PHILADELPHIA – Escaping the threat of a catastrophic defeat before embarking on a bye week came with quite the bonus for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Imagine if they had lost against the Dallas Cowboys?
It would have been two weeks of pure hell in the City of Brotherly Love.
Instead, the Eagles can exhale. For all that almost went wrong with the crunchtime drama against their arch division rival on Sunday, they survived yet another scare on a hard-earned journey to 8-1 and can get on with the business of a midseason R&R break while carrying the NFL’s best record.
“What did Bill Parcells say?” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said on Sunday night, reciting some wisdom from the Hall of Fame coach. “You are what your record says you are.”
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True, and this record for these Eagles – the same as it was at this point last season, when they went all the way to Super Bowl 57 – has been wrapped in resilience. They keep finding ways to win. Yet one close call after another, including the defensive stands that held off the Cowboys comeback, has also provided so many reminders of how the W’s and turn to L’s.
“It’s a pretty good record,” Eagles center Jason Kelce told reporters on Sunday night. “I’ll take it. But we know we’ve got to play a lot better in a lot of areas. A lot of things to clean up.”
Jalen Hurts, the battered quarterback who has played on a gimpy left knee for several weeks – yet again on Sunday night refused to specifically acknowledge the injury – was undoubtedly speaking of the physical break when he contended that the bye could not come at a better time.
Another reminder of the physical toll came on Sunday, when the Eagles lost tight end Dallas Goedert to a broken forearm that would sideline him for an extended period, per multiple reports.
Hurts, meanwhile, gutted it out again against Dallas after he was shaken up just before halftime after absorbing another blow to his knee. Afterward, though, he seemed just as concerned with the mental flow and execution that have been spotty at times. The Eagles have had trouble this season in finishing drives and games – including the three three-and-outs in the fourth quarter and other mistakes that stung them in nearly melting down against Dallas.
“We can’t be repeat offenders,” Hurts said. “It’s about winning, but it’s about standards, too.”
Several Eagles expressed similar sentiments, mindful of the road ahead. The Eagles have opened up a commanding, 2 ½-game advantage over the Cowboys in the NFC East, but with so much of the season to play, it is hardly an insurmountable lead.
No, complacency won’t cut it – especially when considering the tests that loom before they face Dallas again in five weeks.
After the bye, the Eagles visit the Kansas City Chiefs in a Super Bowl rematch. Then they’ll host the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, the latter contest a rematch of the NFC title game.
“We’ve got a big stretch coming up,” veteran defensive end Brandon Graham said. “It’s going to be physical, these next three, four weeks before we see Dallas again…We’ve got to make sure we’re healthy.”
Graham knows. The schedule affords a moment to exhale – and reflect.
“We’ve got a week off,” said Graham, who helped save the day with 1 ½ sacks on consecutive plays on Dallas’ next-to-last possession. “We’ve just got to make sure that we come ready and focused. Don’t lose what we’ve been building.”
It’s a scary thought for opponents: With top-10 units on offense and defense, the Eagles can get much better as this season progresses. No doubt, it helps in that they were just on this path last year.
Since Buffalo’s run of four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the early ‘90s, just one team in 30 years has advanced to the Super Bowl in the season following a Super Bowl loss. The Eagles are next in line to try bucking that pattern.
Sirianni came nowhere close to mentioning the Super Bowl aspirations for his team as he addressed the media on Sunday night. He didn’t have to. Instead, he emphasized the need for daily improvement and staying in the moment.
“I know there will be a lot of chatter about this and that,” he said. “ ‘Oh, now they got this lead and they have the best record.’
“We don’t care about any of that. All we care about is how we get better to win our next game, how we rest our bodies this week, how we go 1-0 the following week to try to go 1-0 against the Kansas City Chiefs. That’s our mission. There is this huge mountain to climb. You can’t climb the mountain all in one week. When you look up that mountain and you start to look up at how much more you have to climb, that’s what makes you slip.”
After all, the season is a marathon that will present the Eagles will more opportunities to prove it.