In Roob’s Eagles Observations: What makes Eagles’ defense unique

A unique aspect of the Eagles’ top-ranked defense, Dallas Goedert’s future and Jalen Hurts’ remarkable record on the road. 

Can you believe it’s Week 14? The Eagles are getting into crunch time and so is Roob’s 10 Random Observations! 

Let’s get after it! 

1. One of the most amazing things about the Eagles owning the No. 1 defense in the NFL through Week 13 is that this isn’t a star-studded unit. There are only two guys on the defense who’ve ever been to a Pro Bowl – Darius Slay has been to a bunch and Josh Sweat went in 2021. And Slay hasn’t even been playing that much lately because of various injuries. And honestly as good as this defense is, probably only Jalen Carter and Zack Baun will be Pro Bowlers this year. We’ve seen mediocre Eagles defenses send four or five players to the Pro Bowl, but what really sets this group apart is that they play so well together and get contributions from so many people and they’re so unselfish and team-oriented. No cornerback has an interception this year. Nobody is in the top 19 in the NFL in sacks. But what this group does remarkably well is play together as a unit, with guys working together, communicating, setting each other up to make plays and making the guys around them better. And it’s added up to one of the best defenses in Eagles history, which is saying a lot. The Eagles are No. 1 in defense with five games to go, with a good chance to finish No. 1 for the first time since 1991 and only the third time since 1954. And there are certainly stars in this group. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean have been unreal as rookies. Nakobe Dean has been consistently productive. Baun and Carter have been dominating. Milton Williams has been terrific. Reed Blankenship is having his best year. Nolan Smith has come a long way. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson has been very good since the bye. Role players are doing their thing and every backup who’s been asked to play has held his own. There’s no weak link in this group. But the real beauty of this defense is the whole. The unit. The group. And that’s much more valuable and much more meaningful than sending a bunch of guys to the Pro Bowl.

2. Milton Williams has five sacks and Jalen Carter has 4 ½, and that makes the Eagles the only NFL team that has two interior linemen with at least 4 ½ sacks. 

3. The Eagles’ ability to overcome bad starts has become so routine it’s easy to take it for granted. It’s just baked into this team’s DNA. Think about trailing by nine after the first quarter on the road against a winning team. It was no big deal on Sunday and the Eagles quickly recovered and took command of that Ravens game. But do you know how rare it is to win that game? Down nine after the first quarter on the road against a winning team? Going into last weekend, league-wide teams in that situation were 13-139 in the last decade – that’s 9 percent success – and the Eagles hadn’t won a game in those circumstances since they beat Trent Green and the Chiefs 37-31 at Arrowhead early in the 2005 season after trailing 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. But this team wins so consistently after trailing early – they’re now 6-1 when they’re behind after the first quarter – it didn’t even seem unusual. Nick Sirianni was asked Monday about the nine-point hole and he just kind of shrugged and said, “Nine points in the first quarter, there’s a lot of football left to play.” It’s pretty much an impossible situation for most teams. For the Eagles, it’s just another Sunday.

4. The last Eagles wide receiver other than A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith with consecutive games with 50 receiving yards is Travis Fulgham in October and November of 2020.

5A. I’ve always been a big fan of Dallas Goedert’s skill set. You don’t see many tight ends who can catch the ball as securely as him, then pick up big-time yards after the catch by barreling over defenders, while also excelling as a blocker. Since 2019, Goedert has averaged 49 yards per game, 8^th-highest of all NFL tight ends. His 8.7 yards per target are 2^nd-highest (behind George Kittle), and his 11.8 yards per catch are 9^th-highest. He’s one of only 13 tight ends in history with over 300 catches, over 11.7 yards per catch and over 43 yards per game. But I don’t know how the Eagles can continue to count on him staying healthy, and Sunday’s game will be the 19^th Goedert has missed since 2000 and Goedert turns 30 next month and just can’t seem to stay healthy. Goedert has another year on his contract and I want him back in 2025, but I also think it’s time for Howie Roseman to start thinking about his replacement. The Eagles have had a nice lineage of tight ends from Brent Celek to Zach Ertz to Goedert, but the well has run dry. Grant Calcaterra is a nice backup and has come a long way, but I’m not sure he can be “the guy” post-Goedert. Howie has only drafted five tight ends in 14 years as GM – Cornelius Ingram in the 5^th round in 2009, Clay Harbor in the 4^th round in 2010, Ertz in the second round in 2013, Goedert in the second round in 2018 and Calcaterra in the fifth round in 2022. The last one before Celek believe it or not was L.J. Smith in the second round back in 2003. But it’s time to address the position, most likely in the second or third round, Roseman’s wheelhouse for tight ends. We keep waiting for Goedert to have that bust-out season he’s always been capable of. But at some point you just can’t wait any more.

5B. Speaking of Ertz, he needs three catches to become the sixth tight end with 800 career receptions including regular season and postseason. 

6. Jalen Hurts has a 23-11 won-loss record in 34 career starts on the road. The only quarterback in NFL history with a better W-L record after 34 road starts is Patrick Mahomes, who was 26-8. Hurts is 19-5 in his last 24 road starts.

7A. Saquon Barkley has four rushing touchdowns this year of at least 25 yards in the fourth quarter. The entire rest of the NFL has 11. Only 12 running backs in NFL history have more career 4^th-quarter touchdown runs of at least 25 yards than Barkley has in 12 games this year. Barkley is the only back ever with four 25-yard 4^th-quarter touchdowns in a single season and also the first ever with one in three consecutive games. Sheer insanity.

7B. Saquon by half:

1H: 117-for-517, 4.4 yards per carry, 3 TDs.
2H: 129-for-982, 7.6 yards per carry, 8 TDs.

7C. Barkley’s 1,499 yards are by far the most ever by any player in his first 12 games with a single team. Eric Dickerson had 1,406 in his first 12 games as a rookie with the Rams. The most previously by a veteran with a new team is Stephen Davis’s 1,339 in 2000 with the Panthers.

8. Andy Reid has had 19 seasons as a head coach with 10 or more wins and three seasons with a losing record.

9. The Eagles won’t see Miles Sanders Sunday when the Panthers come to town. He’s been on Injured Reserve since Nov. 23 with an ankle injury and isn’t eligible to return for another three weeks. Sanders, whose 5.0 rushing average is highest by a running back in Eagles history (minimum 500 attempts), has had two miserable years since signing a four-year, $25.4 million deal with the Panthers after the 2022 season. His 5.0 average from 2019 through 2022 with the Eagles was 4^th-highest among NFL running backs during that span, but his 3.4 average in 2023 and 2024 is 49^th out of 51 running backs. Sanders’ days in Carolina are coming to an end since the Panthers could eliminate about $15 million in cap over the next two years with only about $2.9 million in dead money. And they just signed Chuba Hubbard to a four-year extension worth $8.3 million per year, and he’s a talented dude. Sanders, Saquon Barkley’s backup at Penn State, is only 27 and still has pretty good numbers. His 4.7 career average is 16^th-highest in NFL history. He’ll be somewhere next year. Will be interesting to see if he can be a productive running back again.

10. Since 2019, Lane Johnson has played 2,694 pass block snaps and allowed six sacks. That’s one sack every 449 pass plays. One sack per year.

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