Eagles Report Card: Eagles-Cardinals

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Eagles last two wins have come down to the final possession and a margin of three points or less. Sunday's win for the Eagles over the Cardinals was much more comfortable than that.

The Eagles 34-7 win over the Cardinals moved them to 4-1 on the season and made a statement in as the season starts to approach the middle stages.

Here are this week's grades.

Pass Offense – A

This may have been Carson Wentz's best overall performance.

Let's start with the numbers: 21-for-30 for 304 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. The four touchdowns are a career high. Two of those touchdowns were on well-thrown deep balls to Torrey Smith and Nelson Agholor.

Wentz also stayed true to reliable targets. His second touchdown pass went to Zach Ertz. His first was a nice back-shoulder throw to Trey Burton. Wentz's touch was really on point.

The only real negative of the game for Wentz came in the second quarter. I do have to dock the grade slightly, because Wentz closed the second quarter with two passes toward the endzone from the Cardinals' 25 yard line that seemed forced. The first was nearly intercepted. The second one was intercepted.

With three timeouts and still 45 seconds on the clock, there was no reason to take such a big risk and leave points on the field. If not for the Eagles special teams coming up with a field-goal block at the other end, it could have easily become a potential 10-point swing.

But otherwise, Wentz was really on his game from start to finish. His escapability in the pocket when pressure comes is tremendous. But what really stood out was his play on third down. He was excellent on third-and-long situations in this game, a sign of confidence in his own abilities. Being able to come up big in those spots separates good quarterbacks from great ones, and Wentz is showing his potential with every one of those completions.

What a difference a year makes too. Wentz started his rookie season with three strong weeks, then the interceptions and mistakes started coming. Wentz finished his rookie season with 16 touchdown passes to 14 interceptions. Wentz's interception on Sunday was just his third in five games. His four touchdown passes brought his total to 10.

Run Offense – B+

The running game was not as dominant as the last couple of weeks, but putting up 122 yards on the ground continues to show the balance the Eagles have at the running back position.

LeGarrette Blount picked up the bulk of that, rushing for 74 yards, including 37 on a carry in the fourth quarter. 

They didn't account for any scoring, though Blount had a touchdown run called back on a holding penalty, but when it came time to run out the clock, they were instrumental in a fourth-quarter drive that lasted over nine minutes.

Pass Defense – A-

The defense got to Carson Palmer early and helped force some short drives for Arizona only. As is the case in a game where the score gets lopsided, a team can put up a lot of yardage late in the game. 

The Cardinals got 74 of their 276 passing yards on the final drive of the game that ended in a fumble out of the endzone. Besides that late fourth-quarter drive, the Cardinals had 202 passing yards in the game. And only 51 of those went to Larry Fitzgerald, who until the final drive, had just four catches for 31 yards in the game.

Run Defense – A+

It feels like a weekly occurrence where we look back at the opposition's running game and simply let the numbers do the talking.

It's no secret that the Cardinals are a different team without David Johnson, but their running game really is virtually non-existent.

The Eagles have typically good for allowing one solid run to the opposition per game. That was to J.J. Nelson, who had a 14-yard carry on his only rushing attempt of the game. The rest of the Cardinals running game had 17 rushing yards on 13 carries. Dominance. 

Special Teams – A

For a change, the game didn't come down to Jake Elliott's boot. The rookie kicker still made two field goals in the win to keep his hot streak going for another week. Kick and punt coverages were good throughout the game.

The impressive area of special teams was the return game for Kenjon Barner. Barner had three returns for a total of 110 yards, including one that went for 76 yards and put the Eagles on the Cardinals' 15 yard line ahead of their second touchdown of the game.

Overall – A

Make no mistake about it, the Eagles just made their statement that they are here to play. Yes, the Cardinals have been hit hard with injuries, so this game was certainly there for the taking. But for the Eagles to deliver a game of this level ahead of a short week was very important.

Everything is firing on all cylinders, which bodes well for the team heading into the meat of the schedule.

As the Eagles head into Week 6, a short week against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night, the next stretch of their schedule will define where they are going. Carolina enters Week 6 with a 4-1 record as well, so this will be a test for sure. They follow that up with home games against the Redskins, 49ers and Broncos before the bye week in Week 10 ahead of their first of two meetings against the Cowboys in Week 11.

The 49ers may not be as much of a test for the Eagles, but Carolina and Denver are top teams in the league and Washington is always tough as a division rival. Being 4-1 through five games is certainly something praiseworthy for this team, but don't get too far ahead just yet. If the success continues through games against the Panthers, a second game against the Redskins and the Broncos, then focus can start shifting to football in January.

But for now, this is a win the Eagles can enjoy, at least for tonight. A short week starts right back up on Monday before a battle against the Panthers on Thursday night.

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