Roob’s Observations: Eagles blow out Bengals in Cincinnati originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Three straight wins, two straight blowouts, a 5-2 record and the Eagles look like a real football team again.
The offense looked tremendous. The defense looked fantastic. And this just may be a fun season after all.
The Eagles went into Cincinnati Sunday and earned themselves a commanding 37-17 win over a dangerous Bengals team. It was impressive stuff all around.
Here’s our 10 Instant Observations as the Eagles have a three-game winning streak for the first time in almost a year.
1. This is a win the Eagles have needed for a long time. On the road against an elite quarterback and a quality team with all phases operating at a high level. We didn’t learn much from the Browns and Giants except that the Eagles could beat terrible teams with lousy quarterbacks. This was Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Trey Hendrickson and a scary matchup that the Eagles absolutely dominated. And despite blowing the home opener vs. the Falcons and despite getting embarrassed by the Bucs the Eagles find themselves at 5-2 with a three-game winning streak, and the conversation about Nick Sirianni might soon be about a contract extension instead of when he’s getting fired. You have to love how the Eagles have bounced back from some early adversity and taken their place among the NFL’s best. And say what you want about Sirianni, he’s exceptional at getting his team prepared, getting them confident and getting them to shrug off whatever adversity hits. Getting them to believe in themselves. And a season that a few weeks ago seemed like it was in disarray now has so much promise. The Eagles are legit. How about that.
2. Very encouraging stuff from the Eagles’ defense. After the Bengals opened the game with a 17-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, they really did look unstoppable. Joe Burrow was 11-for-12 on the drive for 60 yards with a touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase. But one hallmark of Vic Fangio’s defense is that they figure things out along the way, and coverage tightened up, pressure improved and they held Cincinnati to 10 points and just 210 yards. The Bengals were 6-for-6 on third down in the first drive and then 4-for-7 the rest of the way. Adjustments. The Eagles even got two 4th-quarter defenses for the first time in two years – since a win over the Steelers when Chauncey Gardner-Johnson picked off Kenny Pickett and Javon Hargrave forced a Pickett fumble. Over the last three weeks, this defense has held the Browns, Giants and Bengals to 29 points – the first time since early in 2016 they’ve allowed fewer than 30 points over a three-week span. Burrow targeted Chase 11 times and he had 54 yards. That’s huge. Great coverage, great pressure, great tackling. Second half, Burrow didn’t even complete a pass longer than 13 yards. This Bengals offense is dangerous, but their last eight drives netted just 10 points. That’s elite defense. This is one of the youngest defenses in the league and they’re only going to get better.
More coming …
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