Ron Jaworski and Reuben Frank share their instant analysis following the Eagles’ 27-13 win over the Steelers in Week 15.
Ten in a row, the longest winning streak in franchise history. A couple massive steps closer to the No. 1 seed. A commanding win over a 10-3 team.
This was a monster win for the Eagles, 27-13 over a very good Steelers team that had won seven of their last eight after a little bit of a challenging week. And with the Commanders, Cowboys and Giants coming up before the regular season ends there’s a real chance the Eagles can finish this thing with a 13-game winning streak.
They threw the ball beautifully. They played tremendous defense. And they even won without a huge contribution from Saquon Barkley.
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This was spectacular stuff.
1. We talk all the time about complimentary football, and you don’t beat good teams without it. That’s the offense and defense working together and taking advantage of big plays they each make. So here we are six minutes left in the third quarter, the Steelers have already trimmed a 14-point lead down to seven and they’re methodically driving, inside the Eagles’ 30, with all the momentum in the world. Then Najee Harris fumbles a pitch from Russell Wilson, Darius Slay pounces on it, the Eagles take over on their own 26-yard-line and then drive 74 yards in 13 plays for a touchdown that gives them a 27-13 lead early in the fourth quarter. Defense is on its heels, gets the ball back, gives it to the offense, who immediately takes advantage with an impressive drive for a 14-point lead. This is what great teams do. They not only get contributions from both sides of the ball, they get both sides of the ball working together, and that’s what we saw Sunday and that’s a very good sign.
2. You want a passing game? Here’s your passing game. This was a statement from Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Nick Sirianni and Kellen Moore that the Eagles’ passing game is alive and well and fully capable of taking over a game against a top defense when needed. After netting 112 and 83 net passing yards the last two weeks against the Ravens and Panthers, the Eagles’ passing game woke up Sunday with 104 yards .. just in the first quarter. Right from the get go, Hurts looked sharp, Moore kept dialing up the mid-range passing game, and the Eagles made more plays through the air than they have since before the bye. Yeah, the last two weeks were ugly as far as the passing game goes, but we’ve seen Jalen have plenty of huge games in the past and there was no reason with Kellen Moore really focused on being balanced against the Steelers that he couldn’t bounce back. With these weapons? We kept saying there would be a day where the Eagles really needed to rely on the passing game. This was that kind of game, and Hurts, his line and his receivers responded to the challenge and came up huge.
3. As for Hurts, he was exceptional against the NFL’s 5th-ranked defense. He completed 25 of 32 passes for 290 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 125.3 passer rating – his eighth game over 100 during the 10-game winning streak. Hurts is so good at diagnosing any weaknesses in his game and addressing them, whether it’s interceptions early in the year or holding onto the ball too long over the last couple weeks or whatever other issue comes up along the way. Every quarterback deals with issues at some point, the elite ones figure it out. On Sunday, Hurts drove the ball vertically, making quick decisions and unloading. He completed six passes of at least 20 yards and four more of 16 or more. His 21-yarder on 3rd and 6 from the 7-yard-line to A.J. Brown with 9 ½ minutes left was as big a throw you can make backed up in the soup. Here are Hurts’ numbers during the 10-game winning streak: 157-for-225, 1,962 yards, 14 touchdown passes, 12 rushing touchdowns and over 400 rushing yards with a monster 115.5 passer rating. Elite.
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4. Man, it was great to see DeVonta Smith really play a significant role for the first time in a while. It’s been a weird year for Smith. He got off to a hot start, then got hurt, then disappeared from the offense, then got hurt again, then came back last week and was a non-factor against the Panthers. So to see him play a major role in a big win over a quality opponent was huge. Smith caught 10 of 11 targets for 109 yards and a touchdown – the most catches of his career and his most yards since the Bills game last November. The Eagles need Smith and they need Hurts to feed him like this. He’s too good to not be a factor, especially while Dallas Goedert is out. And one thing that doesn’t get said enough about the 170-pound Smith. He might be slightly built but you don’t see one catch where he’s not bulling his way for extra yards against d-backs who outweigh him by 20 or 30 pounds. Dude is tough.
