Eagles get back on track! (for now)

In the off chance that you would like to read my comments on last Monday's Chargers loss (didn't get publicly published yet), CLICK HERE.

It's felt like forever since we got to talk about a win, but all it took for the Birds to start washing that horrible taste of defeat out of their mouths was a matchup with maybe the NFL's worst team. It was nice to live like the rest of the NFL for a week (it's been about two months since the Eagles played a team that wasn't in the thick of the playoff chase). This was a remarkable beat down that the 31-0 score somehow undersold; check out the box score:

That's 5x in yards, 4x in first downs, 3x in yards per play and 2x on time of possession. Goedert's dropped TD kept it from being 35-0 when the Birds pulled their starters with nearly a quarter to play and of course Philly essentially sat on the ball with first and goal from the 5 at the game's end.

A few other quick hitters from today's game:

• The Eagles' 75 yards allowed were the fewest since December 4... 1955.

• The last time the Eagles outgained their opponent by more than 300 yards was the season opener in 2008 against the Rams.

• Jalen had a nice bounce back game with a 154.9 passer rating (fun fact: Hurts' three best career games in terms of passer rating have come this season, including this Raiders game).

• Four of the Birds' top six games in QB pressures so far this year have come since the bye; the final numbers aren't out yet for this game but I'm certain it will make five of seven. The pass rush is heating up at the right time and will continue to improve once Jalen Carter is reintegrated.

• The Eagles are 2-3 when AJ Brown hits 100 receiving yards and 7-2 when he doesn't. That reeks of a correlation/causation mismatch, but it does demonstrate that the Eagles do not need to be a high volume, explosive passing attack to be successful.

Now a few big picture comments:

• Philly's magic number to break the Curse of the Defending NFC East Champion is ONE, thanks to the Cowboy's choke job on Sunday night. The Eagles will either make history by breaking the curse, or by collapsing in a remarkable way. In either case, there will be a special post to commemorate the occasion. By the way, all the media momentum behind Dallas was absurd, built on two three point home wins with plenty of home cooking as far as officiating is concerned? Hardly the stuff of legend.

• The Eagles are 7-0 this season when they win the turnover battle; they are 2-5 when they fail to do so. Keep protecting that ball, fellas.

• Seeing Green Bay lose two more critical players to serious injury, Detroit fight hard but come up short in LA, the Rams lose Davante Adams for who knows how long, the Seahawks struggle to defeat a literal grandpa, and the Panthers, Bucs and Cowboys all fighting to see who could look the most disinterested in winning an important game makes me wonder who should feel extremely confident in taking down the defending champions in the playoffs?

• All told, I'm not yet going to get excited that the Birds are back just yet; again, it's hard to undersell just how bad this Raiders team is. That said, a team is never as bad as they look coming off a loss either, so let's take heart. Our best two linemen (Lane and Carter) will be back soon, just in time for the playoffs. Stay tuned.