Broad Street has their bully’s back and they wear midnight green
The Eagles had yet another impressive win Sunday against the Steelers and improved to 12-2. The Steelers didn’t even touch the ball for the final 10:29 of the game, even with all three timeouts left. The Eagles are currently riding a ten-game win streak and appear to be genuine Super Bowl contenders. Above all else though the most exciting thing about this team is that they have a legit identity of football that they play. They are bullies, on both sides of the field. This team is nasty and plays a style of football that has proceeded to wear out every team they play.
We’re The F***ing Bully
On the offensive side, the Eagles have had a similar identity for seven-plus seasons, and at this point, they have executed to varying degrees of success. They are a team that perpetually has the best offensive line in football. While some of the parts have changed over the years, most noticeably with the retirement of future Hall of Fame Center Jason Kelce, the group has continued to dominate. With All-Pros Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson on the left side and soon to be first time Pro Bowl Center Cam Jurgens in the middle that alone would be formidable, but the Eagles have even more with a blossoming Mekhi Becton and future Hall of Fame Right Tackle Lane Johnson on the opposite side. In a league where teams have begun to value speed and agility over size on defense, this 1,688+lbs group of beef has taken pride in wearing out defenses. The QB, who is built like an LB, throws dimes, and squats 500+lbs also adds to the bruising.
This era of bully ball has helped spawn everyone’s favorite play, The Tush Push, or The Brotherly Shove. This play is the ultimate move in bullying your opponent. The Eagles can shove defensive lines back to guarantee themselves a yard and a half at about a 97% success rate. It is pure football and, maybe, the biggest assertion of dominance we see a team display on a weekly basis. This basically means that the Eagles start every set of downs at First and Eight and a half. A competitive advantage so strong that the soft league has looked to ban it entirely, but until then, the Eagles have one the best weapons at their disposal in every game.
Saquon “MVP” Barkley
Then the Giants were stupid enough to let Saquon Barkley go. With the Barkley signing, we have gotten to see one of the most exciting things imaginable; the best RB in football running behind the best offensive line in football. The results have been magnificent with Barkley flirting with a 2,000-yard season and the Eagles being 12-2. This style of football is quite literally wearing their opponents out with the Eagles pulling away in most fourth quarters solely because they have exhausted their opponents. Teams can’t even focus on stopping the run either as maybe the biggest and best bully WR in the NFL, AJ Brown, and his co-star Devonta Smith, are on the outside. Dallas Goedert, when healthy, is a monster at the TE position too–not to mention Jalen can become a running threat at any time. This offense is truly a chore to play against. You do not stop this Eagles offense. You just hope to survive it.
The Eagles offense is so fun, but it’s time to talk about the new, true bullies of this team: the defense. To say this defense has been fun to watch would be an understatement. Vic Fangio’s group is invoking the vibes of Jim Johnson as it has been 20+ years since we last saw a defense play to this level. The Eagles have leaned into a youth movement and it has paid off in spades. So many guys like Dejean, Smith, Dean, and Blankenship have come up huge for this team. The Eagles rank number one in total yards allowed per game and are tied for first in the NFL for the least amount of points allowed per game. Since their bye week, they have allowed on average only 15.1 points per game. They have faced five (GB, CIN, WSH, BAL, PIT) of the eleven highest scoring offenses in the NFL and held each one of them (except GB Week 1) to under twenty points scored.
While there are so many contributors they are led by a true start at each level. Jalen Carter upfront has been absolutely destroying defenses with a smile on his face. The Eagles replaced a borderline Hall of Fame Defensive Tackle in Fletcher Cox, for what is looking like Warren Sapp 2.0. In the middle, offseason addition Zack Baun has been arguably the best Linebacker in all of football just killing it in every way. Then in the secondary, there is rookie sensation Quinyonomo Bay who only 14 games into his career already appears to be one the best Cornerbacks going at the moment putting the clamps on every team’s best each week. This group loves to impose their will on offenses each and every single week. Over the last ten weeks, this team has only allowed over twenty points twice, one of which was only achieved in garbage time. There is a pack mentality within the group and you can see it in the way they swarm on tackles and move within coverages. They play as one organism and not a bunch of individuals.
After the Eagles’ decisive victory in Baltimore, Nick Sirianni was asked about matching the toughness of the Ravens, to which Nick cut the reporter off and stated that the Ravens needed to find a way to match THEIR toughness. The Eagles’ toughness has begun to define them. Over the last five weeks, they have faced four playoff teams: the Rams, Commanders, Ravens, and Steelers. The latter two have Super Bowl aspirations. The Eagles systematically bullied and demolished all four, the games were not even all that remotely close. They run the ball down your throat, sustain long drives, have receivers you can’t defend, a QB who won’t quit, and a defense that beats you into submission at every level. All year the people looked at the Eagles schedule and picked teams that would be good tests for this group. It turns out the Eagles might just be the test. The Broad Street Bullies have returned and they’re coming for your favorite football team.
