It was a battle of two of the NFC’s best teams on Sunday Night Football, as the 7-2 Philadelphia Eagles took on the 6-3 Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field.

And in what some thought would be a shootout, instead it was the Eagles and Lions defenses that flexed their muscles throughout the game. And led by an early Cooper DeJean interception and five fourth-down stops, the Eagles were able to get a 16-9 win on the strength of their defense.

These Eagles have not made it look pretty within games, particularly on offense. But they now sit at 8-2 with an impressive number of wins: At Kansas City, LA Rams, Tampa Bay, Green Bay and now Detroit. Many of those will come in handy in NFC playoff tiebreaker scenarios.

Here are the PHLY Eagles staff observations from another Eagles win.

EJ Smith

On its face, A.J. Brown’s argument that the Eagles offense can’t keep relying on the defense to “Band-Aid” over his side of the ball’s inconsistencies is hard to fault.
But maybe he’s wrong?

The Eagles defense looked like anything but a temporary salve on Sunday night, having rounded into form just in time for two pivotal performances against other NFC contenders. The group looked good enough to be the driving force for a Super Bowl contender.

The defensive front controlled the line of scrimmage and, more broadly, the game. One of Jordan Davis’ multiple PBUs ended in a first-quarter interception for Cooper DeJean while both Jalen Carter and Moro Ojomo made splash plays against a Lions offense that finished the evening 0-for-5 on fourth down and just 3-for-13 on third down. Even Adoree’ Jackson made a few timely plays, including a pass breakup in the fourth quarter to force a Lions punt with Detroit trailing by two scores.

After holding the Green Bay Packers to 7 points last week and stifling the Lions to just nine on Sunday, it’s far more likely that the road through the NFC runs through the Linc this postseason. In that scenario, it very well may run through the Eagles defense in a way many wouldn’t have expected after an offseason of turnover on that side of the ball.

Fran Duffy

This was a bit of a slobber knocker, huh? Despite the fact that both offenses are among the most talented in the NFL, it was very much a defensive battle in South Philadelphia between two of the best teams in the NFC.Vic Fangio’s unit was phenomenal. Kevin Patullo’s group? Less so.

Fangio’s defense had Jared Goff flummoxed from the jump. Pressure was constant. Coverage was tight. Tackling was pretty sound. They gave up explosives here and there, but the ‘bend but don’t break’ philosophy was on full display.

On offense, both the run and pass games were more down than up in this one against a feisty Detroit defense, but Jalen Hurts seemed out of sorts from the jump. He was inaccurate, appeared to turn down receivers, and overall just didn’t get into any sort of rhythm.

AJ Brown saw a boat load of targets. I’m sure that fact when paired with the pass game inconsistencies will be examined with an ultra-powerful microscope this week.

The film should be very interesting tomorrow. I’m excited to dig into both sides of the ball on this one. Be sure to check out the 2pm show for a breakdown of the screen grabs!

Bo Wulf

The Eagles look like they have the best defense in football once again, with a dominating defensive line, Nakobe Dean all of a sudden looking like a Pro Bowler, and a lot of hate in their heart. There will be a lot of consternation about the offensive performance, but I think it was mostly fine given the circumstances, even if I thought there was a little too much of an emphasis on getting the ball to A.J. Brown.

But I still think the thing I’ll remember most about this game was the tush push penalty on Tyler Steen. There is just something very unsettling about Steen knowing the rules, acting responsibly by doing precisely what he’s coached to do, and then being penalized for it. God bless America.

Jamie Lynch

Eagles defense looks like a dominant defense capable of carrying a team to another title. Offense, well, not a great start! Nice piece of coaching by Nick Sirianni on the Lions fake punt attempt on 4th down, Dan Campbell you boob! Why would you run that seeing the Eagles defense never left the field! Advantage: Nick!

Good to see the Eagles offense respond before half after allowing Jameson Williams a very WIN-able 1 on 1 vs. Adoree Jackson?

Game plan became crystal clear in the 3rd quarter, just allow the Lions to get to 4th down and then stop them. Pretty simple stuff really. 5 of the Lions 9 possessions to that point were turnover on downs.

Jake Elliot, glad that guys on our team.

Jordan Davis & Jalen Carter’s arms had Jared Goff in absolute hell tonight. 5 knockdowns is CRAZY!

BRUTAL call against Rock Ya Sin to decided the game, hate to see it. Oh well, Birds win again.

Rich Hofmann

Let’s not focus on the offense today, because I am tired of writing the same old thing. In addition to the same questionable play-calling in this one, there were a ton of sloppy individual mistakes. Their inability to put away games is super concerning.

What an incredible defensive performance by Vic Fangio and his unit, though. The Lions have one of the best offenses in the league. And from the first series, when Jordan Davis got the tip and Cooper DeJean got the interception, they came to play. The defensive line yet again looked formidable, batting down Jared Goff passes and getting to the Lions quarterback. And the secondary held up against the Lions weapons. Even Adoree’ Jackson came up huge on a crucial fourth down in the red zone.

For a lot of this year, this Eagles team did not seem to have an identity. I still don’t know what it is on offense, and hey, maybe this was a game where the weather conditions favored the defenses. But this defensive group, which got embarrassed by the lowly New York Giants a little over a month ago, has its reinforcements and looks like one of the best units in the league yet again.