Eagles stun Saints in a huge win 24-21
Well who would’ve thought. The Philadelphia Eagles have beat the New Orleans Saints 24-21. Jalen Hurts was fantastic in his first NFL start. The Eagles were a completely different team Sunday night as they beat the best team in the NFC. The defense was great, the offense was great, the coaching was great, everything was great. There were some problems in this game and some things that made me pretty annoyed.
I want to start with Jalen Hurts. Hurts had a better game then Carson Wentz had all season. Jalen Hurts was drafted by the Eagles in 2020 in the second-round. It was a very questionable pick as the Birds could’ve used someone else. I don’t know one Eagles fan that liked this pick. Hurts has been playing two-three snaps a game at quarterback, wide receiver, or running back. He would go in for a play, and then be taken out. Until week 14 in Green Bay when head coach Doug Pederson benched starting quarterback Carson Wentz and put in Hurts. Hurts played less time then Wentz and still had a better game. And here in Philly, we love our QB controversies. On Tuesday afternoon Pederson announced that Hurts would start against the Saints. Wentz didn’t come in for one snap on Sunday as Hurts had a career game. Here are his stats from the game:
17-30
167 passing yards
1 TD
0 INTs
0 sacks
18 carries
106 yards
These are some great stats! Jalen Hurts had a great game and he better be starting for the rest of the season.
Let’s now move to the offense and coaching. The offense was amazing as they dominated a really good Saints defense. The offensive line was amazing as they let up zero sacks for the first time this season. Here’s some stats from the offense:
36 carries
246 rushing yards
3 TDs
17 receptions
167 passing yards
Longest pass was 39 yards to Jalen Reagor
29 targets
Hurts fumbled the ball once. Saints recovered the fumble.
Miles Sanders had a great game as he was the first running back to surpass 100 rushing yards against the Saints since November of 2017.
Now for coaching. Doug Pederson called the best game he’s called all season. Pederson may have had a bad call here or there. But mostly a great game called by him.
I do want to talk about Jake Elliot’s missed 22 yard field goal attempt. There is something weird going on this season with these kickers. Elliot has missed another easy kick. This should’ve been the easiest kick of your career and you missed. It’s flat out unexceptable. Elliot isn’t the only one struggling to make field goals and extra points this season as it seems like there has been a lot of missed kicks. It’s been very strange.
Now onto the defense. The defense lost some key players in cornerback Darius Slay, safety Rodney McLeod, and cornerback Avonte Maddox. Let’s hope they don’t have major injuries and will be back for next week. This defense was great against this stacked Saints offense. They shut down Kamara and the rush, Josh Sweat forced a fumble, which was the biggest play of the game, and Duke Riley had an interception. Here’s some stats:
61 TOT
47 solo
5 sacks
5 TFL
1 PD
12 QB hits
1 INT
7 yards
0 TD
1 fumble
The secondary was not so great as they let up some big plays down the stretch. They’ve gotta be better. I understand you lost your three best secondary players, but you still gotta be better. That’s all I’m gonna say.
Now here’s my question, where was this all season? I know it’s a different quarterback. But Pederson’s play calling was great, the offense was great, the offensive line was great, the defense was great. They could’ve had this all season. What changed in that locker room that made this team so good all of a sudden. Was Wentz not the right fit? Did Hurts address the team privately? What happened?
The Eagles currently sit at third in the NFC East standings at 4-8-1. The Cowboys beat the Bengals, Washington beat the 49ers, and the Giants lost to the Seahawks.
We got the 7-6 Cardinals up next!
