Eagles offer reminders of Super Bowl team with convincing win over Rams

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — At some point between Jalen Hurts getting “freaky,” as Nick Sirianni called it, and Haason Reddick sealing a 23-14 win over the Los Angeles Rams with back-to-back sacks, the way the Eagles played looked familiar. 

It looked like last season. 

“It was coming,” Jordan Mailata said. “We knew it, man. We knew our identity. We knew what we do. It was all about trusting the process, man. Jalen says it all the time — trusting the process. He said we’re going to get there, we’re going to get back to where we were last year. It’s all coming. And today it felt like a great team win.”

Even during the Eagles’ undefeated opening month, there was an acknowledgment that the team needed to reach another gear. They’re not there yet — the red zone remains a vexing issue — but it wasn’t hard to see the ingredients of what made the Eagle a juggernaut last season.

The offense moved the ball with ease, netting 454 yards with Hurts topping 300 passing yards and a combined 159 yards on the ground. Hurts’ leg were a major part of that effort. They made big plays downfield, with two pass catchers topping 100 yards (A.J. Brown finished with 127 yards, Dallas Goedert had 117 yards). They converted 72.2 percent of their third downs, yet they also picked up yards in chunks with four plays of more than 20 yards. The defense did not allow any points in the second half, when they had three of their four sacks. 

They were a complete team, overwhelming a good opponent — and doing it on their terms with a collection of standouts. 

Hurts starred. Brown starred. Reddick starred.

This is how it’s supposed to look. 

Start with Hurts, because everything in the organization is built around the franchise quarterback. He went 25 of 38 for 303 yards and a touchdown, with 72 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. It was Hurts’ best rushing performance in the season, and it came after weeks of questions of whether Hurts is curtailing his running or teams are trying to limit his legs this season. When you watched him break tackles and juke defenders, it was the full Hurts experience. This was the MVP finalist from last season.

“There’s going to be games where he’s got to get freaky out there. That’s how he says it,” Sirianni said. “He did a nice job making plays that only he could make.”

“Things come when they’re supposed to,” Hurts said. It’s as simple as that.”

The Eagles converted four quarterback sneaks — or the“Brotherly Shove,” to use their preferred nickname. The play has drawn the ire of others in the league, and an ESPN report suggested the competition committee will continue to review the play during the offseason. It remains a weapon for the Eagles, and Sirianni even used it in his Saturday night presentation. He spoke about a “growth mindset,” and showed how the play has evolved and grown for the Eagles. 

“I just have confidence in the play that nobody likes that we run,” Sirianni said. “If we stayed the same…defenses would have caught up to it.”

The key to the sneak is the offensive line, which had another strong outing. And it came even with Sua Opeta replacing Cam Jurgens at right guard, and with Aaron Donald on the other side. Donald was held without a sack and does not have one against the Eagles in five career games. Jason Kelce said Donald is the best defensive player he’s ever faced and the game plans against Donald are the most intricate the Eagles create.

The Eagles’ sneak for a touchdown came on a momentum-shifting, end-of-half drive. The Rams scored a touchdown to take a 14-10 lead with 32 seconds before halftime, but Sirianni did not sit on the ball. The Eagles tried to score. With 17 seconds remaining, Hurts found A.J. Brown deep down the middle and Brown pulled the ball in one hand. His run-after-catch was aided by a horsecollar tackle that brought the Eagles to the 14-yard line. Brown drew a pass interference to get the ball to the 1-yard line, and Hurts sneaked in for the score. 

The Eagles never relinquished their lead. The Rams never scored again.

“It changed the momentum,” Brown said. “It changed the game right there.”

Brown, by the way, always practices one-handed catches during walkthroughs. He gets in trouble when he drops them, but it helps him prepare. He dropped three in Friday’s session. He was perfect on Sunday.

And Brown was not the only one who excelled through the air. Similar to Hurts’ running, Goedert’s lack of production had become a lingering storyline this week. Goedert’s targets were comparable to this time last season, but the reason his production waned was because of a lack of yards after the catch. Goedert caught four passes on the opening drive (including a touchdown) and had his best game since 2021, and he said one of the difference was catching the ball with his momentum going forward so he could pick up yards in chunks. He had 14.6 yards per catch on Sunday — nearly eight yards greater than his season average. 

This is what it looked like in 2022. Multiple players excelled on the ground and in the air, the offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, and Hurts looked like an MVP candidate. The main issue on offense was finishing 2 of 6 in the red zone (2 of 5, really, because they were trying to wind the clock down on the final drive), and the Eagles know they must fix that to reach their offensive potential. When Kelce was asked about spirited emotions on the sideline, he acknowledged that the red zone issues are a source of frustration.

“Red zone is killing us,” Mailata said.

But the fact that the Eagles won convincingly despite settling for field goals instead of touchdowns speaks to the way the defense played. After scoring touchdowns on two of the first drives, the Rams gained 81 yards on 29 plays in the second half and did not score. They didn’t even end a drive in Eagles territory! They punted three times and had a drive end on downs before the clock expired on their final possession. 

“We did what we were supposed to do,” Darius Slay said. “We’ve got to start like that, though.”

The Eagles struggled to contain Cooper Kupp early in the game when they tried a variety of personnel groupings, including Mario Goodrich, Eli Ricks, and Bradley Roby all taking turns in the slot. One adjustment in the first half was to try to have Slay follow Kupp, but that caused communication lapses. So in the second half, the Eagles stuck to their normal coverages.

By playing with a lead, the pass rush was able to win at the point of attack and pressure Matthew Stafford. It looked like last season, whether it was Jalen Carter throwing Stafford to the ground or Reddick speeding to the quarterback on back-to-back plays. 

“They would have to start holding onto the ball a little more,” Reddick said.  “The offense does a great job chewing up a clock, which in turn gave the defense more time and opportunity to go out…and the D-line time to go the hunt.” 

Reddick always said sacks came in bunches. Last year’s 70-sack success had greater volumes, but there were second halves that looked like the one on Sunday: get a lead, make the defense one-dimensional, and win at line of scrimmage.

“This is exactly what I meant,” Reddick said of the sacks.

The Eagles have tried to move on from references to last season. But this isn’t about avenging a Super Bowl. It’s about looking like a team that can reach a Super Bowl. There were signs during the first four weeks that they could reach that point, although their four wins still left them searching for more. 

The win on Sunday was the Eagles’ lowest-scoring game of the season, byet the way they played offered reminders of last season. 

The schedule becomes more difficult later this month, and there are areas they must fix. But they know the recipe, and they’re starting to use it.