Surging Super Bowl contender has new vibe after last year’s collapse

In 2022, they made the Super Bowl. Last season, their disastrous late-season collapse – six losses in six seven games, including a wild-card-round exit – negated what was a second consecutive 10-1 start. And here the Eagles are with another auspicious start, at 10-2 and first place in the NFC East after a 24-19 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. 

How will it play out this time? 

“Last year is over. We don’t care about last year,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. “We learned what we needed to learn from last year and what we needed to do off of that. This year, it’s a different group of guys. This is a different team that’s gelling and meshing on all cylinders right now.” 

Philadelphia overcame a 9-0 first-quarter deficit and four straight punts to open the contest; the Eagles gained 22 yards in the first quarter and Jalen Hurts started 1-for-5 for 5 yards. Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens racked up 133 yards and seven first downs. From there, the Eagles defense looked like the unit coordinator Vic Fangio has lined up during the team’s eight-game win streak, surrendering three points – kicker Justin Tucker’s dismal performance helped – until a garbage-time touchdown drive. 

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“We just stick to the plan and let the game unfold because everybody knows the first five, six minutes of the game is hot on both sides,” safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson said. 

He added: “One touchdown’s not gonna win the game. That goes for our offense, too.” 

The Eagles sacked Jackson three times and contained running back Derrick Henry (19 carries, 82  yards), with rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean delivering a memorable tackle in the fourth quarter that was emblematic of who the more physical team was. Sirianni said the coaching staff showed cut-ups of the Eagles’ game against Henry and the Tennessee Titans in 2022 – when he had 11 carries for 30 yards – to help motivate the defense.

“Through the ups and the downs, we’re pretty stoic in that, like, we don’t get too high, we don’t get too low and we’re always trying to get better,” said linebacker Zack Baun, who is in his first season with the Eagles. “It’s a lot of young guys on this defense who have a lot of potential and we know they have that potential.” 

The goal, Gardner-Johnson said, isn’t to send a message to the rest of the league. Playing good ball every week is. The Eagles pride themselves on physicality and limiting points.

“That type of game, it’s a playoff game,” he said of facing the Ravens. “That’s a team you could probably see in the Super Bowl, so credit to our guys.” 

Running back Saquon Barkley (23 rushes, 107 yards) didn’t have quite the kind of MVP-level performance he has been authoring as of late, but his 25-yard touchdown scamper sealed the game. Hurts completed 11 of 19 passes for 118 yards, but Sirianni was quick to point out his quarterback rating (114.4 over the last eight games) during the Eagles’ winning streak. 

“I don’t believe in momentum. It’s really a facade,” Hurts said. “It can begin and end at any moment. You’ve just got to reassess everything for what it is and continue to strive to be the best team we can be. It’s not about trying to be better than another team or trying to up them in this area or whatever. It’s just about aggressively pursuing our best self as a team.” 

Even injured wideout DeVonta Smith has been helping in his own ways while not playing. Sirianni said Smith is usually the first person to tell him to leave the offense on the field in fourth-down situations.  

This was a decisive victory in all three phases for Philadelphia. Punter Braden Mann backed the Ravens up inside their own 5-yard line on three occasions and five of his six punts were downed within the 20-yard line. 

“Those are things that you get so excited about as a football coach, of how important that is in the field position battle,” Sirianni said. “That’s not going to get looked at a lot, but I am really excited, and we talked about that after the game.”

One major difference this time around is that instead of the San Francisco 49ers being the primary threat within the NFC, it’s the Detroit Lions. The other NFC North contenders, Minnesota and Green Bay, have also proven themselves through the season’s first three months – but Philadelphia and Detroit are in a class of their own in the NFC, with Buffalo and Kansas City occupying that air in the AFC.

“I think it shows capabilities, what we can do when we focus,” right tackle Lane Johnson said. “But people need to understand that stuff, certainly in this league, is not a given. Because look at last year. We’re in a very good position, then the last six or seven games, it turned into a nightmare. So, remember those times and learn from them.” 

Johnson acknowledged the locker room is not the exact same – no Jason Kelce or Fletcher Cox, who both retired, or Brandon Graham, who tore his triceps last week. The backslide shouldn’t happen if players maintain focus and “continue to want to get better,” Johnson said. “Do you want to lapse and think you have it made?” he asked rhetorically. 

The four three-and-outs by the offense are examples of imperfection, Johnson said. And he insisted harkening back to last year isn’t to put a scare into guys.

“It’s not to promote fear,” he said. “But it’s really like to (say), ‘Hey, a lot of these guys maybe weren’t on the team last year.’ So it’s to raise awareness that, you know, ‘Don’t fall in the trap of getting complacent.’ You can find out what the NFL is all about. We learned that last year. We knew coming in that today was going to be a tough job.” 

A key during the winning streak is the group’s ability to not only make the in-game adjustments, but learning how to do them, Johnson said. 

“You game plan for stuff all week and sometimes they may come out with something you’re not expecting, so you have to be able to make in-game adjustments,” Johnson said. “That’s what leads to success – the teams that make the fewest mistakes and learn from mistakes.” 

Sirianni deployed a classic climbing a mountain analogy to how he approaches the season. Look too far back or forward, the chances of slipping increase. He and the Eagles know what it’s like to be in freefall.

“That doesn’t make for good press. That doesn’t make for good stories,” he said. “We’re boring, but the monotony, boring, day-to-day grind is what gets results.” 

And with eight wins in a row, that’s hard to argue.