Eagles use pass game, red zone defense to get back on track.

Philly had the odds stacked against them today, in a lot of ways. Banged up on the OL, banged up in the secondary, banged up at EDGE, nine days worth of angst and speculation, talented and motivated opponent coming off their bye...

Did it matter? Nope! Philly found their passing game at last and used their red zone defense to hang on in a tough road game. Jalen racked up a perfect passer rating for the first time in his career (previous high was 140.6 three years ago against Pittsburgh) and his 14.5 ANY/A was the highest mark he's gotten as a starter. AJ Brown and Devonta Smith racked up an absurd 303 yards (and three scores) combined on just 17 targets. There's not too much to say beyond that about the offense (all other players combined for just 67 yards on 29 total touches) but it hardly seemed to matter.

On defense, Philly clearly employed a bend-don't-break philosophy, which made sense considering how banged up the CB room is. Minnesota had nine drives in total but somehow punted just once (two turnovers, a touchdown and five FGs accounted for the rest). We've pointed this out before (notably after both the Rams and Chiefs games), but one of this team's strengths is winning the red zone battles. Once again, that spelled the difference as Philly limited the Vikings to 22 points in their six red zone possessions.

A couple other quick notes worth pointing out:

• Jake Elliott missed his first kick of the season, a relatively "simple" 42 yard FG. Nearly came back to bite them but thankfully it didn't.

• Philly converted at least three plays of third and nine or longer into first downs. There were a couple other such plays that didn't get the first down but did gain enough yards to set up a makeable fourth down. Few teams have ever felt so inevitable on those third and long plays.

• This was the second straight week that an opposing team exploited Philly's EDGE players in the run game; they need to get that figured out.

• I was a little surprised that they overturned that Hockenson TD. but both commentators and the officiating expert seemed to agree with the call, so who am I to argue?

• This marked the seventh consecutive game in which the Eagles were outgained. They've somehow come up tops in five of them, a remarkable feat. This has mostly been the result of remarkable red zone efficiency on both sides of the ball and consistent success in the turnover battle.

• Philly keeps pace with the rest of the NFC and will keep sole possession of the NFC East with this win. You could make the case that the Birds have played six playoff contenders in the first seven games. The Eagles will have an opportunity for revenge this coming Sunday in the rematch against the Giants, followed by their week off and then a critical three week stretch in November (@Packers, Lions, @Cowboys). If they can get to eight wins by the end of that stretch, we should start feeling really good about their chances.

FLY EAGLES FLY!