5. This was a masterpiece by the defense and, sure, the Steelers were undermanned, missing George Pickens, but that’s a Hall of Fame quarterback on the other side of the line of scrimmage with a three-time 1,000-yard rusher running the ball, and the Eagles held them to 163 yards, 10 first downs, 3.3 yards per rushing attempt and 107 net passing yards. This is 10 straight games the defense has allowed 20 or fewer points, their longest streak since 1998. This is the best defense in the NFL, and they showed it Sunday.
6. How about that last drive? Holy cow. The Eagles took over on their own 3-yard-line with 10:29 to go in the fourth quarter and a 14-point lead. A penalty nudged them back to the 2-yard-line, and then Hurts and Co. went to work, driving 21 plays – 21 plays!!! – and running out the clock. They didn’t score, but they didn’t need to. They ran out the clock and finished the game with Jalen Hurts taking a knee. Stathead only tracks drive info since 2001, but 21 plays is the Eagles’ most on record, and 10:29 is their 3rd-longest drive over the same 24-year span. And it was also the most plays in a run-out-the-clock drive on record. The Eagles were 4-for-5 on the drive on third down along with a 4th-down conversion. Hurts was 5-for-7 for 78 yards on the drive with completions of 19, 21 and 22 yards and a couple rushing conversions. And the o-line was just crushing the Steelers’ vaunted defensive line as the clock kept moving. Think about a 10 ½-minute drive. That’s 18 percent of the entire game. I don’t know if it’s possible to love a drive any more that doesn’t generate points.
7. I can’t say enough about how Kenny Gainwell has embraced his roll as a backup and how well he’s responded when he has gotten opportunities. He’s such a valuable guy on this offense, and he had 10 touches Sunday for 60 net yards, turning four of those 10 touches into first downs, including a huge physical catch and run through traffic for 14 yards on a 3rd-and-9 late in the third quarter while this was still a one-possession game. That set up the touchdown that gave the Eagles a 14-point lead. Despite playing just 24 percent of the Eagles’ offensive snaps, Gainwell has 361 scrimmage yards in 13 games. The challenging thing about Gainwell’s role is that he never knows when – or if – he’s going to play. Ravens game, he didn’t even get a touch. It’s a role not a lot of guys can handle. But he’s always ready, and good things happen whenever the ball’s in his hands.
8. He didn’t hit any long field goals, but Jake Elliott did make both his field goal attempts, making kicks from 34 and 41 yards. He also made a 49-yarder, which would have been his longest this year, but it was negated by a penalty on the Steelers. He also made all three of his PATs without any issues, and that might not seem like a huge deal, but considering the issues he’s been having? Just seeing him make seven consecutive kicks was pretty big for this team and I’m sure for Elliott as well.
9. The Eagles outgained the Steelers 401-163 Sunday, and let’s put that in perspective: That’s the biggest yardage differential by any team over the Steelers in 26 years. More than a quarter of a century. Last time they were outgained by more than 238 yards was late in the 1998 season, when the Bengals – behind 367 passing yards from one-time Eagle Jeff Blake – outgained them by 272 yards (483 to 211). Mike Tomlin has coached 307 games since he became Steelers head coach in 2007 and his teams had never been outgained by 238 yards. The previous high in Tomlin’s 18 seasons was 236 by the Ravens at M&T in 2020 (457 to 221). The Steelers’ 163 total yards is their fewest since they had 126 against the Ravens in 2011. The Eagles just beat this team up.
10. Nolan Smith has quietly put together quite a stretch during the 10-game winning streak, and his sack Sunday gives him 5 ½ during those 10 games after he managed only one as a rookie and none before the bye. Smith is really a fun player to watch. He’s not the biggest guy at 6-2, 240 pounds, but he’s relentlessly physical, very tough against the run and he keeps finding new ways to get to the quarterback. In addition to his sack, he had two tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries, a pass breakup and four tackles. Monster game. With Josh Sweat on one side – he picked up his eighth sack Sunday, 2nd-most of his career – and Smith on the other side, the Eagles have a pretty good 1-2 punch at edge rusher. And they could get Bryce Huff back in time for the Cowboys game, and he was starting to play better when he got hurt. But Smith has come so far after such a lackluster rookie season, and he’s only going to get better. All of a sudden, that 1st-round pick is looking pretty good.
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