Before driving into the Official Review, presented by AAA, make sure to check out these features from the Eagles' 31-0 home victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
- Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro offers 10 observations from the victory.
- Jalen Hurts bounces back in a big way with near perfect showing.
- 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
Eagles defense remains tight against Raiders
The Eagles have had one of the best defenses in the NFL all season, and they played their best game of the year against the Raiders.
For the first time since a 2018 game against Washington, the Eagles pitched a shutout. It was just the second time in the 21st century Philadelphia has held its opponent to zero points.
"A goose egg is always great, not letting them score," linebacker Nakobe Dean said. "Holding them to under 100 yards, I mean, that's our style of football. And as long as we play to our standard, which I feel like we did today on the defensive side of the ball, we're going to be happy with that."
Not only did the Eagles keep the Raiders off the board, they dominated their offense at every turn. On 42 plays, the Raiders gained just 75 yards. It was the fewest yards allowed by the Eagles in the Super Bowl era, and the fewest allowed by any team this season.
After posting seven sacks last week against the Chargers, the Eagles had four against Kenny Pickett.
"We were able to stop the run and get them in pass situations, and then we were able to get after the quarterback," Head Coach Nick Sirianni said. "Really good team defense, but [Brandon Graham] was the first one to say it in there, sacks don't happen without great coverage in the secondary, so it was just great team defense by the entire crew.
"[Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] did a great job and coaches did a good job of preparing them and putting them in positions to succeed, and our guys did a good job of executing."
It was a marquee performance from one of the league's best units and helped the Birds squash a three-game losing streak. Next up is a match with the Commanders on Saturday, and the Eagles' defense knows it can't let up after a historic performance.
"Now that we've had a game like this, it's not time to relax," Dean said. "It's time to put our foot on the gas hard and continue to get better from this."
Brandon Graham posts vintage performance in new position
Less than two months after coming out of retirement at age 37, Brandon Graham turned back the clock with a two-sack game against the Raiders, his 12th such game of his career and first since the 2022 campaign. However, this time, Graham was playing defensive tackle, not defensive end.
With Jalen Carter sidelined, Graham has entered the defensive tackle rotation, and less than two months after coming out of retirement put together a big game from the inside.
"Just being able to come in whenever they see fit. Like I tell them, there's no pressure," Graham said. "It's just more about me just happy to be back, being a fly on the wall in here. Of course, I still feel like I can go out and contribute. I can't wait to see J.C. when he comes back. Whenever they call your name, just make sure you're there and do the best that you can do. That's all I was trying to do today."
In the locker room after the game, Graham's teammates were ecstatic to see him get on the board. Sirianni gave him a game ball and noted he's the oldest player with two sacks in the first half of a contest since 2002.
"I think Brandon Graham anywhere is a force to be reckoned with, man," defensive tackle Jordan Davis said. "He has that old-man strength. And I always say you can teach an old dog new tricks. I've seen it with BG. It's just great seeing him go out there and ball out."
Dallas Goedert finds the end zone twice
Dallas Goedert has been a scoring machine for the Eagles this season. The tight end added two more touchdowns on Sunday, his third game this season with multiple scores.
Goedert is up to nine touchdowns this year, tied for fourth in the NFL and second amongst tight ends. It was a big game for Goedert, but he knows the most important thing is the Eagles got back in the win column.
"That's the ultimate goal of football, is getting wins," said Goedert, who is just one touchdown away from tying the franchise single-season mark by a tight end (Pete Retzlaff, 10 in 1965). "Being able to do that obviously is nice. We have another short week, so we have to get our bodies right and do it again next week. But it feels a lot better coming in here after a win than a loss, that's for sure."
The Eagles limited their penalties on Sunday, only getting flagged three times for a total of 35 yards. That brand of football is something Goedert said was one of the keys to Philadelphia's offensive explosion.
"It felt really good. I feel like the flow of the offense looked really good today, and that's a big part of it," said Goedert, who also became just the fifth player in franchise history with 400 career receptions. "When you get a positive play and then you have to stop for a penalty, bring it back, get the ball set, you can't go on the ball, you can't use tempo, and I think we had a good balance on all of that today. I think playing clean football is defiantly something we need to continue to do."
Nick Sirianni proud of how Eagles handled adversity
The Eagles' win over the Las Vegas Raiders was the epitome of what a team wants to display as the critical month of December gets underway – all three phases excelled in complementary fashion in a dominant home victory.
Head Coach Nick Sirianni praised how his team put a difficult stretch in the rear-view mirror and took a critical step forward on Sunday.
"You control your own confidence, you control your own joy when there's a lot of noise out there, you control all that," Sirianni said. "What I saw from the entire team for the last couple weeks, regardless of the circumstances, [is that] we've been committed to playing Eagles football and doing the things we need to do to play Eagles football. That's tough, detailed, together, and that happens during the week.
"If we rode the wave of the outside noise, then you're not able to do that. I just thought we did a great job the last couple of weeks of zoning in on what we needed to do and going to work every single day and not letting outside circumstances dictate anything about how we feel."
Offensively, the Eagles outgained the Raiders by 312 yards, the largest margin by an Eagles team since the 2008 season opener against the Rams.
"Every game calls for something a little bit different," Sirianni said of the offensive game plan. "Obviously, we're successful when we're in front of the sticks and able to convert on third down. When you get drives going and you convert on third down and are explosive, take care of the football, good things happen. That's why you can get the amount of runs that you get and all those different things."
Defensively, Las Vegas gained only 75 yards, the fewest by any NFL team this season.
"We've had so much confidence in our defense this entire year. We've done a great job there. Like I said, Vic's done a good job of putting the guys in position. Our coaches have done a good job of coaching up the fundamentals and the plan, and then our guys have done a great job executing. You always feel confident when they go out there. They play with a lot of energy, play with a lot of excitement, play together for each other," Sirianni said.
"That's the key in a team game, the ultimate team game like football. You can see how much excitement the guys had when [Eagles DE Brandon Graham] had a sack, right? The excitement when he broke the team down today, they're genuinely happy for each other that they're making plays because when [Eagles LB] Nakobe [Dean] makes a play, it's good for [Eagles DE Brandon Graham] and vice versa. That goes for everybody."
With their ninth win, Sirianni extends his streak of winning seasons to open his head coaching career to five, while it marks the 21st such season in Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie's tenure as owner of the team.
