Eagles force the Lions to tap out.

This win reminded me a bit of the Ravens game from last season; in that game Philly was facing maybe the league's most physical and talented team and pretty much beat the tar out of them. Detroit fits that description, or close enough, and Philly boxed them into a corner in yet another gritty prime time win. Detroit moved the ball with more consistency and outgained the Birds (once again) but Philly pulled off a huge win. Here's how, in order of significance:

(1) THE REFS! Just kidding. I hit The Athletic's message board as the game was ending to see the cope, and it was pretty thick in there. "The refs robbed us with the worst call I've ever seen" was the consensus opinion. Here's the facts: the call was probably bad but not the worst I've ever seen; it actually looked worse in real time and I can't blame the ref for throwing that flag. This is a testament to the fact that video review needs significant expansion. Philly got jobbed a couple times by dicey officiating earlier in the game (the offsides that was called as a false start and that weird low block call against AJ Brown stand out that way). As far as the game itself goes, anyone that thinks there was a real chance for the Lions to roll down and score (they would have had roughly 100 seconds to go 80 yards, or so) is nuts, because...

(2) The pass rush broke Jared Goff. The look in Goff's eyes with maybe six minutes to play said it all; he was done. The four man rush was on top of him all night and he got to seeing ghosts by the end. By the end of that game I had no confidence in his ability to lead a touchdown drive (something he only did once in the whole game) without the meaningful threat of a running game. Goff had been leading the NFL pretty comfortably in completion percentage but just had the worst average of his entire career (37.8%).

(3) Philly won the turnover battle. In yesterday's article, I made the case the this stat is the ultimate predictor of success and today's game added to that case. The three points that the Eagles got off that turnover didn't make up the entire difference but did set the tone for the game and made sure that Detroit played from behind the whole time.

(4) The defense played well on the whole. Detroit was missing a key player in TE LaPorta but was pretty healthy otherwise. They have a top 5 OL, several dangerous skill guys (none better than Gibbs, who was the one player Philly had no answer for) and as mentioned a QB playing with solid efficiency. Detroit hadn't been held to single digits in more than two years. The Lions were a collective 2-for-18 in third and fourth downs as the Birds combined timely stuffs of the run with the continual hassling of Jared Goff. The Packers and Lions have collectively averaged 31.9 PPG in their 17 combined non-Eagles games; Philly just limited those two teams to 16 points total. Last season it was the offense that got rolling after the bye; so far the defense seems to have benefited the most.

(5) Some love for special teams. Jake Elliot hit all four of his kicks (a big deal in that win, especially when his Lions counterpart missed a long XP). Mann averaged better than 40 net yards per punt, and the coverage teams were excellent. Philly's stuff of the fake punt was a major early moment.

I can't give much credit to the offense, who looked out of sorts and out of rhythm all game long. Jalen didn't get a ton of help from his receivers, who dropped a few balls and quit on a couple routes (looking at you, AJ), but Hurts didn't help too much with several overthrows and took a really dumb sack. The ground game was largely inexplosive but did grind their way to 148 yards, which was their third highest performance of the year somehow. There are still issues with this offense, no doubt. There's a chance they can get it right.

Bottom line: most of us, myself included, likely had this two game stretch out of the bye as a split. Going into this game, there were even whispers that a physical and revenge minded team would finally made a "lucky" Eagles team pay like the 49ers did in 2023. Forget all that; Philly staked a claim to the NFC's top team today and may not ever give it up (anyone see how rough the Rams looked today?). The Eagles have now opened up 8-2 or better in four consecutive seasons, a remarkable achievement. On to Dallas!