Before driving into the Official Review, presented by AAA, make sure to check out these features from the Eagles' 38-20 win over the New York Giants.
- Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro offers his nine observations from the dominant victory.
- Matt Ryan looks at a season-best run game and something that hasn't happen in Philadelphia since 2013.
- If you missed the game, here's how everything unfolded in real time.
Review your chance to win game tickets, sideline passes, exclusive experiences, and more! AAA.com/Eagles
Jalen Hurts remains red-hot, but his focus is on what's to come
A week after posting a perfect 158.3 passer rating, Jalen Hurts threw for 179 yards and a career-high-tying four touchdowns in Philadelphia's 38-20 victory over the Giants.
Hurts has helped the Eagles' offense take off after suffering back-to-back losses. Sunday was the team's most complete performance of the season, and Hurts was a big reason why. But when posed the question of if he's playing his best football, Hurts continued to look ahead.
"Definitely a lot of work to do," he said. "I think the best is yet to come."
The Eagles' offense has been up and down at points to start the season, but it's finding its footing, especially over the last two weeks. Philadelphia's pass game looks explosive, while the run attack bullied New York this week.
Hurts and the offense are moving in the right direction, and it's just a matter of keeping that going deep into the year.
"We're always in this process of becoming, it's the reality of it. The goal is to be playing your best ball at the end of the season and there's a process that you have to go through to get that," Hurts said. "There are going to be tests along the way, but you have to embrace those challenges as they come. And I think we do that as a group. And so there's a focus to do that."
Pass rush makes life miserable for Jaxson Dart, Giants offense
The last time the Eagles sacked a quarterback five times in a regular-season game, Brandon Graham was on the field as the Eagles beat up on Matthew Stafford and the Rams in a prime-time showdown across the country.
It's only fitting that as Graham returned to the sidelines for the first time since coming out of retirement – he'll wait until the Monday night affair in Green Bay to make his on-field season debut – that the Eagles hurried and flummoxed rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart to the tune of five sacks, tying the most times he's been taken down this season in a single game.
Just two weeks ago at New York, Dart escaped the pressure and aided the Giants' ground effort with 58 yards and a touchdown.
The Eagles also had defensive tackle Jalen Carter back in the lineup, after he missed the first meeting with a heel injury.
"We had a better plan second go-around," said Carter, who had his first sack of the season. "It's easier said than done. He's an athletic quarterback. You see him moving out of the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield and trust that nobody is behind him to get the strip and stuff. He's got a lot of confidence and I give it to him on that."
The Eagles wanted to keep Dart contained. While he scored on a touchdown run, Dart had just 17 ground yards to go with 193 through the air.
"It was a big emphasis. Every week we face a quarterback who can scramble, do anything, run out of the pocket and throw. That's just the main goal, to keep every quarterback in the pocket and close the pocket on them and get them uncomfortable so they can't see their reads," Carter added.
Jalyx Hunt had a career-high nine pressures, according to NextGen Stats. He also added his first sack of the season a week after his pick-six against the Vikings.
Linebacker Zack Baun was all over the field, per usual, with six tackles, two for loss, the first sack of Dart, and two passes defensed. He credited the pass rush with the ability to keep Dart from completing only six passes to wide receivers on Sunday.
"We had a really good plan," Baun said. "The rush did a good job. When the rush is containing him like that, it's eliminating explosives down the field as well, helping out the coverage."
Outside linebacker Joshua Uche had a strip-sack reversed by the officials when it was deemed that Dart's arm was moving forward. Uche said that Head Coach Nick Sirianni told the team this week not to use the revenge factor as motivation.
"Revenge is a temporary emotion. Discipline, focus, and intensity last a lot longer," Uche said. "We came into the game one play at a time, focused on the game play and focused on the details, and you look up at the end and we'll be where we want to be.
"We know what we're capable of. We know what we have in the building and just belief in ourselves, and just continuing to grind and stack brick by brick."
And the Eagles go into the Bye Week with a 6-2 record, sitting atop the NFC East.
"We're definitely on our way," Baun said. "The bye week gives us a chance to evaluate where we're trending and where we want to go. I think it's coming at a good time."
