles were up 10 at that point but the game was still in reach for the Bengals when Joe Burrow heaved up a deep ball to Pro Bowler Ja’Marr Chase down the ride sideline.
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Not long before that play, veteran Darius Slay left with a groin injury so Burrow went after Slay’s replacement, Isaiah Rodgers.
Rodgers knew the Bengals were going to go after him and he was ready.
In 1-on-1 coverage against one of the best receivers in the NFL, Rodgers made an incredible play, batting the pass into the waiting hands of Gardner-Johnson.
“It’s a hell of a play by Zay,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Hell of a play by Zay. To be honest with you, he’s a great receiver, great matchup. I just had faith in my guy. I just knew that if he wasn’t going to get it, nobody was going to get it or we gonna get it.”
Rodgers said he initially tried to reel in the interception with one hand but when he realized he couldn’t, he tipped the ball purposely to his teammate.
While he didn’t even see Gardner-Johnson the whole way, Rodgers knew CJGJ was supposed to be over the top and he trusted that he would be. It was an impressive play by both to pull off the unlikely interception.
“It’s something you practice,” Rodgers said. “You feel like as a DB if you can’t get two hands on the ball, it might be hard to pick it off with one hand, especially going at that angle I was at. We practice tips and overthrows. That’s one thing we preach in our room.”
Before this game, the Eagles’ only two takeaways all season were interceptions by Reed Blankenship. He had one in the opener against the Packers in Brazil and he had one in New Orleans to seal the win over the Saints.
But by Sunday afternoon, he was no long the only Eagle with a pick this season.
“You’re rubbing it in my face now, ain’t you?” Blankenship said with a giant smile. “I knew [Gardner-Johnson] was going to get one eventually or somebody was going to get one eventually. We work too hard during the week. Isaiah stepping in for Slay, that’s huge. It’s that next-man-up mentality. We don’t care who it is. If their number’s called, they’re ready to go.”
Turnover margin is a big deal for Sirianni and this game puts the Eagles at -4 on the season. That’s not where they want to be but it’s worth noting that Sunday was the Eagles’ third straight game not turning it over on offense.
If they can start to get some takeaways on defense, it could be huge.
After the Gardner-Johnson interception, the Eagles were able to march 85 yards down the field to score a touchdown to put the game out of reach. And on the very next Bengals drive, the Eagles got the ball back again.
This time, Zack Baun was able to punch it out of the hands of tight end Mike Gesicki and Nakobe Dean was able to recover it. The Eagles kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive to get to 37 points.
“That’s big,” Dean said. “Because we’ve been harping on takeaways. We’ve been harping on takeaways. Turnover drills, punching the ball out, getting interceptions. We’ve been harping on it. For us to get a forced fumble, it was definitely big when Zack got the forced fumble punch-out. It’s something we worked on in the linebacker room like crazy. We’ve been trying to see who was going to get the first one.
“For him to punch the ball out, I was excited. I picked up the ball, went to go celebrate. I ran back to the sideline and I wasn’t giving it to nobody but him. We do a lot of work on that.”
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