Becoming the test — 5 takeaways from Steelers-Eagles a day later

The Eagles have passed every test this season.

The Packers Week 1: Win. The Commanders for the NFC East: Win. The Ravens in Baltimore: Win. The Steelers after a week full of controversy and adversity: Win.

The Eagles have been tested against some of the NFL’s best. All of them have been convincing victories. Has their 10th straight win made them, now, the tests?

Maybe, but Sunday’s commanding 27-13 at Lincoln Financial Field against a very good Steelers team is certainly a convincing point.

They have now won a franchise-high 10 straight games, and their first victory ever against Russell Wilson, taking a massive leap in contention for the one-seed in the NFC, especially with Detroit’s loss to Buffalo.

They have no passing game? Case closed. They cannot win without Saquon Barkley? Case closed.

Here are my five observations a day after the win:

Domination from the beginning to the end

There have not been many games this season where the Eagles started hot and ended hot on both offense and defense. They did it Sunday afternoon.

In the first quarter, the Eagles scored 10 points, recorded 148 total yards, seven first downs, and had the ball for 9:15. For comparison, the Steelers had two net yards in the opening frame.

In the second half, the Eagles’ drives consisted of 13 plays and a field goal, 13 plays and a touchdown, and 21 plays to end the game. Meanwhile, the Steelers had two drives in the second half. Two.

The Eagles’ time of possession for the game was 39:52, compared to the Steelers’ 20:08. The Eagles ended the game with a drive of 10:29 and held the ball for 24:10 in the second half, meanwhile, the Steelers had 5:50 with the ball.

Oh, and the Eagles outgained the Steelers 401-163 on Sunday.

This was textbook domination by Philadelphia.

You want passing?

Did someone order passing? Anyone? Well, here you go.

Like a chicken parmigiana at Ralph’s on South Street, it delivered.

After all of the crap throughout the week, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Nick Sirianni, and Kellen Moore made a statement.

Hurts threw for 108 yards last week against the Panthers, and just 118 in Baltimore two weeks ago. How about 104 in the first quarter? From the very first drive, the Eagles shut everyone up. Hurts was four-for-four with 53 yards and 13.3 yards per throw in that first drive.

Hurts did not miss Brown, he was sharp, efficient, and looked like 2022 Jalen in the same week where Sirianni said this team has the vibes from this season. Coincidence?

Brown finished with eight receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown. Smith 109 yards on 11 receptions. They had 290 receiving yards.

All is good in Eagle Land.

“So that’s what y’all wanted to see, huh?”

There has been so much talk about Hurts in the last calendar year. Finally, he was able to really shut it all down.

He was incredible against the Steelers’ fifth-ranked defense in the NFL. He completed 25-of-32 passes for 290 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 125.3 passer rating. He completed six passes of at least 20 yards.

He did have that fumble in the second quarter where T.J. Watt did what he does, but that was Hurts’ only mistake.

He has dealt with so many issues over this past year. The turnovers, holding the ball for too long. Elite quarterbacks correct those errors. Hurts has done just that.

And then he goes into his postgame press conference rocking a puffer vest, a backward hat, and the biggest chain you will ever see, and drops the most disrespectful quote you will ever hear.

Aura.

Gainwell comes through

The Eagles did not have Barkley for a good amount of this game. He got his legs swept out from under him early in the second quarter, went to the medical tent, seemed to be ready to return shortly after, and then we did not see him again until the second half. It was weird.

But, Kenneth Gainwell came through in a huge way. He had 10 touches for 60 net yards, including four first downs. Gainwell also had a huge catch and run in the middle of traffic late in the third quarter for 14 yards on a third-and-nine, setting up a touchdown to put the Eagles up two scores. 

Barkley had just 65 rushing yards on 19 carries, with two catches for nine yards. If you are keeping up with his MVP chances, they are looking slim to none now, especially with Josh Allen‘s incredible performance in Detroit on Sunday afternoon.

Icing it

The Eagles’ final drive was masterful. My goodness.

21 plays, 99 yards, and lasted 9:50. They started on their three with 10:29 to go, got pushed back to their two, and ended the game with the ball.

The Eagles were for-for-five on the drive on third down and had a fourth-down conversion. Hurts threw five-for-seven for 78 yards on the drive, including using his legs. And the offensive line, of course, crushed the Steelers’ exhausted defensive line, closing out the team’s best win of the season.

It was beautiful.

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