Dallas Goedert scores twice on National Tight Ends Day
Dallas Goedert had three catches against the Giants, but he made them count, scoring two touchdowns. Goedert's performance came on National Tight Ends Day, as everyone around the league celebrated the position.
"Yeah, that might have been a reason they tried to give me the ball in the red zone a little bit more," Goedert said with a laugh. "You always want to score on National Tight End Day. You don't want your tight end not to be highlighted when they talk about this incredible holiday that we get to enjoy."
Goedert now has a career-high seven receiving touchdowns (tied for the NFL lead) in as many games. He has been a go-to target for Hurts at the goal-line, and Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo has dialed up some unique looks in the red zone that have gone Goedert's way.
"They've been letting me get the ball and use my big body to fall into the end zone. I did that on the first touchdown today, but it's cool," Goedert said. "We can score in many different ways. We got a lot of different people, and I've just been trying to do the most with my opportunities."
Brett Toth anchors the offensive line in first career start at center
Brett Toth has survived in the NFL because he has embraced being the do-everything offensive lineman who can play at any of the five spots at a moment's notice.
A rookie free agent signing out of Army, where he earned the rank of First Lieutenant, Toth played in 31 regular-season and postseason games entering the matchup with the Giants. Sunday marked the fourth start of his NFL career, and first at center for an injured Cam Jurgens (knee).
The Eagles rolled up a season-high 427 total yards of offense, including 276 on the ground as Saquon Barkley (150) and Tank Bigsby (104) each went for more than 100 yards. Through the air, Jalen Hurts completed 75 percent of his attempts and threw four touchdown passes, while eclipsing a 140 QB rating (141.5) for a second game in a row.
"Proud of myself, for sure," Toth said after the game, standing at his locker stall inside Lincoln Financial Field. "Just excited to keep the momentum rolling through the Bye Week."
Toth knew the challenge of not just playing the center position and the responsibility of making sure the offensive line was in sync, but clashing with a Giants defensive line featuring outstanding talent from end to end, including Dexter Lawrence, the nose tackle whom Toth referred to as a "generational talent" and said will be one of the best to ever play the position when all is said and done.
The run game took off on the second play from scrimmage as Barkley took a handoff 65 yards for a touchdown. It was the All-Pro back's longest play of the season. According to NFL's Next Gen Stats, Barkley gained 108 yards before contact, the second most in a game in his career.
"Saquon's just an unbelievable person. Anytime people ask about him, it's for how great of a football player he is, he's a better person. He's an unbelievable leader," Toth said. "He definitely deserves some appreciation for the faith that he puts in us as well."
Toth showcased why Barkley had faith in the O-line to get the run game on track as the Eagles improved to 6-2.
Nick Sirianni praises the Eagles' all-around performance
The Eagles got contributions from all three phases in their victory over the Giants. Philadelphia ran for 276 yards, Jalen Hurts threw four touchdowns, and Will Shipley made some impressive plays on kickoffs, averaging 33 yards per return.
It was a complete win for an Eagles team that now has more than two weeks until their next game.
"Pass game was efficient. Run game was super explosive and efficient. Special teams created some really good field position," Head Coach Nick Sirianni said. "Will had some really good returns set up by really good blocking by our kickoff return unit, sticking on blocks and letting Will get going. [WR] Xavier [Gipson] did a good job of being the off returner there as well. I thought [there were] a lot of good things from each phase. Obviously, we're going to have things to correct and work on."
For the first time this season, the Eagles were able to really get their run game going. They averaged 8.4 yards per carry, their most in a game since 2020, and had two running backs rush for at least 100 yards for the first time since 2013.
Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby were both sensational, and their teammates helped them combine for the huge game.
"Good group effort. Anytime you rush for that many yards, it takes everybody," Sirianni said. "It starts with Jalen and Brett [Toth] getting us on the same page, checks, all the different things like that. Obviously, the O-line, deservingly so, played awesome. Deserves a lot of credit. Backs ran hard. All the guys that got touches ran hard. Receivers were blocking downfield. Tight ends were doing a good job against really good edge guys."
